As Samwise Gamgee would say, “Well, I’m back.”

At least, I’m back for most of you; folk who know a lot more about this sort of thing than I do tell me that it’ll still be a few days before all the Internet gods recognize my new web host. So if this post doesn’t appear for you until after its posting date, I’m sorry. But hey—my main email address appears to be working now. Huzzah!

Sure am glad to have sorted out this website business, because I have news: Thea’s back, too.

This is just a sneak peek of the pencil sketch for now; Jessica Spring and I are unveiling Thea’s new look on Tuesday, so we’re saving the surprise for then. In the meantime, though, perhaps a little background info?

The new Tugboat Thea is the the fourth installment of the Feminist Broadside series, a letterpress collaboration between Jessica and myself. We started the series shortly before the 2008 election, when we simply felt the need to make an artistic contribution to the historic events unfolding around us. Jessica sent me a quote by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, and asked me if I might like to illustrate a political poster she wanted to print in time for the election. Well, she probably shouldn’t have left me alone with my pencils, because I got a little carried away.

A few days later the whole edition (we only printed 44, in honor of the 44th President) was sold out. And then we rubbed our eyes and pinched ourselves to make sure it had all really happened. You see, letterpress is not exactly the artistic equivalent of the Tickle-Me Elmo, with trendy-savvy folk snapping up the Next Best Thing before it’s gone. So you could have knocked us over with any number of small, dainty objects.

Well, that was fun, we thought. Let’s do another! The Feminist Broadside series was born. Just to keep things interesting, though, we made up a few rules for ourselves:

1. Each poster has to feature a quote by a feminist. Not necessarily a woman, but since it’s easier to link a woman with the idea of feminism, women will probably be featured more often. But hey, we’re always on the lookout for quotes by feminist men (and believe me, they’re out there in droves, bless ‘em), so if you have any ideas, feel free to drop me a line.

2. Said feminist must be deceased. (Hence the unofficial nickname of the series, the Dead Feminist Set.)

3. Whatever the quote, we need to find a way to tie it into some relevant issue (like the election for the first one, or other timely themes). This is usually Jessica’s job, as she’s got a particular knack for brewing up ideas from scratch.

4. The whole thing, including any type or lettering (except the little colophon at the bottom) needs to be hand-drawn. I like to do things the hard way, after all—it’s not that I’m ambitious, it’s just that I want to make sure that carpal tunnel sets in by the time I hit thirty.

For the second print in the series we focused on an issue near and dear to our hearts: sustainability. Victory Garden (above, center) was our response, and this time nearly every print was sold within forty-eight hours, despite a larger edition size. What the heck?! we thought. Even the next print, Prop Cake, despite its controversial subject matter (marriage equality) and edition size of 108, is nearly sold out. Who knows how long people will be interested in these things, or how many broadsides there’ll be in the series—all we can say is that we’re grateful for the response people have had, and we’re having way too much fun to quit now.

The latest broadside has been a little bit of a different process, at least on my end. We had the chance to create a prototype of sorts when we were asked to make steamroller prints at the King’s Books Wayzgoose this year. Since several hundred people were there to witness the steamroller in action, but only eight huge Tugboat Thea prints exist, we decided to take another crack at it for the official series.

This time, though, there’s a bit of a twist. That’s all I’ll say for now.

As part of the unveiling of the new Tugboat Thea, Jessica and I will be speaking at TAM on Tuesday morning. If you’re in the area, and you can fit the weird time slot into your schedule (sorry about that), here are the details:

Pressing Matters:
Contemporary Collaborations Highlighting Women in History
Tuesday, May 12, 10:30 a.m.
Tacoma Art Museum, 1701 Pacific Ave.

Tugboat Thea will be available for sale at the event, and will also be up in the Etsy shop and posted here on the blog (with photos and all the info!) by that afternoon. We’re taking pre-orders now; if you’re interested, or want to subscribe to the entire series, just shoot me an email. The price for subscribers is $30; regular price is $35.