Good coffee is the official beverage at the Lost Art Press workshop. And for years, we’ve wanted to offer a high-quality U.S.-made coffee mug that wasn’t the typical give-away and throw-away thing that corporations hand out.
After lots of searching, we finally found a stoneware mug that is handmade in Minnesota by a small company. These 12-ounce mugs are dishwasher- and microwave-safe. Each mug has a two-toned glaze – blue and white – and is stamped on the underside with the potter’s maker’s mark.
The mugs are approximately 4-1/4” tall. They are 3-3/8” diameter at the base and 3” diameter at the rim. As these mugs are handmade, these dimensions are approximate, but close. The price is $25, which is a good value for work of this quality. You can order one in our store via this link. The mugs are in stock and ship immediately.
Each mug is signed by the artisan who made it.
The mugs are emblazoned with a detail from the Lost Art Press logo that features our dividers and the motto: “Traditional Hand-Tool Skills.”
Even if you don’t drink coffee, we think you’ll find a use for this mug – tea, hot chocolate, vodka (we don’t judge) or pencils.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. Hate coffee? We’re working on an LAP beer stein for the holidays.
We will open the doors of Lost Art Press’s storefront to the public for the first time since 2019 on Aug. 7, 2021 (which also happens to be Megan Fitzpatrick’s birthday).
We will give away free Lost Art Press yardsticks to the first 200 visitors. We also will sell blemished books and tools for 50 percent off retail (cash sales only on blems). And, of course, we will have our complete line of books and tools for sale as well (cash, check or credit).
We ask that all visitors be vaccinated for the COVID-19 virus, and follow CDC guidelines on masking. No exceptions. This is no different than asking you to wear pants. (Don’t bother flaming us in the comments because we will delete them.)
In the next week or so, Megan will have an announcement about 2021 classes at the storefront.
We have been insanely busy since 2019. Lost Art Press has grown to the point where I cannot travel or teach without neglecting the company. That’s a good thing.
We have a contracting crew on site right now that is sprucing up the old bathroom area. The last business in the building before I bought it was a bar. As a result, the toilets were a little sketchy.
We are converting the men’s room (farewell urinal) to a kitchenette. This will give visitors a nice place to get coffee, grab a drink or store their lunches. The women’s room is being upgraded with nice tile, cabinets, fixtures and radiant heat. We’re also doing some work in the library.
All this should be done by August, and we hope you can join us.
— Christopher Schwarz
P.S. What does Megan want for her birthday? She says she has enough whiskey and Shakespeare doo-dads. What she really needs is a live-in contractor who can help her finish her home remodel.
When we discontinued our “print on demand” apparel on Feb. 1, we promised we would replace it with stuff that matched the quality and philosophy of our books and tools. In the coming weeks, we will release several of these products.
It’s been a lot more work to find these small domestic companies and get these items made from scratch. But we think it’s worth the effort.
First out will be a coffee mug by Grey Fox Pottery in Minnesota. John is very keen on coffee (we might someday have our own brand of coffee beans – John is a “super taster”), and he found this supplier. These are handmade, hand-glazed stoneware mugs. These mugs are in our warehouse now and will probably be available to buy later this week. Price: $25 plus shipping.
We are already working on a beer stein with Grey Fox that will feature our skep logo. That should be out before Christmas.
Tom Bonamici, our clothing designer, has been really busy with new products. Next out will be a new T-shirt. These will be out in about a week or two. This shirt is 100 percent cotton, cut, sewn and printed for us by a small outfit in Oregon. This shirt is incredibly hard to photograph, but I’ll figure out how to honestly represent it so you can see what you are getting.
The Lost Art Press logo is printed on the shirt with dye sublimation, so it will not flake or fade.
The ink is a grey, and as the navy blue fades, the logo will become a little more visible. But it’s supposed to be a subtle thing.
Also on deck: a new bandana from One Feather Press that will feature the “Don’t Despair: Nothing Without Labour” illustration, which we are having redrawn for the bandana. That should arrive in about a month.
And finally, we will start stocking navy blue hats from Ebbets Field with a felt patch representing our dividers sewn onto the hat. Those will be out in late summer.
I’ve cooked up about 10 batches of linseed oil and wax in an attempt to make my own finish, but nine of those batches were unusable. Several batches were almost rock hard. Others were no different than thickened linseed oil.
One batch was perfect. But, of course, like an idiot I didn’t write down the procedure for that batch. I probably got distracted by a squirrel.
The only difference among the products I have found is their viscosity (and their price). The Allbäck is like peanut butter and costs $61 per quart. Tried & True is like snot and costs $35 per quart. And BeesBlock is like a thinned linseed oil and costs $42 per quart. I suspect the difference is caused by how much wax is in the mix, but I can’t say for sure.
From top: BeesBlock, Tried & True Original and Allback.
I love these finishes because they are easy to apply, easy to maintain and they pick up patina quickly. In other words, they don’t offer much protection from life. But that’s the approach I have come to prefer for most of the things I make (when I get to decide on the finish).
Application
Most people put these finishes on too thick. And they don’t remove enough when they wipe it down. Here’s how I apply them. I use a 3M woven grey pad to apply the finish. I like this pad because its slight abrasiveness helps smooth any rough spots, especially up around the spindles where it is hard to work with sandpaper or scrapers.
I put the project upside down on my bench and coat every surface I can easily reach rubbing the finish in. End grain will need extra finish because it will suck it up and leave the surface dry. After I coat all the surfaces of the piece that I can reach, I let it sit for 15 minutes.
Then I take a Huck towel (a surgical rag with no lint) and vigorously rub off any excess finish. I keep rubbing until the surface is dry.
Then I turn the piece over and finish the rest of the surfaces, let it sit for 15 minutes and then rub it with the Huck towel.
I look for dry spots, especially on the end grain, and add some more finish. When I’m satisfied, I let the piece sit overnight. Then I rub it vigorously with a clean Huck towel. The finish is done.
You can apply additional coats of finish if you like, or you can put the project in service. After about a year you might want to apply another coat. Or let nature take its course.
This week I’m working on the finishing chapters for “The Stick Chair Book” and needed to mix up some new batches of soap finish. As usual, I used soap flakes from the Pure Soap Flake Co.
But not as per usual, I got the recipe wrong.
Instead of combining equal weights of boiling water and soap flakes, my brain told me to measure out the flakes using volume instead of weight. And for some reason I doubled the amount of water.
I knew it was wrong when I started mixing it, but I left it overnight to see what happened.
To my surprise, it made a very nice all-natural liquid soap. So I refilled all the soap dispensers in our house like I meant to do it.
If you would like to repeat my mistake, take 1 cup of soap flakes and combine it with two cups of boiling hot water. Mix it vigorously until all the flakes dissolve. Let it cool, then use it.