We have just received stock of our newest bandana design, and it’s a throwback to our first bandana. This one is black and features our skep logo, plus a bunch of dividers and bees. The big difference is that this bandana was made by One Feather Press.
These are the nicest, softest, well-printed bandanas we’ve ever encountered. They are made one at a time by one guy in his shop. Pre-washed. Ready to become a good friend on the first day.
The bandanas are 22” x 22” and cost $25. More details in our store.
Crucible Card Scrapers Back in Stock
For the last few months we’ve searched in vain for the steel to make our scrapers. Everyone was backordered until late July. Then one company said they had our steel in stock. We sent them $8,000 and discovered they were lying/mistaken/something not libelous.
A few terse communications later, they somehow found the steel and shipped it to us.
So now (after a lot of waterjet and machine tool action) we have scrapers in stock and ready to ship.
Other stuff: The GoDrilla bit extension is nearly done. We’ve solved the problem of the binding threads. Our holdfasts have been poured, but we are waiting on the grinders to do their thing. And we are working on some new T-shirts.
I know this last line of the blog entry (always a dangerous place for me) might curse us. But if you need a little bit of good news today, many things in our supply chains seem to be returning to normal. Everything we do is in the United States, so I have no idea how things are going with international companies. But here, my torn fingernails are starting to grow back a bit.
— Christopher Schwarz
Love the news!
fyi – the in our store link is not correct, atm. 😉
Fixed. Thanks.
Great looking bandana, would be great for snowboard season. Yeah it does seem that supply chain is getting better as I am buying other stuff in various categories. Lets just hope nobody else tries making a u-turn in the Suez canal now.
I missed out on this original bandana, and it’s possibly my favorite of your designs. I’m stoked to finally get one! 😃
I’m curious. You mentioned a year or two ago that paper warehouses were practically empty, and if you wanted a specific type of paper for a book it could be a long wait. Has the paper issue sorted itself out?
Hi John,
Paper is still a problem. When Resolute closed its Tennessee plant, we lost a reliable supply of papers that we’ve used in many of our books. Recovering from that blow is taking time.
https://resolutefp.mediaroom.com/2021-12-16-Resolute-Announces-Indefinite-Idling-of-Pulp-and-Paper-Operations-at-Calhoun,-TN-Mill
When the shortage was at its worst, we had no choice as to what our books were printed on. They would say: this paper is available today. Take it or leave it. Now we have somewhat of a choice, though some paper stocks are unavailable.
The price of paper has gone up by 20 percent across the board. And it’s the biggest expense in our books. We have tried to hold prices steady, but have had to raise them here and there.
One way we are dealing with this is with our pocket books – we are able to shoehorn a lot of information into these little guys and keep the price about $20. We are still committed to big and beautiful books (we have many in the works). But we are going to have to offer a range of books for people who are facing inflationary pressure….
Good information, thanks.
As I write this, I happen to be staring at your three ginormous Roubo volumes. That’s a buttload of really great paper in those. Still the nicest books, ever.
The paper in those books is my favorite paper in the world – Mohawk #100. Made with wind power. No better paper.
I would very much like to join the yay-sayers on the re-release of his your first (and to my mind still one of your finest) bandana design, which at the original time release I wasn’t aware of, because, well, I wasn’t aware of LAP, and thus didn’t know to order then. Even better, I now get it in One Feather Press quality which, as you so rightly point out, is really up there with the mostest and the bestest and the well-printedest.
In short: Yay!
Cheers,
Mattias
PS. Not that it matters, one way or the other, but you might want to remove the phrase on the shop page about it being inspired by silk maps, sewn into pilot jackets, which I suppose applied rather to the previous design? I mean, I can very much see why, if stuck behind enemy lines, you would want to carry a stick chair blueprint (vaulting horses are so 1943), but I’m less convinced of such utility when it comes to images of bees and compasses …
Fixed! Thank you for pointing that out. My mind had a brain fart/burp.
I also missed out on this bandana the first time around, and am likewise pumped to have this better printed version.
I’m kind of hoping LAP reprints some of the other earlier designs again, because the One Feather Press bandanas are so much nicer to use. What do you think Chris? 😃
Speaking of paper – still hoping for some cool LAP bookplates!