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The Penultimate Packing Party

As we’ve been announcing the Issue Seven table of contents over the past two weeks, Joshua and I have been juggling the many logistical details that lead up to each issue’s release – both from an editorial standpoint (chasing down image permissions, formatting endnotes) and from a practical one (how many shipping labels do we need again?). And, of course, this means it’s time to announce the next M&T Packing Party!  With every issue so far, we’ve had friends come in from far and wide to help us wrap each magazine in brown paper, affix a wax-sealed trade card, and place it in a rigid mailer with a few pine plane shavings. We’ve loved adding this special touch, and the fun...

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More of That

  This weekend was incredible. We had a full house of close to 30 people in the shop, wrapping and shipping out Issue Six. We had people from all over New England, New York, and even as far as Minnesota. There was, as always, an abundance of incredible food (thank you, Julia and Andrea) and life-changing conversation. Even though I have experienced it with each issue, I was again in awe that most everyone that comes to these things seems to be deeply moved. During the week leading up to the event, Mike and I had several interactions with folks in town explaining what exactly it was we were doing over the weekend. We explained that we spend weeks preparing...

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The Issue Five Packing Party

The past few days, Mike and I have seen on social media that M&T Issue Five has begun arriving at customers’ mailboxes. It is always rewarding to see our readers excited to get the new issue and dive in right away. As many of you know, the fancy brown wrapping and trade card with wax seal is the effort of many enthusiastic readers and friends. Without the 20 or so people that block out their weekend to help, it would probably take Mike and me two weeks of work to wrap the thousands of copies that need to go out. This work party tradition came about from a vision to take something necessary and potentially uninspiring (wrapping and shipping magazines) and...

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Issue Five Packing Party - Sign Up Now!

  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...

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Issue Four: Labor & Delivery

Issue Four is now sent out in the world. This past Friday and Saturday, a bunch of our friends drove up from all over Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York to help with the special wrapping and packaging. Leading up to the big event, Mike and I did massive construction clean-up, we set up our shipping materials, and I spent at least a day and half printing postage. There are always a lot of pieces to this event. Because Friday morning started out around 25° F, I woke up at 4:30 to fire up the propane heaters. This much-needed calm before the storm enabled me to get in one last vacuuming and set out all the food. By the time...

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The Issue Three Packing Party

On September 29th and 30th, Mike and I are throwing a huge party to wrap and ship out Issue Three pre-orders. When we did this for the last issue, it was incredible. We rented a local active Grange Hall (in Blue Hill, Maine) and set up tables, supplies, and boxes upon boxes of brand-spanking-new magazines.  People drove and flew from all over to be a part of the big launch. Mike and I were humbled to have such amazing help. We had two days of stories, laughing, loads of food, music, and fun. Almost everyone who helped last time already told us they’re planning on coming again.  This time, we’ve rented a house for our helpers. There are limited slots...

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Issue Two Packing Party: Without a Hitch!

   This past Friday and Saturday, Mike and I had the big Issue Two packing party. We are still so stunned at how incredible it turned out. Readers came up to help from all around Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, New York, and even Maryland. We had just shy of 20 people wrapping a few thousand copies in brown paper and string and attach the wax-sealed tradecards. Every copy was shipped in a rigid mailer with a few pine shavings for an extra touch.  Check out the full video for the event above! I would definitely say it was a success. All the pre-orders are in the mail and we have a pile ready for future fulfillment. Everyone worked so hard and really seemed...

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Come Party With Us!

Issue Two of Mortise & Tenon Magazine is on the presses as we speak! As you may have picked up by now, we don’t like to do anything half-hearted. Every individual magazine we ship out is wrapped in kraft paper and string with a wax-sealed 18th-century-inspired tradecard adhered to it. Last year, we had a crew of nine of us working for three days to get them all out the door. We set up long tables in my living room, turned on the music, and mused together about handcraft, the local food movement, cottage industry businesses, homesteading, etc. while we wrapped the magazines. It was the highlight of our year, deepening our friendships forever. This year, we’re doing it again....

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