December 6, 2010 marks five years since letterpress printer/mentor Regis Graden passed away. The news of his Cancer early in 2005 hit me like a pressful of bricks and I tried to write that out in a 2005 blog post. He assured me then that he was carrying out a “serious argument” with the disease. Today I still miss him and am still carrying on that same argument. I started this cobbled together letterpress business during the dot.com bust of the mid-late 90′s when my once-hot art school web design services had cooled. I made so many mistakes. Killer Mistakes. Embarrassing Mistakes. Unforgivable Mistakes. And he had a response to every one of them. My remembered favorites:

“You made a mistake?! That’s unheard of. Why, the last time I made a mistake was [long pause while he computes]…ten o’clock this morning.”

and

“The only way to never make a mistake is to never do anything.”

Thankfully, my mistakes are much fewer now. But, ironically, I treasure my mistake history (now that it’s mostly…hopefully…over). And when I have the chance to teach new printers you’ll hear Regis’isms spewing forth loud and plentiful. Thank you, Regis.

It was exactly a year ago that I visited Bonoful Handmade Paper in Muktagacha, Bangladesh. I am still inspired by the industrious creativity of the women there. These women are the primary wage earners for their families. Prior to arriving at Bonoful they were unskilled and had little opportunity for employment. Seeing them work puts a face on fair trade and reminds me that it’s possible in my isolated western culture to make choices that have a positive effect on their families on the other side of the world.

dipping paper sheets

Busy Workroom

Feeling paper pulp fibers.  Photos by Maebird