Good Housekeeping

When I walked into my print studio this morning, my first, involuntary thought was "wow, this place needs a good cleaning." Type, type cases, spacing material, paper off cuts, polymer plate segments - everything has been kind of piling up. And piling up. And piling up. I've been so absorbed in my work that I have had neither the time nor the inclination to do anything about it.

This is not a sign of good studio housekeeping, I said to myself. Things had come to a critical mass.

I've been finishing the final typesetting for Allison's book, Open Sky, which I talked about here. She's recently returned from Peru, so we've resumed printing the colophon and a few other details before it's ready to be bound. In the process of setting the colophon, I discovered that I needed to re-distribute type from a project I had printed nearly two years ago, and that I had left standing, assuming I'd get around to it one day or another. Because that type hadn't been returned to it's proper home, I was short of sorts for Allison's colophon.

So, I simply tackled it. I scoured my little print shack from top to bottom today, vacuuming up cobwebs and stashing paper piles in a places where they will be found and used, and finally, re-distributing type from my galley trays back into their cases.

And here I am looking a bit smug and feeling thoroughly satisfied.