U.S. Space & Rocket Center Bachelor Party – COULD NOT BE MORE SAFE FOR WORK IF I TRIED. (Trust me.)

What a crazy, science-filled two days of bachelor party “action” that was. I thought I’d share some images of my trip to the USSRC that began my “research” for my thesis. Anyone reading this in the Book Arts program, you’ve probably seen these pictures in one of my many presentations, and you’ll probably see them again at my thesis presentation. Just letting you know.

Leaning up against an F-1 engine. The same type that took man to the moon. The engine makes us look slightly cooler.

In the rocket park.

More rocket park.

The majestic Saturn V.

The majestic Saturn V at NIGHT!

And again.

Us waving to the crowds as we board the Space Shot. Four seconds after this photo was taken I would begin screaming my lungs out like a dying rabbit.

Us actually on the Space Shot.
“There are no atheists on the Space Shot” I quipped, seconds before we were dropped three stories.

Self-explanatory.

Me with John Young’s space suit.

 

The Apollo 16 Command Module.

Me inside the Command Module. (Not Really).

A picture of me having my picture taken with some kind of proposed rover.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thesis Exhibition Planning (i.e. More Charts!!!)

I believe I mentioned that my thesis exhibition will be held in University of Alabama’s observatory, right? Well just in case I didn’t, now you know for sure just exactly how “cool” I am. Anyway, I went to meet with the observatory director the other day so I could take some measurements and get an idea of how I’m going to hang and light my work. I think I’ve got it all figured out. And how else would you expect me to do this other than by using a lot of colorful charts and graphs? You know me. Come on.

This is how I think I’m going to hang my work. With a lot of clamps and fishing line.

Below are diagrams I drew of the observatory. The first one is in pencil and the second one is in colored pens. Just LOOK at the difference. The first one: YAWN! The second one: WOW!

 

 

 

And here’s a picture of the observatory. The reception (read: food) is going to be on the roof. Unless it rains. Then it will be in the control room below the observatory.

observe THIS!

 

So anyway, I’m trying to get Neil deGrasse Tyson to come to my show opening since it has to do with space and he seems to be into that. So if anyone knows him, just drop him a line. He can always crash on my couch.

 

 

ALSO, I finally finished my first LEGIT mockup complete with slipcase and adhered mission patch. Here’s a picture of it. Pez John Adams makes the whole thing look VERY presidential.

FINAL THESIS PRINTING DAY!!!!!!!!!! (whatevs)

Saturday was my final day of thesis printing. (Whatevs.) ((No bigs.))

Don’t worry. I kept track of ALL KINDS of “interesting” statistics, such as: number of press cranks, average precipitation, miles driven, $ spent on ga$oline, temperature on my most efficient day, and MANY MORE! I won’t put those statistics on here until after my public presentation on April 8th. I want everyone to be “surprised”.

My girlfriend got to fly down here from Texas and hang out with me during my final eight print runs. I was so happy to have her there and she even cleaned the press for me a few times because she is so amazing. She also read my thesis text, which is kind of a big deal since it’s partially about her. She was going to wait to read it until I was completely finished printing and binding, but she decided she couldn’t wait anymore.

Here’s me casually posing before printing the very last page of the last print run.

And here’s me celebrating finishing the printing of my thesis with a Cadbury Cream Egg. Delicious.

 

Well, you know it’s true. Even Pez John Adams thinks so. Roll Tide.

Alan Shepard with the fourth and final color layer.

 

Thesis Printing!!!

I just wrapped up printing the text for my thesis and now I’m moving on to the images. Which is good because my defense is in APRIL. April 8th, actually. But my show has to be set up and open to the public on the 4th. I’m having my show in the university’s observatory. I’m pretty sure this is a first for both the history of book arts AND The University of Alabama. (Roll Tide)

Yesterday was my first day printing any images so I took a few pictures.

The Prints

This spread features one of the 4 color prints. It’s the first American in space, Alan Shepard. Let’s light this candle.

This is one of the polymer plates for the Al Shepard image. This is the black layer. For more information on photopolymer plates, please see my “Award Winning” post on photopolymer plates!

This is one of the images of the moon that will be in my book. I was having paper problems, so Sarah Bryant suggested I “ink the hell out of it”, and I did. And it’s beautiful. There’s so much ink on this print that you can actually feel the moon’s craters. Which is an added bonus.

The Charts

If you’ve ever been unfortunate enough to talk to me for five minutes, you’ll know that I love hand-drawn, needlessly complex, multicolored charts. I love them so much that I show them to anyone who will look. I figure this is a good opportunity to show the whole world.

This is my standard deviation chart. Don’t be fooled into thinking I have only one of these. If you look closely at the top you’ll see that this is the “OVERALL” standard deviation chart. I also have separate deviation charts for the text portions and image portions. I like to know how many I screw up and this helps me visualize that. For another “fine” standard deviation chart, you should probably look at this other post.

This helps me keep track of all my settings. Unlike the standard deviation chart, this one is actually quite useful.

This is my color distribution chart. It tracks how many times each color appears throughout the book and how much of that color appears on any given page. Usefulness rating: 4 out of 10.

This is quite simply the best, most useful chart I’ve ever created. It shows the front and back of each spread in the book. I constantly use this as I’m printing to make sure I’m printing the correct thing on the back of some other correct thing. It also helps me keep track of which portion of each page I’ve completed via a complicated series of color-coded marks below that page. This book has 3 different colors of text and four different colors for images, so things can get pretty complicated pretty fast. Anyway, I love this chart. After this is all over I’m having it framed. Or maybe bronzed. Or both.

Cowboy Box and Apollo 11

 

My Summer at Austin Peay

I spent a big part of this past summer at my alma mater, Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, Tennessee. I printed a book on lonely astronauts, tuned-up a Vandercook press, and organized some type.

cleaning the Vandercook

making some paper

But my favorite thing I did this summer, by far, was teaching kids’ book arts classes. For 5 weeks, 3 days a week, I worked with some wonderful kids on making paper, binding books, printing linoleum blocks, and tons of other stuff. The kids were awesome and they all did some amazing work. I think they are better at pulling sheets of paper than I am.

our giant paper airplane

our giant paper airplane in action!

 

mixing food coloring into the pulp was even more popular than I ever could have imagined

they never got tired of hangman.a scene from our puppet play, "To The Pluto Rescue." even Neil DeGrasse Tyson can't explain why kids love Pluto so much.

Some amazing and dear friends let me stay with them for two months, and I can’t thank them enough. We watched almost every episode of The Wire together and I could not have asked for better company.

I hope I’m able to return next summer and do it all again!

a journey’s end…

Well I’ve finally completed my Jack Vance book project. There are still a few left to bind, but most of them are finished.

I’m trying not to rest on my “laurels” though. I’ve started work on my next book project, which will be about astronauts and loneliness.