it takes a village (part II of what i did on my summer vacation)

The summer started off with me buying copious amounts of paper, board and glue while also trying to line up interns and helpers. I knew most of my juniors would be busy with internships so luckily as fate would have it, Sara Lenton, graduating senior + foodie extraordinaire  (shown below amidst the 12 boxes she packed full of 2,000 tree books), came into my life and asked to be an intern! We were both so excited until low and behold she went and got herself a great full time job. She couldn’t work as much as we thought but she still came on weekends to help all the way from Lebanon, PA. With an intern slot to fill I started hitting up my new friends, the sophomores at Moore College of Art and Design. There were a few (Erika, Lauren, & Tania) who were staying in the city on their summer vacation so they made for great support.

People came from all over to help. And by help, I mean folding endless reams of paper (I think 27 was the final count), piercing holes for sewing, collating into small batches, hand sewing, gluing, stamping, bagging, and packing.

The list of people who came to help in the studio is endless. There was Aunt Gladys who came every tuesday night without fail to sew with me on the sofa while we watched the song stylings on The Voice and then a little cult fave, Twin Peaks.

They came on weekends: Ariane, Kate and Nancy (after pancakes at Sulimays), from DC and beyond (Andrea and Mom! who came twice!) and nearby (Anne, Muther & Lysander) too. Roz and Monica even came by one morning to keep me company, give me great business ideas and fold paper.

They came before work (K-fai), in between other jobs (Angie), on their summer vacations (Marka), and in the midst of huge projects of their own Jenny (editing a feature film!). Kara (shown below with Eli and Tim) came all the way from NYC and Joy, my dear sweet twin managed to fold paper while taking care of twin baby girls.

They let me sew in their summer houses when I needed a change of scenery (Ali + Dave) or in their gardens on sunny days (Sandy), they let me sew on road trips (Nancy) to beautiful places. They even started offering up their relatives to help (thanks Sherry Berger!) And more than anything, they fed me (Cathey White, bless her) constantly.

I got to meet new friends (Bethann and Tessa), as well as hang out with current friends & students (Rachel and Cara).

Yuka cut boards even as she was posting her thesis show from grad school, and Roman, in the midst of all his graduate work, managed to print the entire run of front and back covers over at the awesome Space 1026.

The best parts of it all? The conversations! It was like we were beckoning the age old tradition of, get this, talking to people. What a revolutionary thought. It was like a new school sewing circle complete with revolving members coming in and out and no computers, emails or texts. It was a blast. Sara, Ariane and K-fai, were by far the great conversationalists! I couldn’t wait for them to show up each time knowing they would have these amazing things to talk about.

My good friend Father made me this amazing piercing machine (pictured above) that allowed me to pierce more sheets of paper at a time than doing it by hand. Genius. Genius I tell you.

And then there was my life saver,  Anna (above). It was fate that I went to my cousin Grace’s (who also helped out) graduation party and there was my other cousin Anna. Having just graduated high school she had the time and I definitely needed the help. Anna came in and single-handedly saved the day. She touched almost every book we made, she glued almost every book we made. I couldn’t have been happier to spend the summer with this amazingly whip smart, funny girl. She is at college now but I hope she knows how much better she made the whole experience. And I know I drove her crazy with the early morning fruit smoothies and the endless netflix watching of Psych and Monk all summer. And oh god, the podcasts we got through, (God bless This American Life, the Splendid Table, NPR, Pandora, KCRW, and books on tape!)  There is much entertainment needed when sewing 2000 books by hand. One day we literally sat on my couch for 6 hours straight and did nothing but sew book blocks and watch Netflix. Anna never complained once and she loves Indian food. best. girl. ever.

It was a good summer. Thank you everyone. I’ll never forget it.

xoxo