#1: hello
I’m still figuring out what this space is. One part of me feels that I should have my audience and value proposition and brand offering all figured out, because that is what you “do” on Substack; the other thinks I should start with the making and the experimenting, and the rest can come later, if it makes sense to.
So here’s the first experiment. Three things from this month so far that got me thinking and creating in new ways:
1) A new tool: the SPACIES desk pad
I saw a photo of this pad appear in my Substack recommends, and I immediately, with the fervor one can only have at 11 PM on a Saturday night when you’re deep in the Internet and don’t feel like going to bed yet, I rushed over to SPACIES, read everything in the entire newsletter archive, and then bought the desk pad. (So Substack recommendations do work!)
The concept for the pad is simple: a really huge desk pad. But it has subtle details—QR codes that link to interesting web pages, a dotted section that you can use if you need lines and ignore if you don’t, a color gradient on some of the pages. It is so clearly designed with care and intention! It makes me very happy, both because I enjoy using it and I enjoy the fact that it exists in the world.
2) A new book: Bake Smart by Samantha Seneviratne
I put off scheduling a haircut for months, but the thing that finally persuaded me was the fact that the salon is right next to a Barnes & Noble. I picked up a new cookbook called Bake Smart, by Samantha Seneviratne, who also wrote another of my favorite cookbooks, The Joys of Baking. I’ve been in a rut recently baking just easy snacking cakes that I’ve made 100 times, but the recipes in this book promised a way out. Carrot cake buns! Coffee crème croissant bread pudding! Lemon hibiscus cookies! (I was really excited about that last one, as I’ve wanted to do more baking with herbs and floral flavors.)
As an aside, the cookbook is gorgeous. I love cookbooks as book objects—the typography, the food styling, the color choices, the paper weight and feel. I would have loved this one ever so slightly more if it had matte pages—easier to make notes on—but that’s a minor quibble.
3) A new idea: “artist publishing”
I went to the Detroit Zine Fest back in April, where I learned about risograph printing, which took me to Anemone Studio, which took me this week to Amelia Greenhall’s “Notes on Artist Publishing.” (Here is a short post about it.)
I love, love, love the idea of artist publishing — and the thought that the publishing can be an extension of my artistic practice, rather than something I do to judge the outputs.
Since the Zine Fest I’ve been dabbling in zine making, but my perfectionism was getting the best of me. With the idea/tenets of artist publishing in my head I decided to start again. This time I made a paper prototype first, and started blocking out my ideas with sticky notes. Doing that has helped me focus on the zine as an object that I’m making — and how the physical properties of the object will shape how people encounter the content.
encountered any really beautifully designed cookbooks lately? or anything else inspiring? drop a line and say hello!