At C.B. and Then Some Studio Things

Yesterday afternoon at City Bakery: a couple having an intense conversation at lunch, and on the right, my all-time favorite sandwich there-- a turkey/avocado/bacon without mayo on a baguette.

While at the bakery yesterday, my friend Bruce explained to me how to make a besom, which is a kind of a broom that people made when they didn't have access to broom plants.  I know this is high on your list of things you've always wanted to know, so listen up:  You begin with a stout stick, which you shave in thin strips down from somewhere near the center toward the bottom, stopping short a foot or so from the bottom.  Then you turn the stick around and shave from the bottom up to near the termination point of the first group of shavings (as in the middle drawing).  Finally, you fold down the top shavings and tie them in a bunch around the top parts of the bottom shavings.  Then to finish it off, you shape the top of the handle so that it's smooth and as thin as the middle part where you shaved for the top shavings. 

On the right are three fish that hang in my studio.  The top is carved from stone, purchased in Rousillon, France, many years ago.  The middle one os carved ivory from I don't know where, and the bottom one is silvery metal from the bead shop on Lexington Ave. in Asheville.

On the left, my oldest pair of scissors;  and on the right my little Challenge proof press that I use for relief prints and monotypes and that I bought  from the print studio at Indiana University in South Bend. It was my favorite press while I was studying there. No one else ever used it, since the others were mostly intaglio and lithography people.  So when I graduated, my printmaking teacher, Alan Larkin, let me buy it, and I've used it ever since.