Write on: After the milonga, recording the dances to remember

Here's a prototype of A Tango Diary (actually, I'm not even sure that should be the name). The cover will be different; I just used a tiny piece of leftover chiyogami from years ago.

I would love to find a way to have a dancer's shoes mark up a massive piece of paper that I would cut into pieces for the book, but apart from dancing on a shoe with a sole made of graphite, I'm kind of out of ideas. Anyway, I have time.

It's a tidy little book, fits nicely in the palm of your hand and also a pants or jacket pocket, and of course the shoe bag or purse. I mean to letterpress at least a title page and maybe a colophon, and that's it. The beauty of this book is in its spareness. The stories provide the color.

I did include two pockets at both ends of the book, for business cards, slips of paper, milonga tickets, and the like.


Here's a detail of the inset on the cover. The plan is to either letterpress or write the title in calligraphy and paste it in.

Wedding bells and wedding clamshells

I ignored my recent rule of photographing everything I make. But the box was a present for a wedding this weekend, and it needed to get out the door fast.

At the same time I made a couple of other similar-size clamshells for fun, using unusual chiyogami paper I hadn't tested. They turned out great. The red wave-patterned chiyogami almost feels like lacquer to the touch, and it certainly looks like it.




the inside

I covered the other box with chiyogami that shows about a dozen different scenes, from mountain climbers to travelers going by boat. It was tough picking out the 12-by-8-inch piece to go on the cover, but I finally settled on the boat scene because of the water's iridescence.



I love the guy's smile at the right.


A peek inside

I have more pictures to post, but my camera got run over

Despite the technical difficulties, I do have this image to share with you — taken of most of the participating artists at the reception for Art Among Us here in bustling Beaumont Village.

The event neared magical, with the turnout exceeding all expectations. The wine shop glowed in the warm-cool night (with no rain, it must be noted), bottles of vino verde glistened as Andy poured it on, and the volume of art and wine lovers rose to a happy din.

Art Among Us indeed

Yesterday we hung the show at Blackbird Wineshop. It's Ataturk's big debut, and I'm also showing some letterpress-printed handmade paper. Hopefully, since it's in the window, the landlord either won't notice or — better — won't care.

Here are more pics of the show as we were hanging it.