We had some recent visitors to the Rego Point Diner, first was Erik, who was here in late May. While he was here we went to the NYC Transit Museum which I had always heard was great but was a big disappointment! The best part was the old ads in the old timey subway cars they had but the museum was lacking in secret subway info.
To make up for it we snuck into the Amtrak tunnel under Riverside Park at 125th Street. This tunnel was unused for a long time and was one of the main tunnels that the "mole people" were living in until the early 90's when Amtrak started running trains through again. Because of this and the tunnel's wide area on each side of the track it became a graffiti hotspot. The tunnel has lots of skylights that let light shine down onto the walls to create natural graffiti canvases like the ones behind Erik here. We only walked to 100th street (each street is marked with a sign in the tunnel) but the tunnel goes all the way to 72nd.
If we had gotten to the end of the tunnel we would have come out right where Andrea and I went to go see the transit of Venus on June 5th! When she took this picture at around 7PM we weren't sure if we would see the transit at all because the sun would be setting around 8 and it had been cloudy all day. We walked to the end of the pier and then back to the telescopes and right then the sun came out from behind a cloud and we saw Venus for about 30 seconds, perfect timing!
Wednesday, June 13, 2012
Spring Visitors
Monday, May 14, 2012
A Trip To The Book Factory
We're almost done making the 50 copies of The Borough of Blackwell, but what makes a book a book? At some places maybe fancy tools and lots of supplies, but not at Phone Booth Press! From a pile of paper to a book in just 9 easy steps, take a look:
The first step is to put the pages in order. The book is 64 pages (including end papers) with 4 pages per sheet. That means there are 16 8.5x11 sheets in a book. To save money we use 2 files, one is 7 sheets in black and white and is mostly text, the other is 9 pages in color. The b/w pages mostly alternate with the color pages in this order: {C, BW, C, BW}, {C, C, BW, C}, {C, BW, C, BW}, {BW, BW, C, C}. The book is organized in 4 signatures, groups of pages that are folded together, which is the next step!
The second step is to fold each signature in half along the spine, it seems hard to get it just right but it's not!
The Third step is to poke holes along the spine. For this I use a stencil page with 4 holes poked in it, that way they are in the same place on each signature which is important. A sewing pin works great for poking the holes.
The fourth step is to sew all 4 signatures together, it's hard to take a picture of this because I use both hands but this is what a whole stack look like when they're done.
The fifth step is to squeeze the book between two pieces of cardboard to hold it straight and glue the spine. While the glue dries we'll make the cover.
