As of this afternoon, Issue Five has been sent off to the printer. That, of course, means that the next Packing Party is right around the corner! For those of you who haven’t heard, with each new issue of the magazine, comes the fine, established tradition of the Mortise & Tenon Packing Party! We have folks travel from all over to come to our new workshop in Sedgwick, Maine to help wrap each new issue in brown paper, affix a special trade card with wax seal, and place it in a mailer with a handful of pine plane shavings.
Everyone shares good food (wood-fired pizza, home-baked goodies, and more), locally-roasted coffee, excellent conversation, and an overall fantastic time. We don’t send anyone home empty-handed - we've got plenty of M&T goodies to go around. The “show and tell” opportunity is always our favorite part, as everyone pulls recent projects, old tools, and books out of trunks and backseats to get passed around and discussed.
The dates for the Issue Five party are Friday, September 21st and Saturday 22nd. Because this issue coincides with the release of Joshua's new book about the furniture-making of Jonathan Fisher, we thought it'd be fun to add to the festivities by heading over as a group to the Fisher House in Blue Hill for a tour. We’re also planning a bonfire, and we have the whole second floor of the shop to use at mealtimes.
The dates coincide with the Common Ground Fair this time around, so several of us are heading to the fair Sunday after the party has wrapped up.
We have camping on the property available for those who would like it. If you are interested in signing up to join us, please send us an email right away at info@mortiseandtenonmag.com. We can’t guarantee anyone a slot just yet, but we will be operating on a first come, first served basis. The Issue Four party made such a deep impression on us, and we look forward to seeing new faces and old friends again as we launch Issue Five!
We hope you can join us!