GO OUT AND EXPLORE
Rainy day in Sthlm, BHP sits indoors, going through images of this summer’s visit to the amazing itazulitho. Seeing this pic reminded me of a message a friend sent me a while ago, a heads up about GC Shop Mix getting out of stock soon. Not sure whether it turned out to be true or whether the shortage was local (so keep reading and don’t panic), for my shop is always ready for a zombie apocalypse (we’ll run out of food before we’ll run out ink), but it made me think about how easy it is to get comfy in a certain way, a certain ink, a certain paper, a certain press. Sure, when editioning or teaching or just straight producing in a shop it is way nicer to work with know tools and know materials, no one wants to endanger collaborations just to test a new ink, but aside from all of these practicalities, I’m always always curious to see what other people in other places work with - what ink do shops in Russia or India or Mexico or Tanzania or wherever use, what paper, etc etc. Just to keep an open mind of sorts, about how things can be done. This here is a nice sized can of Japanese SWALLOW PRINTING INK (not that) - looking pretty on top of an ink mixing slab in the litho shop of Tokyo Geidai, Satoru ITAZU in the background. See [this link] if you read Japanese and want to some more info on the ink, follow his tumblr if you don’t already, he’s tagged at the beginning of this entry.
Further reading: The Birthday of the World by Ursula K Le Guin. You won’t regret it! Also: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYmRnl_J9GIÂ
