Setting Up Cottage Studio!

We have been busy the past few weeks moving stuff over to our cottage in preparation for our Summer Holidays. I do not remember much of last year's Summer holidays, although I have seen the photos! This year my loving husband has been helping me to outfit my studio tables with heavy duty casters and shelving for materials storage.

Light Table is now proper height with great room to store supplies!

Work table is now moveable with all my paper making supplies stored beneath.

I have both my paper presses ready to go. We will be connecting the sink to the grey water system and running PEX plumbing to hook up the sink to our water system when we are there for summer holidays. François already has the electrical system set up so that I can connect my little washer for making paper pulp inside the studio!

Here is a photo montage of how things are looking now!

Not everything is well sorted and put away, but I have my stone cutting desk set up and slate pieces are moved to the studio, ready to have designs applied and cut! It feels so wonderful to have the energy to think about making art again. I have lost almost a full two years to my illness and recovery. I am very thankful to be able to set up my Cottage Studio in advance of our arrival for Summer Holidays this year.  It means that I will not have to spend my first few days there setting up!

We still have one more trip to make over to take my typewriters that I need for making artists' books this summer as well as some paper and bookmaking tools, and books. Shifting creative space from the Ducks In A Row Press Studios here in Deep River to the Cottage Studio is always a bit of a chore, but especially more of one this year after my illness. After the Breast Cancer surgery, chemo and radiation, and the Auto Immune Encephalitis  (See movie, Brain on Fire to get an idea of what I have been through!) has affected my memory and the speed at which I can accomplish things.

Thankfully, we had help from our good friend Joshua Mayo who came and carried tubs of stuff up from the Ducks studio in our basement to the garage. My loving husband helped to load it all in the trailer and truck. We have one more trip this week and then all should be done! Normally I do all this loading and taking over to the cottage on my own, but I am not strong enough to make the trip over and back alone, or to unload everything myself this year.

I wanted to mention Helen Hiebert's website for you to visit. She is an amazing papermaker as well as a producer of exceptional video tutorials for the aspiring papermaker. She also offers online workshops and has wonderful books and original art for sale on her website. I was very impressed recently with her tutorial on making very thin sheets of paper and couching them onto 100% cotton fabric pieces for drying. The cotton provides an easy release of the thin paper which is not possible from pellon. Helen also has a marvellous blog, THE SUNDAY PAPER which is full of interesting news and links. Check it out!

The Museum of Printing is having the second QWERTY FESTIVAL on July 20!!! I was so happy to have helped a bit to get this going two years ago before my illness. Check out their website, https://museumofprinting.org/, for more information. And remember, The Museum of Printing in Haverhill, MA is totally dependent on volunteers for operation, programs, and all of the events that they offer to the public. Check out their website Membership page and consider becoming a member this year to help support this extraordinary group of people who keep the history of printing alive!!!

It feels so wonderful to be active in my creative process again, getting ready for time in the Cottage Studio. I am not completely recovered, but I can feel that I am well on the way. I am excited about cutting slate, making calligraphy broadsides, and making prints and artists' books again!! I am so very thankful for all my book arts and calligraphy friends who have kept in touch with me through social media and video chats over this past year. My immune system is still compromised, so being in crowds of people (like church) is not recommended. I am still not able to drive to Ottawa for meetings, but hope to be healed enough by the fall to do so.

As I reflect during my morning prayers, I am so thankful to be alive and be healing. It has been a very long ordeal, to be sure, but I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it is very bright and inviting! I feel blessed by God to have the creative verve returning to my life in such a positive and inviting way. I know in my heart that all will be well, and all will be well with the grace of God in her infinite wisdom, all will be well.

Finished Projects!

I have been recovering well over the past few months from nearly dying from autoimmune encephalitis after successful breast cancer lumpectomy surgery in March of 2018 and later chemotherapy and radiation therapy. Starting in January I began working on three major projects that have all just been sent out of the studio.

The first projects was a "mind map" as a collaborative group project for the CBBAG group I belong to in Ottawa.  Each of the 15 participants designed a map, reproduced a copy for each participant, and will be binding a complete set of the maps into a book. My contribution was a "Map to My Creative Soul."

The cover of my map was originally created on my Vandercook 01 proof press using foundry type and my collage printing technique. The type form remains in the same format on the press, and the paper is pulled one time with full ink and two additional times with ghost prints with three primary colours-yellow, red and blue. The paper is turned during this process to create the collage effect of the letter imprints.

The map I created had a number of photos of activities I have pursued in  my creative life along with images of footprints leading into the images, away from them, and into other footprints.

I included a "pop-up" image of myself on press in my studio and a calligraphy quote  about understanding life backwards but having to live it forwards! This was the first major project I had attempted since my illness and it was great fun. Each of the 15 participants will bind the copies they have been given into a unique volume. When mine is completed I will post photos here.

The second project was another collaborative project, this time for The Ottawa Press Gang. We had decided to create a Concrete Poetry Anthology book project.  Each participant would design a letterpress signature composed of concrete poetry and print 60 copies of their signatures. The signatures will then be collated and bound into volumes.

My signature consisted of a title page, colophon page, 4 individual poems and one collage print with three colours of an Emily Dickinson poem.

The final project was a collaborative book project, a signature for the Grimsby Wayzgoose Anthology. Each participant prepared 115 copies of their own creative signature for inclusion in this edition. My signature explains how I create letterpress collage prints using a single type form and printing multiple images of the form with three primary colours of ink, yellow, blue and red, and also turning the page after each print is taken to make a ghost print of the images on top of one another.

For the collage printed images I included photos of the  type form that was used in the proof press and the method I used to print the collage images letterpress. At the back of the signature I included an envelope with original collage printed samples.

The past two months have been incredible rewarding for me as I worked on these projects. I had to relearn some typesetting and printing skills to be sure, but I also had to learn some patience as I have not been able to work as rapidly as before I became ill.  Through this entire process I have had great support and guidance from wonderful friends via the internet and the telephone. Since my immune system has been so compromised I have been remaining mostly at home.  My lifeline has been video chats on the computer and wonderful, long phone chats with friends and family near and far.  I am so looking forward to being at the Grimsby Wayzgoose this year!

As I look back over the past year and realize how very thankful I am to be alive, I think about the grace of time in my life and how thankful I am to be able to enjoy time in my studio. I am thankful for the love and care of my creative friends who check in with me from afar and work so hard to cheer me up when I am lonely and feeling cooped up with all the heavy snow we have had. I think also about the grace of the time I have for prayer and contemplation in my studio as I prepare more creative work of my soul to share with the world. I know that I have many more months until I will completely well. But I know in my heart, that I am going to get healthy, and that all will be well, and all will be well and with the grace and love of God in her infinite wisdom, all will be well.

Getting back to work!

I am not quite done with my studio clean-out and re-set, but it is going well. I am finding materials, supplies, and tools I totally forgot I had!  I have distributed all my type sorts back into cases, sorted my printmaking tools and die cutting presses. Using the big presses (Challenge Gordon 8x12 and Vandrecook 01 Proof Press) will have to wait until I have company in the studio as the doctors do not want me running them without someone here with me. However, I am working on some designs for linocuts that I can print with my X-cut XPress and my small Etching press.  I am really enjoying going through all my studio things, remembering projects I had started before the breast cancer diagnosis earlier this year.  My creative verve is soaring each and every day!

One of the unique artist's book projects I began two years ago was "The Language of Prayer" book. I created the covers using pieces of roof slate from St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Cambridge, MA.  My husband served as their Rector for 6 years.

The pages of the book are made from my handmade paper, handmade marbled paper and leather pieces.  The text will be created with calligraphy and vintage typewriters.  I will include prayers in English, French, Latin, Hebrew, Spanish, Greek, and Arabic. I am selecting prayers that would traditionally be offered by women either in public worship or in private daily devotions.


I did not have a typewriter that could do Arabic or Greek characters, so I put out a request through facebook last year to a group I belong to asking to purchase these machines.  Most of the typers with Arabic or Greek characters are really expensive and hard to come by on the auction sites. A friend in Australia who collects Arabic typewriters
got in touch to tell me had one for me and would donate it to my book project!  

His name was Scott. It just so happened that my stepson Adam was finishing up his "big explore" trip to Australia, so Scott shipped this little beauty to him and Adam carried it home to me in Canada last year!

I have yet to do a thorough cleaning of the machine, but it works well. I have friends here in Deep River who speak Arabic and who have graciously offered to help me with the text when the time comes.  I am still on the hunt for a Greek typewriter, and I already have a Hebrew typewriter.


"The Language of Prayer" unique artist's book will be my first creative project after my journey through breast cancer and autoimmune encephalitis this year. During the past eight months dealing with the diagnosis, the treatments and the uncertainty of recovery, I have been supported by my own daily prayers and the loving support of the prayers of our family, friends, parishes we have served in and our current parish.  We have received confirmation from my last MRI of my skull that there is no brain cancer-but I still have swelling from the autoimmune encephalitis, although it is reduced significantly from the original MRI when I was in hospital in Ottawa in September.  I am walking and exercising daily and it feels wonderful to be alive! Working on this new project will be an affirmation for me of my firm belief in the tangible power of prayer in my own life and the lives of those I love.

This past year I have been spending time again with Dorothy Bass' wonderful book, Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time.  Since my illness this year and all that has transpired, each moment of every day has become more precious to me. I feel the presence of my loved ones who have died with me in the studio every day. I feel compelled to create and to share my creative verve with others as an expression of my deep faith in God and all that she brings to the world in every hour of every day. 

With each breath I make and each step I take, I know in my soul that all will be well, and all will be well, with the peace and grace of our mother God, all will be well.

AUSTRALIA--Upcoming Workshops with Dea Fischer!!!!

My dear friend Dea Fischer is headed to Australia in November to offer these workshops!!!

Dea is a gifted teacher with a brilliant creative sense.  Check out her website to learn more about her!

Don't miss this opportunity to take a class from one of the best!

Health update

Nancy while in hospital

Hello everyone. I have been away from my blog since March. I was diagnosed with early stage breast cancer. I had a successful lumpectomy March 6 in Pembroke. No cancer was found in the 3 lymph nodes removed nor in the margin material removed around the tumour. When I was healed from surgery I underwent a series of chemotherapy treatments, also in Pembroke.  I spent all of my Spring either receiving chemo, sleeping, or watching Netflix.

Our summer holidays at the cottage are a blur-do not remember much. My daughter Emily and her husband Eric came up from Iowa, with my brother-in-law Mike and Emily's good friend Rachel.  We had the 25th Anniversary party to celebrate the building of the cottage. I do not remember any of it.

While we were at the cottage I began experiencing memory lapses and extended periods of confusion. We just thought it was "chemo fog" We went home early and then transferred me to Ottawa to stay with friends while I underwent daily radiation treatments. I came home on the weekends. Towards the end of these treatments I experienced significant confusion and other issues, and ended up in the hospital. I do not remember much of the next little while. François was in Deep River and dear friends stayed with me at the hospital until he arrived.

At first the doctors believed I had brain cancer, but the MRI and CT scans did not present images consistent with that diagnosis, so they were stumped. I experienced two TMI strokes and two seizures.  At this point, out brilliant neurologist proposed that I had Autoimmune 

Encephalitis. The chemo drugs did their job well-kill the cancer-but my immune system confused the lining around my brain with the cancer and started to kill it. The neurologist-Dr. Briscoe-proposed that I be put on prednisone, asteroid, to counteract the directions being sent to my immune system.  If it worked, no brain cancer. If it did not, brain cancer.

Well it worked! I am home recovering. Still weak but I am improving daily. My hair is growing back, red!  François says I look like Tin-Tin! I am on 40mg of prednisone daily through the end of next week, then I step down to 30 mg.  I still can not attend church as my immune system is compromized. I am waiting to hear the results of my blood-work from this week which will tell us whether or not I can return to church.  Autoimmune disease is part of my family history-my sister had Myasthenia Gravis and my mother had Lupus.

When we were preparing to leave hospital, the doctors were talking about what I would be doing at home, care for me, etc.  When they heard about my letterpress equipment in the studio, they turned quickly to François and said, "We do not think it advisable for Nancy to operate this equipment in the near future."  

I have recovered almost all of my memory now, I can translate Latin and can also program the various websites I am responsible for as part of my routine. I am walking around he block and cooking meals. I am working in the studio daily-tidying and organizing. I walk by my presses daily and look longingly at them, but I know better than to attempt anything at this point!

This has been an incredible experience, and I will write more next week. When I started on the prednisone I lost my memory, thought the nurses had kidnapped me, and that I lived in Mt. Carroll, Il. I wanted to put up this post as I have received many emails from people wondering where I was.

Thank you for your concern, your prayers and support.  I feel healed from the breast cancer and am on my way to a full recovery. I am very thankful for all the support from our parish here in Deep River, and also former parishes in Fitzroy Harbour and Cambridge. The power of prayer is an amazing thing, to be sure. 

I definitely feel healed by the power of God-no mistake about it.

This past year I have been spending time again with Dorothy Bass' wonderful book, Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time.  Since my illness this year and all that has transpired, each moment of every day has become more precious to me. I feel the presence of my loved ones who have died with me in the studio every day. I feel compelled to create and to share my creative verve with others as an expression of my deep faith in God and all that she brings to the world in every hour of every day. 

With each breath I make and each step I take, I know in my soul that all will be well, and all will be well, with the peace and grace of our mother God, all will be well.

Making Miniature Leather Books!

James Spyker demonstrating placing the cover boards.

James Spyker came from Toronto to lead a two-day "Making Miniature Leather Books" workshop for the CBBAG-Ottawa Valley Chapter. I was so thankful to take part in this workshop.  

James gave clear instructions and provided a wonderful handout for all of us, all the materials we could want! Each of us also had careful one-on-one instruction when needed.

This course was open to students who had not yet worked with leather. Basics of leather work was covered. Beginning information about paring leather was discussed with demonstrations of using a skiving machine and also a leather paring knife was presented. More detailed information about paring is covered in Bookbinding III, which is part of the CBBAG core course curriculum. These courses are offered through in person sessions in the Ottawa area and also through the CBBAG Home Study Program.

Each student worked on two miniatures-the first having an unadorned cover and containing blank pages. The structure allows the pages to be removed and replaced as each signature is sewn individually into a portion of the spine of the book.  The second contained pre-printed text blocks that were supplied.  I chose to complete a second blank book to practice the book form and brought my text block pages home to complete in my studio.

Our first model book was made with card-stock and 100% cotton paper that is normally sold for printing resumés or business correspondence. We learned how to measure the spine for punching holes in a pattern into the spine that does not cause perforation.  The second book, made with leather, allowed for decoration on the leather cover. We learned how to use punches for making shapes and how to apply them to the cover. I did not finish mine in this way as I made two blank books to learn the form. The first blank book is not shown in this photo.

Model book for learning, final blank book with leather cover.

It was so wonderful to be part of a workshop again with creative and inspiring people!  Our group was diverse, not all CBBAG members, and each person brought their own creative verve to the entire process. I love this mini-book form with the hidden sewing that allows for removal and replacement of a signature should the artisan desire!  James said the form works well in books up to 5" x 7", so I think I will be using it for one of my ABECEDARIUM editions this coming year.

The CBBAG-OV Chapter's next workshop is February 10 is "Sewing Text Blocks" with Spike Minogue as the instructor. You need not be a CBBAG member to take the course. I am really looking forward to learning proper sewing methods from a master bookbinder!  

Off to Boston and Cambridge next week to help my dear friend John Kristensen of Firefly Press with some of the work he needs done before he moves Firefly to its new location in Maine. I am so looking forward to travelling with my friend Spike to the Boston area again. We will be helping John for 2.5 days and spending one day split between John Barrett at Letterpress Things and The Museum of Printing in Haverhill, MA. We also have a tour of North Bennett Street School's bookbinding department with Jeff Altepeter.

I am teaching a workshop on Saturday for ArtsQuest 2018, a local women's art retreat that has been going for many years. My contribution is making a handbound creativity journal with blind-embossed and letterpressed covers. 

The binding form is Japanese Stab Binding. I am using my dye cutting tabletop machines and the Lifestyle Letterpress platform which allows the use of polymer plates for printing letterpress inspired images with coloured ink.  I only have four hours for the workshop, so I have spent the past couple of days putting together a workshop kit with cut pages, needles and binding threads along with coloured and decorated paper stocks for them to use. 

Each participant will have the opportunity to select the colour of their book covers, create either a blind embossed or letterpress printed image on the cover, add coloured stamped images to each page, and to bind the journal. It is my hope that they will use this creativity journal through the reset of their ArtsQuest weekend and into the Spring.



It has been several months since I taught a workshop and I find I am quite excited about leading the women of ArtsQuest 2018 on their bookbinding journey. As I look into my plans for 2018, my creative verve soars with the hope that I will have more concentrated studio time again during the late winter. I find my dreams filled with book designs that involve letterpress text and linoblock images. My heart soars like a hawk when I think of being with dear friends in the Boston area, but I am also longing to be home, in my grotto studio, with music on and the noises of the Challenge Gordon filling the space as I print the books of my dreams. 

This past year I have been spending time again with Dorothy Bass' wonderful book, Receiving the Day: Christian Practices for Opening the Gift of Time. Each moment of every day has become more precious to me. I feel the presence of my loved ones who have died with me in the studio every day. I feel compelled to create and to share my creative verve with others as an expression of my deep faith in God and all that she brings to the world in every hour of every day. With each breath I make and each step I take, I know in my soul that all will be well, and all will be well, with the peace and grace of our mother God, all will be well.

Making Fine Art Papers-Iowa Workshop Saturday October 28!!

I am so excited to be preparing to offer my Making Fine Art Papers workshop in Iowa for The CATFISH Letter Arts School, a division of The Art Legacy League.  I serve as a Member of The ALL Board of Directors and am also a Core Faculty Member for The CLAS. The other two Core Faculty for CLAS are other Catich Students Amy Nielsen, a well known Quad City artisan and Paul Herrera, Chairman of the Board of Directors for The ALL and who was Father Catich's last apprentice before he died.

Making Fine Art Papers is an introductory workshop that will introduce participants to the fundamentals of making handmade paper, hand marbled paper, and paste papers which are used in hand book binding, card making, and making boxes.

This workshop is part of the new Fall 2017 Workshop Series in Book Arts being offered by The Art Legacy League in our new home at the JB Young Opportunity Center, 1702 North Main Street, Davenport, Iowa. Through December we will be offering one Saturday workshop each month. Other upcoming workshops are Introduction to Calligraphy, instructor Amy Nielsen, and Introduction to Brush Writing, instructor Paul Herrera.

You can see the complete Making Fine Art Papers workshop description and register online through our secure Eventbrite site by clicking  HERE. PLEASE NOTE we do not anticipate the workshop being cancelled for any reason, but if it should happen, everyone registered will receive a full refund.

We can accept only 12 registrations for this workshop, so do not delay. This is a rare opportunity to learn the history and fundamentals of these three areas in a one day workshop! Participants will take home approximately 25 sheets of various papers to use in their own projects as well as a course note handout with instructions and reference information to continue producing their own fine art papers at home.

The photos shown here are from past "Making Fine Art Papers" workshops I have offered in the US and Canada.

Preparing to remove the deckle from the mold, forming the sheet.

Papermakers in the workshop.

George from The ALL Board of Directors making Suminagashi papers.

Making designs in colored paste applied to paper.

Combing the colors for hand marbling pattern.

Hand Marbling paper combs made by Nancy Trottier.

Paul, Chairman of The ALL Board of Directors, making Suminagashi papers.

Pulling a sheet with wire watermark design added to the mould.

Off to Iowa for a CATFISH Letter Arts School Workshop!!!

I am pleased to announce that as a Core Faculty Member for The CATFISH Letter Arts School, I will be offering a Making Fine Art Papers Workshop on October 28, 2017.

The CATFISH Letter Arts School is the working division of The Art Legacy League. During the past year The ALL has been working to establish office, gallery and shop space, and classroom space as part of the JB Young Opportunity Center in Davenport, Iowa. Our offices and gallery space are not yet ready for occupation, but we have classroom space available and have been using it this Summer.

We have organized three workshops through December. MAKING FINE ART PAPERS, October 28th, INTRODUCTION TO CALLIGRAPHY, November 18th, and INTRODUCTION TO BRUSH WRITING, December 9th.

CLICK HERE  for links to our secure EVENTBRITE registration site which has complete course descriptions and a link to register online.

Registrations for each workshop are limited to 12 participants. We expect these workshops to fill up quickly, so do not delay!!