Lost Art Press

Category: Lost Art Press Storefront

Open Day This Saturday (July 14)

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The Lost Art Press storefront will be open to the public from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. this coming Saturday. While Megan Fitzpatrick will be gorging herself on lobster and Downeast Cider, Brendan Gaffney and I will be working dutifully in the shop.

Brendan is finishing up a massive bookstand that will hold our Deluxe “Roubo on Furniture” book – we’ll be posting a video this week on the book and the bookstand, which is from a plan in Roubo. (No, it’s not the one that Roy Underhill has made famous.)

I’ll be building a chair (duh) that I hope will make it into the expanded edition of “The Anarchist’s Design Book.”

We’ll have blemished books for sale (cash only), plus our complete line of new and unblemished books (all major credit cards accepted). Come check out our newest titles: “Welsh Stick Chairs,” “Cut & Dried” and “Slojd in Wood.”

We also have our new Lost Art Press bandanas in stock at the storefront. These are quite nice.

If you are looking for other reasons to visit Covington and Cincinnati, may we recommend:

Looking for a place to eat? Get Saturday brunch at Main Street Tavern, Coppin’s or Otto’s and then walk to our storefront.

As always, we are there to answer questions about woodworking, demonstrate woodworking techniques and drink coffee. Hope to see you there.

— Christopher Schwarz

What Makes a Book ‘Well Made?’

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On our website, John and I frequently discuss the mechanical aspects of our books. But sometimes I worry our technical jargon is lost on some.

To help remedy that, here’s a short video on the mechanical aspects of our books. If you’ve ever wondered about paper weight, edition binding and sewing signatures, this video should clear it up.

If you’d like a factory tour of the plant that prints many of our full-color books, check out this film that I made last year. That film shows how many of our manufacturing decisions play out on the factory floor.

We think book manufacturing is important. Many books today are so shoddily printed and bound that it’s no wonder many people prefer electronic books. We strive to ensure our books will last for a long time, can survive a shop environment (or worse) and still be a pleasure to read after decades of use.

— Christopher Schwarz

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Aug. 11: Book-release Party with Nancy Hiller (and a Pinata)

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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We adore Nancy Hiller’s new book “English Arts & Crafts Furniture,” even though we didn’t publish it. So we have gladly agreed to host a book-release party at 7 p.m. Aug. 11 at our storefront in Covington, Ky.

You can register (it’s free) via this link.

hiller_cover_IMG_6716Nancy, as you well know, is a straight-talking, no-BS professional woodworker from Bloomington, Ind., who has written a number of books, including “Making Things Work.” (She’s now working on a book on kitchen design for Lost Art Press.)

During our book-release party next month, Nancy has a number of fun things planned (this time we promise – no prostitutes or single-ply toilet paper will be there).

  • Nancy will bring her C.F.A. Voysey two-heart chair (featured in the book) for you to inspect
  • She’ll give a short reading from the book
  • She’ll sign your copy of “English Arts & Crafts” furniture, plus any other books she has written. Note, we’ll have copies of “English Arts & Crafts” there for you to purchase.
  • There will be a pinata. Last time it was a pinata in the shape of a DeWalt biscuit jointer. This time the pinata will be related to the United Kingdom (though I promise it’s not Brexit-related or single-ply toilet paper).
  • We will supply drinks and snacks.

All are welcome – feel free to bring your spouse and children. Heck, make an evening out of it. There are lots of great places to eat in Covington. And if you are from out of town, Aug. 11 is a great day to plan a visit to Covington as the Lost Art Press storefront will be open to the public that day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Again, you can register for the book-release party (it’s free) via this link.

— Christopher Schwarz

Storefront Takeover This Saturday (June 9)

Posted on by fitz
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Not our storefront – yet. Photo by Gordon Baer.

Normally around this time every month Chris writes a blog post to tell you that the Lost Art Press storefront in Covington, Ky., will be open on the coming Saturday. But with Chris visiting his (kind of) ancestral homeland, it’s up to me to announce and host the storefront’s open house.

And so, we’re going to do things a bit differently this weekend. Of course, the storefront (at 837 Willard St. in Covington, Ky.) will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday (June 9). But this week, I’ll be setting the shop up for a particular set of activities: whittlin’, chire mekin’ an crown craftin’.

Yes – this weekend, in keeping with the recent research Chris and I have been doing on Chester Cornett, I’ll be setting up the shop for a number of Appalachian craft activities.

  • I’ll have three shavehorses out front for making posts and rungs for chairs. I’ll be attempting to encourage (coerce?) people to join me in making simple shaved parts – the rocker I’m hoping to recreate has quite a few.
  • I’ll have tools and green wood for some good old fashioned whittling and (Kentucky-style) slöjd – at last month’s Appalachian festival here in Cincinnati I picked up an old book full of different woodcraft projects from the mountains from which I’m pulling a few fun-looking projects.
  • We’ll be playing the movie “Hand Carved” all day in the front room, which is an incredible documentary film made by Appalshop on Chester Cornett, following him through the process of making one chair.
  • We’ll also be making some paper crowns in the style of the Craftsman King of the Cumberlands.

Also, “Cut & Dried” has arrived at the storefront and will be available for purchase and perusal. I’ve been reading through it over the past few days, and I’m loving it.

If you’re looking for more to do in the area this weekend:

  • We’ve said it a few times, but the Kentucky Folk Art Center is less than two hours away from the shop in Morehead, Ky., and with its funding in jeopardy, it may be closing its doors in the next few months. It is well worth the trip, and there are three chairs by Cornett on display currently.
  • Chako Bakery Cafe is only two blocks from the shop, and by around 9:30 a.m. on the weekend there is an incredible array of Japanese baked goods, savory and sweet, that bring in Japanese expats from hours away.
  • The Terracotta Army exhibit at the Cincinnati Museum of Art opened a few weeks ago, and is a breathtaking survey of the life and legacy of China’s first emperor.
  • The Swing House at the Contemporary Arts Center in Cincinnati looks amazing – suspend yourself from a three-story tall swing in a beautiful space. Both the CAC and CMA museums have free admission, with special exhibits costing only a small special fee.

See you this weekend!

— Brendan Gaffney

LAP Open Day on Saturday will be a Big One

Posted on by Lost Art Press

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This Saturday we are opening the doors at Lost Art Press, and there is a lot of stuff going on. Here are the parts that I can remember:

  1. Tools. Brendan, Megan and I are selling off our excess tools. I’m still digging stuff out of the basement. Everything will be priced to move. None of us own junk. All tool sales are cash.
  2. Book-release Party. Suzanne Ellison, the Saucy Indexer and LAP researcher, is making her first appearance here. Suzanne and I are going to present our unexpurgated history of workbenches on Saturday night. At the party we will give you drinks. Suzanne has party favors for everyone that she has made. We have a few spots left for this free thing. Sign up here.
  3. Special guests. Jameel and FJ Abraham from Benchcrafted will be there to poo upon our Roman workbenches. And they have cool Chatoyance stickers to sell.
  4. Another special guest – Mark Hicks from Plate 11 Workbench Co. – will be there with shavehorses. (We bought one and he is bringing an extra one I believe). Give them a spin and talk workbenches with Mark, Jameel and me (if you dare).
  5. Books. As per usual, we will have the complete line of LAP books available for sale, plus T-shirts.

Finally, a couple food notes. If you are here on Friday, go to Braxton Brewing and get yourself a fried chicken sandwich on a biscuit from Bakers Table’s pop-up shop. And when you are here, make sure you eat at Main Street Tavern. It’s right around the corner from us. We eat there way too much. The brunch is cheap and incredible (it’s offered both Saturday and Sunday).

Looking for a place to stay? Definitely Hotel Covington. It’s a seven-minute walk from our store. The restaurant there – Coppin’s – is outstanding.

Alright, enough of my unsponsored blathering. Hope you can stop by on Saturday.

— Christopher Schwarz