August 2009

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Bookbinding at the Service Bureau

August 24, 2009 in Service Bureau, Services by Adam Orcutt | No comments

The Service Bureau is expanding our service to include bookbinding. There seems to be a great demand for this service in the SAIC community and we at the Service Bureau look forward to finding our niche. As of now, it seems that many people seem to be using Lulu and Blurb for their small run publishing projects. I have had the pleasure of working with a few individuals thus far to create sample books and compare pricing and quality against Lulu. Here are a few comparisons below:

Print

As you can tell from the samples above, the book made at the Service Bureau is more neutral in color and renders better shadow detail. The keen observer may also notice that the book produced by lulu.com has white in the seem of the book. This seems to be a common problem with lulu.com.

Comparision template

This comparison gives you an idea of how much more detail there is in the highlights of our book.

Black sample
This final comparison shows how much better our black point is compared to lulu.com. A big complaint with lulu.com is that their blacks just are not deep enough. The Service Bureau is able to provide better quality blacks while maintaing better shadow detail. How can you deny how amazing we are? I dare you.

If you have a book that you would like to a small run publishing of (1-50), by all means stop by and talk to us! There are things that we can’t do, like providing ISBN numbers, shipping, etc… but I think you may find that we fit very well with your vision when it comes to fine art book production.

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Paper Love

August 18, 2009 in Uncategorized by megmanuel | No comments

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I can’t speak for everyone at the Bureau but I think it is safe to say that we all have an affinity for paper. That being said  I was really excited to see my favorite pocket size notebook Field Notes has posted photos from their tour of Michigan based French Paper (Midwest Pride).  I first became familiar with French Paper while in high school when I was an apprentice in an offset and letterpress printshop. Known for their connection with CSA, French Paper makes paper that is not only attractive but also has been concerned with environmental issues for some time. Although we currently do not carry any of their paper at the moment I just ordered a sample book to check out.

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“Depending on the paper and color, French’s paper is made from pulp (crushed up trees) and/or recycled waste. French’s mill is too small to manufacture their own pulp so it’s brought in from other manufacturers, and while they recycle all paper scraps from their factory, demand for recycled paper means they must buy waste paper from various sources.

The papermaking process isn’t rocket science, I guess, you basically mash up pulp, add color, squeeze out the water, dry it, and roll it up. Of course, in practice, there’s a lot more to it. Brian took a couple hours out of his day to show me through the factory and explain everything in great detail, but I’ll keep it simple, mostly because I forgot my FIELD NOTES notebook (oh, irony!) and I don’t remember the details.”

Read the entire article on Field Note’s website

For more info on French Paper please check out their website.


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Customer Highlights: Alison Ruttan

August 17, 2009 in Service Bureau, Uncategorized by megmanuel | No comments

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Other than working for the Service Bureau I am also the Associate Producer and Resident Blogger for Chicago art’s podcast/blog Bad at Sports. Today I was surprised to see Service Bureau customer Alison Ruttan featured on our site. Not because I do not like Alison’s work, but because it is always weird to see your two jobs cross paths.  All of the work I have seen printed at the Service Bureau has been of Primates and this new project is no exception.

Jane Goodall’s photographs of wild chimpanzee families.

In series such as Bred in the Bone, Ruttan (who was interviewed on Episode 28 of the podcast) looks at a range of chimpanzee and bonobo behaviors–from the aggressive to the intimate to the routine–in order to ask what, if anything, really separates human beings from our primate ancestors. Ruttan describes the project thusly:

‘It is possible to speculate that our shared social responses go all the way back to a common ancestor that humans, bonobos and chimpanzees all evolved from. We are all relatively newer species that evolved from this common ancestor somewhat close in time to each other, perhaps some 3-6 million years ago. Frans de Waal states in his book Tree of Origin that “Not only are chimpanzees and bonobos our closest relatives, the reverse is also true; that is chimpanzees and bonobos are closer to us than to, say gorillas.” Does that mean our behavior is biological in origin or that we have passed on these similar responses through culture memory? I have found that in actively comparing the nuances of our shared behavior it is hard not to see these comparisons everywhere you look. It has changed the way I see our own actions, sometimes it seems that we assume we are reacting to situations in a rational manner, we seem unaware at times of the way biology guides our actions and surprised when we don’t like the results.

Check out the rest of the article here.

Fore more info on Alison check out her website.

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Customer Highlights: Jill Frank 12 x 12 show at the MCA

August 15, 2009 in Uncategorized by megmanuel | No comments

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Jill Frank, For Ye Shall Be as an Oak

Jill Frank
August 8-30, 2009

Long time Bureau customer Jill Frank is having a solo show in the 12 x 12 space in the MCA. The show begins Saturday August 8th but you can get a preview of the show if you attend  August First Fridays.

Preview the work of Jill Frank at August First Fridays
Friday, August 7, 6-10 pm
Members $8, advance tickets $11 or $16 at the door.

via the MCA:

“Frank chronicles incidents and memories that have escaped the camera’s lens. Her recent work makes use of collaboration and collective memory to enact performances based on events from personal narratives as well as historical and literary sources. For many of these works, Frank collaborates with a group of students from the western suburbs of Chicago, who theatrically interpret stories from the Bible or scenes from the lives of saints. According to the artist, these reenactments, which she photographs using a large-format camera, ‘speak to the failure and success of photographic representation.”

For more info on the MCA’s 12 x 12 shows click here.

For more info on Jill’s work check out her site.



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