I’m in search of a nicely framed, uncluttered, well-lit, high-resolution photograph of a “possum belly” table or cabinet for use in Nancy R. Hiller’s upcoming book, “Kitchen Think.” Ideally, it would be shot from an angle similar to that of the white one shown at bottom right in the Pinterest screen grab above…but look more like the table at top right or the cabinets, and have zinc- or tin-bellied bottom drawers.
If you happen to have such as animal in your home and are willing to help, please email me: fitz@lostartpress.com. And if I get a passel, I’ll put up a post to show them all off. (Note: I’m sure I could find one from an antique dealer — but it would be more fun to get it from you!)
Note to readers: Yesterday (25 May) some of you may have received a version of this post. That version was pulled back shortly after publishing due to multiple problems with how the images were loading. I apologize for any confusion this may have caused you. Chris Schwarz very kindly ran the images through his design software to straighten out the problem.
In early April I wrote a short post about two Russian children’s books published in the 1920s. One book was titled “Table” (about making a table) and the other was a fairy tale about a handplane making another handplane. Both books are in the Special Collections of the University of Washington Libraries. You can read the original post here.
Published in 1927, “How a Handplane Made a Handplane: A Fairy Tale” was written by Samuil Iakovlevich Marshak, considered to be the founder of Russian children’s literature. The illustrations are by Vladimir Vasil’evich Lebednev who introduced bright and bold graphics and changed the design of children’s literature. Together they produced an appealing tale for both children and adults.
Without a translation it is possible to partially figure out the plot. The book opens with a handplane, tools are introduced, a tree is felled and another handplane is made. With a translation a door is opened to the voices of the handplane and the other tools and you learn why a second handplane is made.
My translation is in prose. Although rhyming poetry is common in children’s books (and kids love it), I am not up to translating poems from one language to another, much less rhyming poems! Nevertheless, it is a charming story and I hope you enjoy it.
You can read the individual pages below. If you want to print and assemble your own book with a two-page spread you can download a pdf using this link:
Editor’s note: In today’s chair chat we discuss a chair that is so beautiful it makes Chris write poetry. We are unsure about its heritage, but it could be from Wales. Or further east. As Chris was smoking his ham, we found that we love this chair to bits, despite its possibly fake tits. Oh, did I mention to beware the salty language? Sorry!
We ripped out our kitchen on March 1 and have spent the last 10 weeks waiting for a safe time (with procedures sanctioned by state health officials) to resume the work. This week the cabinets arrived, and so I recruited Megan Fitzpatrick to help me make the maple countertops.
I haven’t written about this project because it is deeply personal. I do almost all the cooking in our house, and my ideas about kitchens are not in line with the mainstream. Frankly, I suspect I am a little off base, and I didn’t have the stomach for the criticism.
But there is one funny exchange I’d like to mention.
Today Megan and I built the 11’ section of countertop that has to be installed in pieces for a variety of reasons. I’d surfaced and glued up the maple and had gone into total “machine production” mode, like when I worked at a door factory.
So after cutting the components to size, I got out the sanders to dress the panels. After 5 minutes of sanding, Megan stopped her buzzing machine.
“I think a handplane would be faster,” she said.
I laughed. She was completely correct. I grabbed my jack plane and dressed both faces of the two countertops in less than 30 minutes. After I planed the first countertop, Megan began sanding the countertop to a higher grit.
I walked over to her bench with a card scraper and began dressing the surface.
We put the sanders away and spent the rest of the day blasting Jason Isbell’s new album, “Reunions,” and getting the job done faster, with crisper results.
We’ve run out of copies of “The Anarchist’s Design Book: Expanded Edition.” We ordered enough to last us two years, but they lasted only four months. We ordered a new press run on April 17 and should have our stock replenished within the next two weeks.
Having books or tools out of stock makes us grumpy. And we have new systems now to help prevent this from happening with any book. So we’ve been busy this month and have six press runs in the work right now. That’s crazy. The most we’ve ever managed before is two.
Other Book News I am designing Nancy Hiller’s book, “Kitchen Think: A guide to design and construction, from refurbishing to renovation.” It’s a big book with many involved layouts. I can safely say I’ve never seen another kitchen book like it. But we would expect nothing less from Nancy. We are headed for an early summer release.
“Make a Chair From a Tree” by Jennie Alexander is inching closer to the finish line. Peter Follansbee finished his work on the book in April and now Megan Fitzpatrick is getting it ready for page design. I know we’ve had some fits and starts with this title, but we hope this will be out by the end of the year. Megan promises to write up a detailed blog entry on this book soon.
“Country Woodcraft: Then & Now” by Drew Langsner is being designed by the other Meghan. We’re also trying to get this book, which covers all aspects of green woodworking, out in 2020.
And there’s more.
Brendan Gaffney is about to finish his manuscript on James Krenov (we’re trying to get that book out before the 100th anniversary of his birth). And Kara Gebhart is working with an artist to complete illustrations for Monroe Robinson’s book “The Handcrafted Life of Dick Proenneke.”
So enough of this leisurely blogging. It’s back to the salt mines for me and the rest of the crew.
