keep writing project
a monthly letterpress postcard subscription since 2008.
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chief correspondent: hope (they/them) @hopeamico.com
archive assistant: leslie (they/them) @oneironaut17.bsky.social
- KEEP WRITING no 49 March 2013 Say hi to your neighbor. It’s almost like the guilt of skipping a month propels more complicated designs. Not the first 3 part card, but one of my favorite designs. Once card for saying hi to a neighbor, one for telling me about it.
- Letterpress printed with polymer plates and hand carved linocut on French Paper Co paper. Responses from April Marie Hale & Bertie Goldtooth. iIf you want your chance to participate you gotta sign up - buff.ly/eUlz4bt
- KEEP WRITING no 48 February 2013 Sometimes I get too upset for a question. This month, an experiment in layering metallic ink over a base of rubber ink. Letterpress printed with polymer plates on chipboard salvaged from packaged stamps.
- If you want your chance to participate you gotta sign up - buff.ly/eUlz4bt #KeepWriting #KeepWritingPostcards #KeepWritingProject #LetterpressPrinter #NewOrleans #Printer #ArtStudent #ArtProject #SendMoreMail #SendAPostcard #WhereYouFrom #Southern #Oakland #BayArea #HandsetType #TeachYourSons
- KEEP WRITING no 46 again January 2013 What do you do to get out of the rut of regularity. An experiment in process and numbering. Yes, last month’s card was also 46. I am not my own best proofreader.
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View full threadLetterpress printed with polymer plates on more paper I found in the scrap pile. If you want your chance to participate you gotta sign up - buff.ly/eUlz4bt
- At this point I was working in a print shop making plates with negatives. I ordered scrap plates from Boxcar and testing out ideas. In this case, I scratched the negatives with sandpaper to create the scratchy swirls. Then I printed in three colors, on more paper I found in the scrap pile at SFCB.
- KEEP WRITING no 46 December 2012 Where are you from? I love gold ink and handset type. Sharing the love for my new home in Oakland. What a wild time. It barely rained, my best friend lived a train ride away, my roommate let me use his printshop. I missed LA but I was doing my best to acclimate.
- Letterpress printed with handset type on more paper I found in the scrap pile. You can see all the responses on tumblr! buff.ly/Mn4717W If you want your chance to participate you gotta sign up - buff.ly/eUlz4bt
- KEEP WRITING no 45 October 2012 Asking what are your assumptions about the south? Was moving to the Bay Area for an internship and a very low paying part time job a good idea? Maybe not. But my internship at the SFCB taught me so much about printing and lead to me teaching there!
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View full threadThis month, inspired but something my mom used to say, was a chance to get clever with wood type. It was a favorite for so long I eventually reprinted it with a polymer plate. Letterpress printed with handset type on some paper I found in the scrap pile.
- If you want your chance to participate you gotta sign up - buff.ly/eUlz4bt #KeepWriting #KeepWritingPostcards #KeepWritingProject #LetterpressPrinter #NewOrleans #StudyAbroad #milano #LSU #LSUGraduate #LSUSchoolofArt #Printer #ArtStudent #ArtProject #SendMoreMail #SendAPostcard #WhereYouFrom
- And my other job included training on a Heidelberg Windmill, my printing press of choice. Handset type leads to designs that are different than my digital designs and SFCB has an amazing collection of type. This month was a chance to get clever with wood type.
- WRITING no 44 September 2012 Send me a memory of your first home Letterpress printed on chipboard and sewn There are a few instances of Keep Writing being printed by someone else. Some gracious collaborators offered. I sometimes think about a final card being printed by someone else if I can’t.
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View full threadStill without a mailing address, my sister once again let me use her address and forwarded responses to me, along with my college diploma. If you want your chance to participate you gotta sign up for your monthly letterpress postcards! buff.ly/eUlz4bt
- After setting my first mailing address in wood type, and all the test, I tied up the blocks of text and make plans to return. Plans, ha! A hurricane hit New Orleans. We stayed safely with friends, played scrabble and assured our future Oakland roommate we would be on our way as soon as possible.
- We left town a day later than expected, the type still tied up in the shop. John Fitzgerald, agreed to print for me and shipped the prints to Oakland. There was a mix up in set up and I ended up sewing pieces together. A collaboration! I was glad to be in Oakland, with access to presses.
- This card was set with type at Fitzgerald Letterpress in August 2012. I was packing to move to Oakland. I mean, I was still packed from my six months abroad but I had a storage unit to sort though and some kitchenware to break.
- KEEP WRITING no 43 August 2012 Letterpress printed on vintage postcards In the first few years of Keep Writing, I occasionally skipped a month. Sometimes, I was too behind with school work, sometimes I was traveling. For this card, I collected 100 postcards in my six months in Europe.
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View full threadI was only in New Orleans a few weeks which included a trip to Ladies of Letterpress Conference in Asheville, graduating from LSU and a hurricane! Oh and a yard sale because I was packing up and moving to Oakland. Whew! If you want to participate you gotta sign up - buff.ly/eUlz4bt
- I favored vintage style postcards—bright colors, uncoated backs (so I could letterpress print information with ease) showcasing all the amazing places I was able to visit in my time abroad.
- I studied in Milan but during breaks and weekends I visited Padua, Pisa, Lucca, Florence, Venice, Verona, Lago di Como, Torino, Bologna and a number of other spots. I collected postcards and when I returned to Lousiana, borrowed type and a press at Fitzgerald Letterpress to print a simple greeting.
- KEEP WRITING no 42 May 2012 mailed from Milan Send Walker a word to be used in a story part 5 of 5 posts about printing in italy If you missed it, the letterpress part of the card was printed before I left Lousiana, at Blackbird Letterpress.
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View full threadAs of 2025, Walker is living in the desert, screen printing and making monsters. If you see him, tell him hi from me! If you want your chance to participate you gotta sign up for your monthly letterpress postcards! buff.ly/BDhX47R
- Once I arrived for my semester abroad in Milan, I Rocco printed an image and address onto each card to mail to subscribers. It was an adventure every month! This time, former roommate, one time Keep Writing collaborator and well-known arm squeezer Walker Mettling agreed to receive cards.
- He is also a fantastic storyteller, disciplined artist and a creative force! I asked folks to send him a word for a story, recalling the writing groups he lead at the Marigny Street house in New Orleans. Inspired by my Spring Break trip to the Czech Republic.
- KEEP WRITING no 41 May 2012 mailed from Milan Write about what you’re appreciating 4 of 5 posts about printing in italy Still in Milan, I printed this in my apartment. I was drawing a bit now, after buying a few watercolor pencils at an art store near my school.
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- The story continues in the following posts! 🎈🎈🎈 if you want your chance to participate you gotta sign up for your monthly letterpress postcards! buff.ly/BDhX47R
- Drawing is one way of paying attention, something I learned from my pal Roberta, a grad student in ceramics who agreed to receive cards! This month I asked recipients to send a card to my pal Roberta Massuch, sharing what they were paying attention to that spring.
- KEEP WRITING no 40 April 2012 mailed from Milan send to someone you miss 3 of 5 posts about printing in italy I could’ve graduated. I had that big show, I passed all my classes. But I wanted to return to Italy. I signed up for a study abroad program based in Milan, packed my bags and left.
- Still studying in Milan but it was spring! I finally figured out how to borrow a bike and zoomed through the streets. But April@is the best month in Louisiana and I was homesick. This month I asked recipients to send a card to someone they missed.
- If you want your chance to participate you gotta sign up for your monthly letterpress postcards! buff.ly/BDhX47R #keepwriting #keepwritingpostcards #keepwritingproject #letterpress #handsettype #hotairballoons #letterpressprinter #community #communication #kilan #milano #studyabroad #posteitaliane
- KEEP WRITING no 39 March 2012 mailed from Milan responses sent to Ella! 2 of 5 posts about printing in italy Now the fun question: how did I print these while I was in Milan?
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View full threadI laid in the grass under a tree at Santa Maria Della Grazie, the church that houses the Last Supper. Also very close to my university. The story continues in the following posts! If you want your chance to participate you gotta sign up for your monthly letterpress postcards! buff.ly/BDhX47R
- In Milan, I would make a drawing or print out of the months postcard, expose a screen and wait until my roommates were out drinking (never a long wait) . And then I would commandeer our kitchen table , which was made of glass?!, and print all night.
- For a his month, my undergrad pal Ella Desmond agreed to receive cards. Ella always had interesting ideas about art and composition and why she made work@like she did, so I thought it would be nice to have my subscribers send her an image or drawing of a new perspective.
- There was no shortage of print shops and if I was craftier, I would’ve got myself invited to one. But I appreciate some stability so I letterpress printed the same text on 4 sets of 100 cards using polymer plates.
- Here’s the fun part: I purchased a gocco printer (a small japanese contraption that worked like a cross between silkscreen and stamps). Did I accidentally attempt to carry the press and all it is exploding light bulbs onto my plane in Baton Rouge? Absolutely.
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View full threadShe was the first willing recipient of this Italian experiment. I included some of my favorite parts of the city I left (Baton Rouge) and asked recipients to share something great about their town. The story continues in the following posts!
- If you want your chance to participate you gotta sign up for your monthly letterpress postcards! buff.ly/BDhX47R #letterpress #hotairballoons #community #communication #kilan #milano #studyabroad #posteitaliane #redstick #batonrouge #mississippiriver #mississippiriverbridge #gocco
- I was determined to continue my project. I’ll get more into how I printed them in later posts but one piece of the puzzle was: where would I have subscribers send their responses? I had already decided I would pay for the postage for all 100 cards to leave Italy each month.
- I decided to spare subscribers return postage and included a domestic postcard stamp and chose a different recipient each month. First up, my sister. Can we talk about how great and supportive my sister is of her weirdo seemingly irresponsible older sibling? My sister is great.
