Zeichen Press

Author: Fran Shea

  • MORE LOVE

    Like a chicken, I am cooped up in my house… Day after day after day, longing to be free-range. I busy myself with cat photographyDinah close upand new designs for RSVP. Which will be chosen for Valentine’s Day 2017?? Stay tuned…rsvp.your love.revisedrsvp.sloth thinking

  • Serious Business

    Nothing could come between a girl and her Etch A Sketch in 1981.Fran etch a sketchNOTHING.

    Just look at that tight-lipped concentration… LOOK AT IT.fran concentratingMaybe I was creating a message for my mom? Or a beautiful design? Or a note to my brother begging him to stop slowly poisoning my parakeet and calling me Oot Head.

    WHO KNOWS?

    My Etch A Sketch has been replaced with 10,000 pounds of letterpress equipment, a laptop, and Jen. (Sorry, Jen.)

    Here’s a new Valentine’s Day card… Lead type and an antique cut can barely compare to the magic of my childhood.airbags with chocolates

  • Sugar and Spice

    Sandwiched between Woodworking IIwooden boxand tanning booths at Golden Tan in the Richfield Hub (Um, Off-Campus Study HalI),Fran senior cape cod lighting birthday candleswas a class called Printmaking. linocut puppy 1989*Actual linocut carved while under Sr. Bernardine’s tutelage. 

    Maybe I should thank Sr. Bernardine (‘s grave) for opening my mind to all things print-related?

    Inspired by that lil’ puppy:too cute to weemember.comma

  • Boots and cats and boots and cats and boots and cats

    Oh, wouldn’t I look smart in my new floral, lightly quilted, Guinnea Sax dress and ivory blouse! The thin silk ribbon under my collar tied so prettily… Real leather open-toe sandals with cuffed socks actually MATCH MY BLOUSE… Eleven years old and I just knew I already had the world by the shanks. THE SHANKS. 

    First Picture Day at my new school was going to change everything! Sure, I spend nights in bed carefully drawing miniature Black Stallions in the margin of my diary. And sure, I rarely brushed my stick-straight blonde, center-parted, mom-cut hair. But I was pretty sure I looked like Sissy Spacek, circa 1973.sissy spacek smilingWith backpack securely fastened over both shoulders, I proudly marched through the alley-entrance onto the school playground/parking lot.

    WHAT’S THIS?! The girls/my classmates are wearing Guess Jeans and white t-shirts!guess jeansMy heart sank.

    And they burst out laughing at the very site of me!Fran 5th grade school pictureHOW COULD THEY?! THE AGONY! Thank God my call home from the nurses office only resulted in my mom coaxing me to stay at school long enough to have my picture taken, otherwise there wouldn’t be this evidence. THANK GOD.

    ~Dedicated to the cool kids~boots and cats choir…And someday I’d enact my telekinetic revenge… 

  • Urban Hermitage

    Discovering Instacart might change my life.instacart.IMG_8593These modern services enable my dwindling desire to engage with the outside world.

    IN JANUARY. IN MINNESOTA.

    And why should I leave my house when Millie the Dog is learning to speak Human?

    If only the shop were actually connected to my house.back door to shop.IMG_8614Just look at that commute! Ridiculous.

    Or… inspiring? It must be inspiring because I made this.mozart revised

  • Post-Epiphany -OR- Crime Solving By Proxy

    January has already been SO busy. I don’t know about Jen, but I’ve had to take a really active role as a listener/watcher.

    First this: (Sherlock!)

    sherlock-pipe

    And then this: (Serial Podcast: season 2!)

    serial-soldier

    And now THIS?? (Making A Murderer, brought to you by the good folks at Netflix and Men’s Wearhouse!)

    steven-avery

    It’s a lot to keep track of… I’m taking notes if anyone needs them.

    Don’t ask me how (DON’T ASK ME), but I was able to squeeze in one card:

    we-come-bearing-gifts-2

  • Sort of an Epiphany

    I’m pretty sure it was our Jewish neighbor (and not Santa Claus) who put our presents under the tree when we were at Midnight Mass.

    I got a globe.world events never bothered himBut I barely remember that! I barely remember crying and sulking in my bedroom! Because this was the Lord’s day, not mine!

    Merry Christmastime, everyone!OMG, Balthasar.new

  • All The Attention

    If only they would stop their playing and look over at me… Why is MY friend even playing with my stupid brother???… Maybe if I wave my arms and jump higher on this strangely super-tall bed in our basement… No, that didn’t work… Hold on… I’ll just climb down and drag over that chalkboard to lay flat on the floor because it looks more like water than the off-brown linoleum… Perfect… Now, I’ll roll over the large black, rubber inner-tube we float on at the lake… Just plop it right on top of the chalkboard… Looking good… Ok… NOW, I’ll climb back up on the bed and jump some more…

    “LOOK AT MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!”

    I hysterically scream, while diving face-first into the center of the inner-tube.Steph&Fran&Balance BeamSo much blood. So many tears. And my friend was sent home??? WHY MOM, WHY?!she brought da noise

  • Chuckle.

  • GULP! We Are In The Washington Post??

    Feeling pretty fancy over here because The Washington Post picked up the Religion News Service article! (Is that how it works?? See? TOO fancy for me!)

    But, obviously, not as fancy as Dinah.dinah fancy