I didn't even finish talking about the weekend before last — Sunday, anyway — in which I took this:

…(plus a few more pieces) to THIS:

It took a lot longer than I'd hoped (I had a LOT more things on my to-do list) (still do), but it's done and I love it!

_ _ _ _ _

Last weekend started on Thursday evening with the first Christmas party of the season with the gang from work, and continued with a company-paid day off on Friday! I needed it, too, since I didn't have a regular day off last week. I did exciting things like get my oil changed & a tire repaired, picked up & dropped off packages at the coffee shop & visited with Ali for a while, went to the grocery store and Target. Woohoo! Those are all things that needed to be done, though, and I basically got paid to do them.

Rusty & I drove over to Two Rivers on Saturday for a meeting/gathering of the local chapter of Wisconsin Visual Artists. They met at the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, and had organized an optional printing workshop… for which we both opted in!

One of my first real jobs was as a typesetter, though I didn't even know that's what I was doing at the time, and it was the very dawn of computer typesetting, so I never actually worked with block letters/art and real leading before. I just flipped switches to get the amount of leading I wanted between lines of type, and actually typed on a keyboard (mostly) instead of plucking individual letters from a type drawer. Either way, what was being produced was not the end-game… it was all destined for the printer! And though I never printed a darn thing in my life, I was in that environment for many years… and, coincidentally, Rusty owned a print shop at one time (long before I met him), and my brother also worked in various print shops for many years.

So this experience was both very familiar and very new!

We each had our own little sign press & galley with various tools, some ink & a supply of paper, and a good selection of type and art from which we could choose. I never actually thought about what I'd actually make/print, so I went seasonal first and went from there… here are a few examples of my work:

OMG. It was SO MUCH FUN!!!

I can't stop thinking about it, so I guess that means that a full-day (at least) workshop is in my future! Time was limited, so I really didn't spend much of it away from my own press, but I did take a peek at Rusty's project:

Well, he is an artist!

Edited to add: Rusty showing off one of his prints on the Hamilton Wood Type IG feed!

 

 

 

 

 

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Wisconsin Visual Artists in for a half-day workshop today. A great group of working artists all based here in WI! #wisconsinvisualartists #letterpress #letterpressworkshop #woodtype #artists #inky #wva #newiartist #foxcityarts #wisconsinart #tworiverswi

A post shared by Hamilton Wood Type (@hamiltonwoodtype) on Dec 8, 2018 at 12:55pm PST

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There was inspiration everywhere:

…including in the bathroom:

There was an amazing exhibit of Jim Sherraden's work at the museum…

Including these paper quilts. He's apparently been a visiting artist at Hamilton. I didn't know, until I googled just now, that he's famous! Way cool.

I hope you had a great weekend, too!

I took off from work at noon on Friday, ran a few errands, and then drove up to Fish Creek in Wisconsin's Door County Peninsula to spend a weekend with nine other members of my Book Club.

Provisions.

Our book club has been meeting for about 20 years. I've known, been acquainted, worked and/or socialized with some members for much longer than that, but most I know only because of the 2-3 hours when we share a dinner every couple of months and (usually) discuss a book that we've (more or less) all read (maybe).

Anyway, we've read a few books over the years by Wisconsin authors and/or set in our state, and a couple that were specific to Door County… which happens to be just not too far away… and somewhere along the line, a book club get-away was dreamed up! We found a spacious condo with plenty of room (and bathrooms).

This was our "backyard." There was still a little snow on the deck, but it was nice enough to sit out and soak up some Vitamin D on Saturday afternoon.

We were able to walk to dinner & cocktails at Bayside Tavern on Friday evening, and to breakfast at The Cookery (newly opened for the season!) on Saturday morning.

Our main event was a Door County Trolley's Wine, Spirits & Brew Tour on Saturday. We shared the trolley with another group of 10 women on their 3rd annual girls' weekend (which all began with a bridal shower), a group of three, and two couples.

There was a lot of singing and laughing, and our driver/guide was very friendly and knowledgeable. It was a great way to spend the day with a group! We stopped at Door County Distillery, Starboard Brewing Company, and Simon Creek Vineyard & Winery, with a delicious lunch stop at Crate.

They have a board at Starboard on which you can write suggestions for future brews and/or naming suggestions — Lor Horny Hop and Hop Bop Bonino are from our group.  🙂

We stayed in on Saturday night, ordering take-away pizza from Wild Tomato and staying up late (again) playing games and laughing. I did less playing games and more knitting*… but still a LOT of laughing!

I'd been a little hesitant as the time approached (Inner Introvert: What did I get myself into???), but told myself it was only for a weekend (suck it up). I gave it a positive spin in my brain and decided that I would enjoy it… and I did. But I also had SO MUCH FUN! And RELAXING.

We packed up on Sunday morning and headed out of town for breakfast, ending up at The Log Den for their Sunday buffet… and what a wonderful stop that was! Family-built, -owned, and -operated, 76-year-old owner Wayne is still the head cook!

They also have a log home listed on VRBO and they invited us to go over to scout it out for next year!!

*Mixed results on the knitting… Friday's time was much better spent than Saturday's… more on that in a day or two, and probably an FO!