(Like others in the series, will pair this print w/handwritten cursive commentary from me on the history & impacts of civilian attempts to hold police accountable such as review boards; tldr they're like bodycams, ineffective at stopping harm + stall & weaken public anger+attention)

...The investigative function, which was at the heart of the vision for the board when it was first conceived in 2017, never materialized...has not completed a single investigation or hearing in its existence.' -Charlottesville Tomorrow, May 2026" (2017 = coordinated racist hate attacks; statues) +

#2 in series is recent local news—but Charlottesville being what it is, says a lot about what such US boards can do. Cville's "Police Civilian Oversight Board (PCOB) has officially asked City Council to change its oversight model, which would include giving up its independent investigative powers. +

#1 in the series needed to be "Just read anything by (everything by) Mariame Kaba" (@prisonculture.bsky.social, so much gratitude for her public work) bc her work has been so foundational, clear, strategic, focused on rights+care for all. Will pair w/cursive notes on where my reading started.

Letterpress work in progress: 1st 2 in the series filling in my "abolition is elementary" prints. Will pair each w/2nd sheet of handwritten cursive explanation what the print means to me, or what I hope it might make you consider (like it's my homework assignment response to the print)

It's an inked roll of tape: blue tape is a printer MVP for "makeready" (all the little fixes to get your type to print well, eg raising height on worn-down letters). Planning some "makeready to fight fascism" prints & sand in the gears (for the doubled tape rolls) prints w/these. #DHmakes

Typesetting for abolition

For printer (& prospective printer!) pals, printer's angel Maple Dog wants you to know "Everyone 𝙿̶𝚘̶𝚘̶𝚙̶𝚜̶ Inks on the Tympan" sometimes. (It's a free tutorial zine on how to change tympan/packing on your press when you do, or when it otherwise needs a refresh!) zinebakery.com/homemade/tym...

These "California Pizza Typecase" big poster-size letterpress prints are available on the print store now (& you get 1-3 free advocacy letterpress posters thrown in w/your order since they'll fit in the mailer, that's a lotta extra deepdish slices 🍕🍕🍕) +

Complex letterpress work can be silly, colorful...cheesy. If u remember California Pizza Kitchen, u don't gotta know what a "California typecase" is—but it's a letterpress type organizer that gave me an excuse to mash up 2 great tastes: 🍕! & letterpress! store.wolfproofpress.com/product/ca-p...

An awesome mail day from @literaturegeek.bsky.social at @wolfproofpress.com! Incredibly grateful to have had a chance to take part in one of the many DH community events they organize online. Picture taken after genuinely spending 15 minutes oohing and aahing at the prints.

Do not fear, I do have a future print planned that will use the entire majesty of the "Hormel shower of packaged meats" historical printing block, in addition to these small cold cut peeks

Since I last posted, we raised an additional: $53 for 2SLGBTQIA+ Grad Student Queer+Trans Research Fund $15=>Stand w/MN's "Keep MN Housed" Matching Fund $16=>Consistent Money Moving Project $48=>Action St. Louis $10=>LGBTQ+ Alliance Fund (Southern Arizona) TY to buyers+folks quoted in these prints💜

#ICYMI "Rigor's bullshit & you know it." (We simply can have generative, trustworthy, smart scholarship w/o an academic framework that routinely abets+encourages harm & pushes people out of the communal good of knowledge work! 💜)

Letterpress method: mask (aka frisket) = cutting a paper cover w/holes just where you want to let ink reach your print. I used this to make a larger printing block only print into 2 nonadjacent cells of my typecase print instead of letting the entire image block appear. #DHmakes

Added sausage & cheese texture on the letterpress typecase cells where the letters in "pizza pie" are stored, another mouse eyeing the cheese, & an antifascist enjoinder 🍕💪 (I'm not sure if I'm going to add more layers still or if it's done? Gonna let it sit a day before I decide.)

Doing Fine Art ("enjoy pizza AND fight fascism")

Hands down these are the coolest stickers ever 🤩@literaturegeek.bsky.social @wolfproofpress.com

This is why luddism is cool baby! (image from @wolfproofpress.com - you can buy it too!)

@literaturegeek.bsky.social did it again!!!! #DHMakes in the best way possible! I’m super excited and grateful with @wolfproofpress.com

And a holographic sticker version of my "letterpress for the people! silly letterpress for the joyful people!" print 🎨 (there's a Wolfproof Press logo sticker of the holographic wolfproof sheep, too: store.wolfproofpress.com/product/holo...)

Holographic "Moby Dick is about whales" sticker w/yr 16th-century 🐳 friend & Heather Froehlich's digital humanities text analysis joke/wisdom, benefiting the Southern AZ LGBTQ+ Alliance (also a handmade letterpress print: store.wolfproofpress.com/product/moby...)

My letterpress print store also has stickers related to my prints. So far, these pro-labor Luddite ones (store.wolfproofpress.com/product/ludd...) & a couple more nerdy and/or crafty, glittery or holographic options

Added to the shop: "Libraries for everyone (except nazis)" is the dream. We know they haven't been & aren't—but should be & could be. (Printed Summer '25 but just found 2 copies that didn't get paper stuck to ink from weight of stacking + multilayers of opaque+dayglo inks taking longer to dry 🙀)

#ICYMI "The revolution will not be televised (bc of the dildos)." Letterpress posters of antifascist quotes that @chebutykin.bsky.social remixed to celebrate the good people who've acquired cartons of expired dildos to throw at ICE. Various colors available, $5/print to MN mutual aid:

Closeups. Tiny cowboys.

Adjusting each bit so it printed in an okay place inside the already-printed grid took...a lot of time.

Another (pizzapress) letterpress layer done. I still need to add the cheese/tomato/sausage textures, on the cells that correspond to the letters of "pizza pie". #DHmakes

Blocking done. Next is pulling a test print to discover what doesn't print well & what needs relocating to fit right into the existing half-done print. #letterpress

The easy part (laying things out where I want them to go in the California Pizza Typecase print's cells). Next 2? hours is sticking things between to hold everything perfectly in place under hundreds of pounds of printing press pressure/movement. Letterpress!

I have acquired stickers (planets, rainbows, neon) to add to the joy level of packaging+recieving my mailed prints (number of stickers corresponds to how much energy I have but really I should aim for the inverse?) store.wolfproofpress.com

Recent bright practice mixing ink, testing different text-shadow depths for a larger project where I have limited big-enough paper (so doing more pre-print tests to limit mistakes)

Quick test says my chipboard lasercut letterpress-typecase-grid mask should work how I was hoping, for my letterpress case/pride flag colors project. (Wasn't sure if the chipboard would be too high for the brayer to still ink inside it.) #DHmakes

(multiple times now 🏳️‍⚧️💜)

Many thanks to @wolfproofpress.com for this amazing poster that is soon to be framed and on my office's wall.

New posters have arrived to grace my office from @wolfproofpress.com @literaturegeek.bsky.social Thanks!

Abolition is elementary 💜 Nostalgic gradeschool penmanship paper ✏️ & a rare printing selfie for a letterpress series—I'll be filling in each w/a different fact or prompt, to help me & others imagine abolition & transformative justice. #DHmakes

Hoping to fill these in with one thinking prompt or fact per day, for June's Pride Month if I'm able to

As usual, I like the glitchy tester version too?? (I think the well-used wood type's night-sky-patterning shows up better given I used lighter press pressure & ink, is why) Thanks @megsmith.bsky.social for letting me quote her good words!

The original print sold out, but I printed a new version today. On neon! fuschia! store.wolfproofpress.com/product/infr...

5 color variants of Whitman's tireless search for human connection are now up @ the letterpress store ('til the gossamer thread you fling catch somewhere, O my soul): store.wolfproofpress.com/product/a-no...

Printshop was unexpectedly out of both copper & gold ink, so changed plans for inking the rest of my Whitman prints:

For non-letterpress printers: folks who don't print often enough to remember where each lead type letter gets stored use graphics like this for reference, on printshop walls or handouts ("California Job Case" is a common layout, but there are oodles)

Trying to decide if I finish my big California Pizza Typecase letterpress posters as: 1) 🧐 functional (letter per cell, for typesetting reference) 2) 🥳 fun (🧀🤠🌈 etc ornaments in the cells). The cells are small enough there's not room to do both (at least not legibly enough for reference use)

non-typehigh typehound got found (not proud)

Today in garage-type adventures: generous letterpress donations often mean dealing w/what's on the right of Pic 1 🐁, to get what's on the left 🌌. I did salvage a half-jar of lead stars in various sizes, plus a box of other ornaments, from this particular typecase/former mouse+bug home.

Why my Vaporware Luddite prints & adding letterpress to my coding+blogging aren't a departure from, but a deepening of my digital humanities work:

#ICYMI Our community agrees w/Woody Guthrie: all you fascists bound to lose, & we're gonna win by leaving no one behind. Since this print is full of book arts puns (bound/bind, hinges, gathering) there's a "bookmakers & binders say..." version too store.wolfproofpress.com/product/book...

Pics 1+2: Hand brayered (roller) the black overlaid ink onto just that type w/rest of type uninked, then 2nd printing pass w/silver-inked rollers lifted up to not touch the type. Pic 3: Glitched version = similar but shifting slightly where paper went through press/touches inked type, on 2nd pass:

For #DHmakes letterpress process-sharing, 1st three legible printings in vertical order showing changes in placement, typeface needed to fit paper size & deal w/being out of certain letters (e!) in certain typefaces (font/style/size). The "st" glyph in "must" is a flourish that also freed up sorts+