Our printing company informed me that “Make a Joint Stool from a Tree” was loaded on a truck and shipped to us on Thursday, which means it could arrive any time between now and Tuesday.
So, of course, I had a very bad dream about the book last night.
You do not need to shield your children’s eyes from the next few paragraphs. The dream did not involve nudity or a randy okapi. It was about the color red.
“Make a Joint Stool from a Tree” by Jennie Alexander and Peter Follansbee is our first book with color photographs, and so I spent about a week in January trying to dial in all the fleshtones and oak-tones in the photographs so they looked consistent. I am now intimately familiar with the color of Peter’s hands.
So in my dream I open the first boxes of the joint stool book and many of the pages are smeared with red ink. In fact, some pages are mostly blocks of red. I call the printing company to complain. They tell me that I am looking at books from the beginning of the press run and the press operators were still trying to dial in the color – this actually is a real-world excuse in the printing industry.
So I go on a search for books that were printed later in the run.
The rest of the press run is at a book-release party and is being handed out to the guests. I start complaining to the host about the color. They hand me some gray Play-Doh and a Fuzzy Pumper Barber Shop. The gimmick of the book release party is that everyone will extrude their own Peter Follansbee beard in Play-Doh and wear it during the party.
No one will listen to me. I’m surrounded by men and women wearing big Play Doh beards. I wake up.
I’m sure the color will be just fine. Really.
— Christopher Schwarz
Chris,
Yes, it’s time for that little rest we spoke of. Some relaxation, yoga breaths and some nice soothing tea will get you back to ‘normal’ in no time at all.
Michael
Chris,
Let John worry about it for a little while. You and your family take a little vacation after this project is finished. Make sure and bring the play-doh with ya.
Never mind a vacation there’s “Mouldings in Practice” to birth………
Any news?
The color seems a litle off in the photo of the Fuzzy Pumper. But maybe that’s just my color display.
Chris, I ain’t ordering this one, if you are going to make me grow a play doh beard!
If I were publishing it, I know I would obsess over it too. But, really it isn’t all that important that the book win a prize or be perfect.
I just want to learn about building stools, and will be happy to have the information out there.
I’m looking forward to a great book.
A thought: Your “publisher’s nightmate” reflects significant maturity. You seem to have gotten past the nightmare about showing up for a college class and realizing that it’s final exam time, and you haven’t attended class or studied all semester.
Boxed wine will do that to you…
The ability to see color is a weakness.
Play-Doh is a nightmare indeed
That smell ….. uuuuuugh !!
I love the smell of Play-Doh is the morning…
I mostly come here for the comedy. Play-Doh beards? Hilarious.