Electric Bathtub Psalms - Now Available!

Electric Bathtub Psalms, the first book of poetry by Mariette Papic, is now available in a limited edition, hand-sewn chapbook with french watercolor paper covers tea-dyed and hand silk-screened by Mariette and Nathan Reimer. The limited edition chap is $17.00, and can be purchased here via PayPal.

Shipping will be modified for orders of multiple copies and international orders. A saddle-stitch chapbook will be available in November.

Tools of the Trade

Here's a peek into the craft of DIY bookmaking. This is an art that had been disappearing or relegated to specialty craft status, but scrapbookers have revitalized the artform, though in a way that I suspect makes some book artists a little queasy. You can now find bookmaking tools in most craft stores in the scrapbook aisles, and of course your better art supply stores will have some tools and supplies as well.

In the photo above you see (clockwise from upper right corner) a saddle-stitch stapler, a binder's needle with thread, an awl, and the white thing on the cover is called a bone folder. Binder's needles have blunt tips to keep from snagging on the paper (thus the need for the awl), and the thread I'm using for the limited edition of Electric Bathtub Psalms is acid-free linen. Some crafters use embroidery floss that they've pulled through beeswax, which I may experiment with later.

Coming soon: a step-by-step sewing demo!

The Rabbit Sellers

Here's an audio preview of the poem "The Rabbit Sellers," which will appear in my collection Geography and Circumstance later this fall. The poem was originally published in The Dry Crik Review of Contemporary Cowboy Poetry back in 1992, and was later reproduced on cowboypoetry.com. The poem documents the boom/bust days of central Wyoming in the late 80s and early 90s. While it's not traditional cowboy poetry, I think it captures the paradoxes and dichotomies of modern Western life.

The Corn Plastic Dancefloor

I'm slowly beginning to assemble the limited editions of Mariette Papic's Electric Bathtub Psalms. In the meantime, here is a link to one of Mariette's current projects over at dublit.com. Mariette has been involved in New York nightlife for many years - as promoter, documentor, flyer designer, and as the pretty girl in the coat with the big fur collar presiding over the velvet rope at that club on 13th Street, you know the one. Her audio piece "The Corn Plastic Dancefloor" documents one night in that world.

Covers for Electric Bathtub Psalms

The covers for the limited edition of Mariette Papic's Electric Bathtub Psalms have arrived, and they're wonderful.


The cover art illustration is by Mariette Papic with screen printing by New York street artist and photographer Nathan Reimer. I really love the interpretation they did of the mouse logo on the back cover.


The paper is archival quality, pressed in France and hand-dyed in a tea bath (PG Tips!) in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

I've been practicing my binding knots and will begin assembling them as soon as Mariette has approved her blue-line copy. Pre-orders through PayPal will be available on the website probably next week.

About the Mouse

Our Laughing Mouse logo was designed in 2003 by Minneapolis graphic designer Brian Matson. Brian was a long-time art-director and editor for Marshall Fields until they were swallowed by MayCorp, and worked on branding for Christian Sande's 2006 campaign for Minnesota Secretary of State. Brian and Spencer also collaborated on a polaroid installation instant.1 for the 2002 Art-a-Whirl in Northeast Minneapolis. Brian's no stranger to designing mice - his Field Mouse was part of the "Celebrate Mickey: 75 InspEARations" Mickey Mouse statue series.