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Date Created
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2024
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Description
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I combined both letterpress and linocut techniques to create this piece. Both art forms use ink and paper to create impressions. My final piece relied on formatting the quotation’s text on the letterpress first. I chose 24-point Tiffany font for the quotation because it first appears in the novel handwritten on a chalkboard (Klune 44). Located above the quotation is an image of my hand-carved linocut of a teacup on a plate decorated with intricate leaves. On the teacup is an elk’s outline, which is a symbol used throughout Under the Whispering Door to represent death. Using an ink roller, I applied black ink to the surface of the linoleum block then carefully laid the paper down onto the inked surface and applied direct pressure. This piece is meant to reflect the careful attention to detail that Klune practiced when developing character relationships within his novel.
KYRA HETHERINGTON ON WHAT THIS CRAFTED OBJECT TEACHES US:
In T.J. Klune’s fifth standalone novel, Under the Whispering Door, the author explores concepts of death and grief while reflecting on what it means to be human. The protagonist, Wallace, is initially depicted as a coldhearted “monster” (9), and his ex-wife describes him at his funeral as a man who was “obstinate, foolhardy, and cared only for himself” (19). When Wallace arrives at a teashop that acts as a waypoint for “those who have left one life in preparation for another” (55), he notices a chalkboard that reads:
The first time you share tea, you are a stranger.
The second time you share tea, you are an honored guest.
The third time you share tea, you are family. (44)
This quotation outlines Wallace’s growth throughout the novel and defines the quality of the relationships he fosters because “when you take tea with someone, it’s intimate and quiet” (326).
The quotation in my print is an anchor point for Wallace’s character growth. However, it is essential to note that the quote does not originate from this novel. Frequently, it is attributed to Greg Mortenson’s Three Cups of Tea: One Man’s Mission to Promote Peace One School at a Time (2006), which was partially the inspiration for the title of this print. In Under the Whispering Door, Hugo, the ferryman, informs Wallace that it is “a Balti quote” (Klune 326). It is difficult to find an origin source for this Pakistani proverb; it serves as a reminder of the importance of slowing down to prioritize relationships and others. It is not solely about drinking tea. Instead, offering tea is important for those with few resources because it is a small sacrifice made to show hospitality to strangers and honour to friends.
I attributed the quote to T.J. Klune in the “Three Cups of Tea” print to focus on the quotation’s physical appearance in the novel. The quotation “written in spiky and slanted letters” (44) on the chalkboard in the teashop appears in a different font in the physical text of the novel. My chosen font emulates the description of the letters as they appear handwritten, with a slanting, scratchy quality. By selecting the Tiffany letterpress font, I hoped that my print of the quotation would embody a personal, handwritten quality.
The teacup block print above the quotation incorporates the whimsical quality of the hand-drawn “little deer and squirrels and birds on the chalkboard in green and blue chalk” (43) surrounding the quotation. The linocut image also serves as a reference to the broader theme of death in the novel, featuring a stag in the center to represent “the manager,” a character who appears in the form of a large stag with “flowers hanging from the antlers, their roots embedded into the velvet, blossoms in shades of ochre and fuchsia, cerulean and scarlet, canary and magenta” (261). This character is a “grand thing that oversees life and death, delegating the responsibilities to others” (267) and serves as a tool for forward momentum in the novel.
The initial success of Under the Whispering Door was partially due to the popularity of T.J. Klune’s previous works and his ability as a queer author to portray positive queer stories accurately. The novel was a New York Times and USA Today bestseller and featured on “Buzzfeed’s Best Books of 2022” due to its later release in September 2021. Regarding critical reception, this novel tends to fly under the radar. The novel appears to have a small but passionate fanbase admiring that it “is a tender story that nimbly touches on the many facets and stages of grief without feeling too saccharine” (Quinn 2023). However, it is considered one of Klune’s lesser-known works.
As a contemporary fantasy novel, Under the Whispering Door is didactic, and the story’s moral is transparent. The characters’ interactions provide a humorous respite from otherwise complex subjects (grief and death), and, overall, the novel offers a straightforward message about the value of life and time. The final form of the linocut block and letterpress print reflects the novel’s characteristic simplicity while concurrently representing the time and energy required to produce art—in any format.
“Letterpress is the oldest of the traditional printing techniques” (Britannica) and the foundation for the modern-day digital printing presses that produced the physical copies of Under the Whispering Door. To print the quotation on paper, I needed to assemble the text letter by letter, line by line, with small lead pieces to create an ink-bearing surface. In practice, this process is like writing a novel, where each word is thoughtfully written, carefully checked, and evaluated before going to print. Producing a contemporary quotation through a 15th-century art form highlights the consistent nature of human progress that still relies on previous technologies and understandings. Without the practice of the letterpress, there would be no modern novel as we know it.
Making the linocut block portion of the print image was similar to process of letterpress printing. Artists began using linoleum as a medium to produce relief prints starting in the 1890s (Fowler). Before this time, artists used wood blocks or stone, but the mediums were unwieldy and difficult to carve. I used a smooth, flexible linoleum and the necessary carving tools, which I easily ordered from Amazon, to create the image. Carving the linoleum still takes time and effort, but the accessibility of the craft makes the process much smoother (and safer) than in earlier eras. The design of the final inked image is deceptively simple, but the process of creating it from start to finish took upwards of four hours. This time included drawing, carving, and quick touch-ups to avoid transferring unwanted ink portions onto the page.
Through the creation of my “Three Cups of Tea” print, I reflected on how similar the processes of writing a novel, carving linoleum, and assembling letters can be. All three crafts require an intense dedication to detail and demand time, patience, and effort from the artist. All three art forms appear deceptively simple, and it can be easy to disregard the work required to produce them. The final print version of “Three Cups of Tea” took me 10 hours of active work to complete and could be read and understood in a handful of minutes. Similarly, novels take countless hours to create and finish (including editing and printing time). Creating this print helped me connect the character development in Klune’s novel to my understanding of contemporary forms. While the final product can make the process seem deceptively simple, there is typically a tremendous amount of physical and mental energy required to produce something that leaves a lasting impression.
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References
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Fowler, Rich. “Linocut Artists and History - Linocut Artist: Boarding All Rows.” Linocut Artist | Boarding All Rows, 2023, www.boardingallrows.com/history-of-lino-printing-and-famous-linocut-artists.
Keaney, Quinn. “Book Review: ‘Under The Whispering Door’ by T.J. Klune.” What Is Quinn Reading?, What Is Quinn Reading?, July 31, 2023, www.whatisquinnreading.com/reviews/under-the-whispering-door-book-review.
Klune, T.J. Under the Whispering Door. First edition. New York, TOR, 2021.
“Letterpress Printing.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, inc., 20 July 1998, www.britannica.com/technology/letterpress-printing.