29 Comments
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Kirsten Sanders's avatar

can you please sell prints? I want this on my wall

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Kimberly Hirsh's avatar

More IMLS updates, staff are on paid administrative leave, processing of new grants is stopped. I've heard of at least one current grant recipient who's been told to stop work.

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GWF's avatar

The speedball link led to this great video…

https://a.co/d/5mwVA6j

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Robert McEvily's avatar

Dude, I think you're the greatest person who's ever lived. Nonstop AWESOME—that's you! I'm constantly following your lead, stealing from you (respectfully & always giving credit), and NOW I'm gonna start making block prints while listening to dub reggae! Thank you, as always!

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Austin Kleon's avatar

Not true but I shall try to live up to a small percentage of it :)

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Heather B's avatar

I hope the Mount Pleasant Library Friends group got an influx of orders! I immediately ordered a shirt, and I work at a library. Everyone, please make noise at the local and state levels as well as the national level if you love your library. We’ve been under attack for several years by astroturf groups like Moms for Liberty who have taken over library boards and school boards. Please don’t think it’s not happening in your blue state or near you — it probably is, and it’s probably happening under the radar with the disappearance of local news sources. I would love to see library advocates in every community do something like this: https://indecentlibraries.substack.com/

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Visual Artist's avatar

Thanks for the information about block printing. I’ve been digging deeply into gel plate printing recently, and there is potential to combine both mediums. Thanks for the inspiration! If you haven’t checked out gel plates, they are crazy addictive to work with!

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Austin Kleon's avatar

I have one over here I've been meaning to play with — do you know a good tutorial online?

I might do a block print post on Tuesday, so stay tuned!

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Visual Artist's avatar

Sorry for the delayed response - I didn’t see your reply until today! I have been watching YouTube videos by Jessica Russo Scherr on her Blue Lava Art channel and signed up for her gel print class which has been terrific.

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Boney Turnaround's avatar

Thank you for #8 - I also had no idea. Libraries have been a powerful anchor for me throughout my life. As a first time mom to an infant now, I don’t know what I would do without them. This inspired me to call my reps for the first time ever - I am a millennial and hate phone calls, but I’m not giving up my library without a fight. I cried through the first phone call but by the time I got to the third, I was steady. I am now thinking of other ways to get the word out - what’s more punk than a zine about libraries?? (I also have this shirt - one of my most favorite items of clothing. Thanks for warning others about the fakes out there!)

Looking forward to your block printing demo - I love printing but often have trouble with my ink. Excited to see your tips.

Thank you as always for these missives - your newsletters are my most-looked-for emails of the week.

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Austin Kleon's avatar

I'm glad you called — new mom time can be emotional! Hang in there.

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Kimberly Hirsh's avatar

Some updates on what's going on at IMLS, courtesy of EveryLibrary and Book Riot's Literary Activism Newsletter (both worth checking out!): Trump appointed Secretary of Labor Keith M. Sonderling as acting director of IMLS. DOGE actually went to IMLS offices yesterday. EveryLibrary: https://www.everylibrary.org/statementsonderlingimls Book Riot Literary Activism: https://bookriot.com/imls-propaganda/

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Jacquelyn P's avatar

Thanks for these links!

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Anne Murphy's avatar

I haven't done any carving or printing for a while, that's a good goal for this summer (or sooner).

I love Thor! He's a very good and wise person.

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Pooja Lakshmin MD's avatar

Thanks for the heads up on the Book Trail Crawl!

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Mitch Todd's avatar

This got me thinking that it would be fun to do a block printing Meetup. Maybe find an art supply store to sponsor it.

Who's with me?

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Jillian Hess's avatar

Do you happen to know if the book trail exists in other cities...like NYC? I love the idea so much.

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Carolyn Yoo's avatar

There's a Brooklyn Bookstore Crawl the last weekend of April for Independent Bookstore Day!

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Jillian Hess's avatar

I'm so happy to know about this! Thanks, Carolyn!

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Austin Kleon's avatar

Ask and ye shall receive!

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soosixty's avatar

I love your prints! Apparently my husband has a print making kit that he uses (shrug) so now I’ll try some too.

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Gretchen's avatar

I’m looking forward to ‘Slow Art’ Friday here. It’s the annual gallery crawl and s great way to see friends new and old. Dub reggae sounds fascinating. And yup, your merch would be a treat! Maybe when the next book is out?

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Christine Havens's avatar

#8 hurts my heart, but thank you for all of these. Now I’m going to have to get a block printing kit. Really love the “Be the weird” prints. When is your merchandise store opening? 😋

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