Moms are awesome, and so when my mom donated to our trip I knew I had to find something special. She requested a drawing from Asheville, NC, a city where we have family. My parents had also visited the Biltmore house on their anniversary roadtrip last year, and knew the area to be quite beautiful. However, they did not visit Penland (the craft mecca of the USA, in my opinion!) and so on our visit their I kept my eyes out for something special.

I found this ceramic bluebird outside of the clay/ceramics room, in a big mosaic wall.

My mom has an affinity for birds (she has a quaker parrot named Sweet Pea), and so I thought this might be a fun drawing she would enjoy in her home.

Thank you so much Mom, and I’ll see you soon! Love you! :)

Jennifer Leech was actually one of the first people to donate to our trip (thank you so much!) and requested a drawing for her two sons, Killian and Connor. Jennifer didn’t have a request for a specific day or city, but she did note that her two boys enjoy pirates and dinosaurs. Searching for the proper combination almost because its own scavenger hunt, but I think we did it.

Thank you SO much Jennifer, and I hope Killian & Connor enjoy it! :)

We then moved into the city of Asheville proper, where we went to a place I’d been looking forward to visiting since January: Asheville Book Works. I had heard Frank Brannon discuss ABW during his talk about his project to restore the Cherokee Phoenix printed (by letterpress!) newspaper. I haven’t been in contact with him since, but luckily, Laurie Corral, the founder of ABW contacted me about giving us a tour. Hooray!

They had a letterpress printing intensive going on at the time, so we didn’t get to get up close and personal with the equipment, but I think we’ve seen a fair amount of Vandercooks already on this trip. ;)

The papermill/papermaking studeio that Frank Brannon helped set up:

(the Reina beater is hiding behind the drying rack on the left)

ABW was also working to set up and prepare the upcoming first Ladies of Letterpress conference. One of the LofL founders, Jessica White, was there working with Laurie and other ABW folks to hammer out last minute details. Surprisingly enough though I had gotten several suggestions to swing by the LofL conference from various members of the bookarts community, but it’s going on the weekend after we departed. :(

ABW also had many works from these Ladies of Letterpress on display–really beautiful work, and we recognized several names from Chicago there.

On top of that, they *also* had a display of Hatch Show Prints up on their walls. These are lovely letterpress music show posters from all over, and the variety of museums that encompassed was really inspiring.

We really enjoyed the vibe of the space and the city, and would love to come back. Thanks so much for having us Laurie, and good luck with the Ladies of Letterpress!