Incahoots

Block Printing is one of the oldest types of printmaking, and has been around for thousand of years. It is a traditional art form and commonly used by skilled fair trade artisans.

Thank you to our vendor Handmade Expressions for their gift of the block for printing and the paper.

Thea Gahr, a local print maker, has agreed to help us out as we explore this traditional art form.

Thea is an Oregon native who has spent six years living in Mexico City. Also a member of the print collective Cordyceps, Thea joined Justseeds Artists’ Cooperative in 2009. Her work deals with themes ranging from environmental issues to current and historical events of resistance in Mexico.

Join us at Incahoots on Saturday, October 27th as we mark this auspicious occasion.

Come take the pledge.
Get a wristband (Free to the first 50 pledge takers).
Meet the Purple Bear from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.
Eat a cookie.

When taking the Hands & Words Pledge you trace your own hand on purple paper, sign your name and age and post your Pledge in your home, school, workplace, or place of worship to serve as a visual reminder of your personal commitment to stop and think before you say or do anything hurtful. The Pledge consists of fourteen words:

“I WILL NOT USE MY HANDS OR MY WORDS FOR HURTING MYSELF OR OTHERS”®

Hands & Words Pledges represent symbols of Unity as we reinforce and recognize the Power and Value of every individual’s choice…to use our words and actions to help…not to hurt…ourselves or others.

For more information about the program, visit www.handsproject.org

Hands and Words Week is a perfect time for a contest. And to keep it simple, I thought an Acrostic Poem would be just the thing.

The simplest form of an Acrostic Poem is a series of words or phrases that begin with the letters of another word. For example, here’s an Acrostic Poem (written by A Mysterious Green Alien) using the letters of Incahoots:

Interesting
Nice
Cool
Awesome
Happiness
Outstanding
Open 6 days a week
Tea
Super

See how easy that is?

So, your challenge is to come up with an Acrostic Poem using the letters in Hands & Words (you can skip the ampersand). You could be inspired by the mission of the Hands Project, or positive things you can do with hands and words, or whatever comes to mind. (For an extra challenge, you could try to make your words form a complete sentence.)

Drop your poem by the shop (or email it to contact@incahoots.biz) by October 22nd and you’ll have a chance to win a fabulous prize. You may even get to see your words in print.

We’ve added another activity to the upcoming Hands & Words day. One of our cool vendors,informed us that October is Fair Trade month and they have generously offered to provide us with materials to do some block printing. So on Saturday the 27th, you can drop by and try your hand at this age-old art.

I’ll know more details just as soon as we receive the supplies and I’ll send you an update then.