Fine Binding & Boxmaking • Limited Editions • Instructional Workshops
Organizing the new bindery took a high priority in order to complete fall edition jobs and other commissions before the holidays.
I-10 West.
Our move to New Mexico took four long months during the hottest part of the year and by six big truck loads traveling 950 miles each way.
My mouth dropped when Mike Die of Cutter’s Edge near Smithville, Texas, moved my Jacques Shear with a lifting magnet. The cutter dangled like a Christmas ornament and in a matter of seconds it was on the trailer.
Don and I moved most of the equipment ourselves like this guillotine by using a series of rotating dowels. The Lifting Magnet is on the right.
This was a move of a lifetime — an adventure to say the least, including a busted window on one trip, torrential rains, fishtailing trailers and even the breakdown of a fully loaded 26 foot Penske truck only 50 miles west of Austin with our classic 1955 Chevy station in tow.
That trip took four days and three extra motel rooms, but brothers Mitch and Curtis Johnson and crew at the Comfort, Texas, Truck Center made the disaster a pleasant one, including feeding us and providing an air conditioned room for our cat, Sugar. Mind you, the folks at Penske were quick to put these guys on the job.
Yummy BBQ awaited us as the cargo on our truck was reloaded onto a new one. Curtis’ son examines the vintage airplane engine that had to be transferred, along with a collection of petrified wood on other rocks from my Texas garden. We felt like Lucy and Desi in the movie, The Long, Long Trailer.
Mountains of boxes fill the space in Don’s future museum area.
Now, after all these months, we still face the continual task of un packing and countless work to do on this old building. But daily we wake up to face the view of Turtleback Mountain and we are happy to be here.
We stayed at this brick motel one block from our building while the living space was remodeled. The blue roof seen in the picture is the church across the street from our place.
Don stands proudly by our last trailer load full of his treasured rusty parts for future yard art, not to mention the hidden gas pumps laying down inside!