New Acquisitions

Since I brought home all sorts of goodies from the Printers' Wayzgoose in Mt. Pleasant, I've wanted to test is all out.  Here are a few shots of some of the things I brought home and have been testing out.

APA Wayzgoose!

Some of you may wonder exactly what a Wayzgoose is....so here is the definition (via Wikipedia):

"Wayzgoose was at one time the name for an entertainment given by a master printer to his workmen each year on or about St Bartholomew's Day (24 August). This marked the traditional end of summer and the point at which the season of working by candlelight began. Later, the word came to refer to the annual outing and dinner of the staff of a printing works or the printers on a newspaper"

From September 18-20 I attended the Amalgamated Printer's Association's annual Wayzgoose at Printers' Hall in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.  Printers' Hall is a working museum, with nearly thirty pieces (if not more) of working printing equipment.  They coined this Wayzgoose as a "Play-goose," as everyone was encouraged to "play" with the equipment.  

While I was there I got to print on a Uni-I Vandercook, as well as watch and listen to many older printers and some young ones alike.  Overall it was not only educational but a great time.  And I also came home with a bunch of new type and equipment!  

The worst blogger ever....

...is me!  September has been so crazy!  I've felt out of touch with blogger world, but I've had so much to share! 

As seen in the previous post, Matt and I were heading up to Okoboji for Labor Day weekend.  We camped out and it was gorgeous the entire weekend.  The above shot is our view from the tent.  

Of course the main reason we headed north was for the flea markets.  Okoboji has three flea markets over the holiday weekend and we stopped by Clear Lake's flea market on the way home Sunday.  Here is some of the great stuff along the path of the Okoboji Flea Market and Clear Lake Flea Market.  There was a ton of great stuff at both places.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) my car limits the amount of purchases we can make, so most the photos here are objects of desire.  Enjoy!

Take a trip to the I-O-W-A Ocean!

This weekend Matt and I will be making our annual pilgrimage to the one, the only I-O-W-A Ocean, otherwise known as Okoboji. The major summer holidays are filled with multiple flea markets in the Okoboji area and we both love a flea hunt.  Vick's Corner will be celebrating its 118th flea market, while Treasure Village and the Dickinson Co. Expo Antique and Flea Market will also be crawling with bargain hunters, junk pilferers, and antique junkies.  

In addition to the flea-trifecta, the Iowa Rock n Roll Hall of Fame will be holding their annual induction ceremony.  The schedule of events seems quite promising and I hope Matt and I get a chance to view some of the celebration.

And for those not familiar with the term I-O-W-A Ocean, check out Wally Shoop and the Zombies here (scroll down to the bottom of the list for a listen). 

photo link

Anticipation.....

is not only a Carly Simon song.....it's what I'm feeling right now!!!  In September the Great Northern Printer's Fair along with the Amalgamated Printer's Association's Annual Wayzgoose will be held in Mt. Pleasant, IA and I will be attending all the days this year! There will be demonstrations on printing (even registering a 7 color job I'm told), bookbinding, and even paper marbling.  I've really been needing some time for myself lately and I can't can't wait for it to come!  

To check out some of last years awesome-ness (and pictures of me printing things) click here and here for my old post.

TYPE!

The second poster offering from The Occasional Print Club!
Originally uploaded by The Occasional Print Club

I'm pretty sure I definitely need this. And I need to form my own Occasional Print Club!

Great work by The Occasional Print Club via their flickr stream

Big Building, Big Dreams

Many of you may know I'm originally from Ossian, Iowa and I still get my Ossian Bee, the local newspaper, to keep up on the news.  While catching up on Ossian news last night I perused the City Council minutes, to find out one of the largest buildings on Main Street had been donated to the city.  The Dessel building as it is known, has been sitting empty on Main Street for approximately 25 years according to the article. It is the second building in from the right in the photo above. 

Now this may not seem particularly newsworthy, but as I kept reading it stated, "A lengthy discussion ensued regarding liability, insurance, maintenance, possible uses for the structure, and possible demolition of the building."  Now this got me a little riled up, as I have been dreaming more or less about having my own little letterpress business in this building and residing in the second floor.  Now, this is obviously just a dream at this point, but now that they are talking demolition, it really breaks my heart. 

An excerpt from Reflections of a Golden Era, Ossian, Iowa shares this about the Dessel building: 

"The year 1898 found much new construction in Ossian.  F. W. [Dessel] started the construction of the "Dessel Building." This building is 42' x 100', 2 stories in height with a brick and stone front. The huge limestone blocks which are at the 4 corners of the basement area were quarried from the Fred J. Figge quarry south of Ossian in the Silver Springs area."  It goes on to mention that the walls are 6 bricks wide and the Dessel business closed in 1962.  

I would really hate to see the building go.  It could be utilized in so many different ways.  I just hope the city reconsiders or perhaps sells it off to someone wanting to utilize and preserve the building.