This summer, the Peterborough Currents team produced our first print publication: a series of three walking guides to help you explore local creeks. And now you can purchase all three of them for $16 at Watson and Lou.
We started publishing profiles of local creeks on our website last year, and they’ve been some of the most popular stories we’ve ever done. So when we got the itch to get creative and make a print publication this summer, we decided to adapt those articles into printed guides.
We hired local artist Brazil Gaffney-Knox to lead the creative process, and she did amazing work. Brazil adapted the articles for the new format, drew beautiful illustrations to accompany them, and spent many long days printing the guides on the risograph machine at Trent University’s Experimental Methods and Media Lab. Brazil has turned our creek articles into a work of art!
This was a labour of love. We chose thick, tactile paper stock sourced from Toronto. We spent hours troubleshooting the idiosyncrasies of the risograph machine, which is like a cross between a screen printer and a photocopier. (We all fell in love with the technology!) We folded hundreds and hundreds of sheets of paper by hand.
And it was a team effort from start to finish. Will wrote the original articles. Brazil turned them into walking guides. Ayesha edited Brazil’s work. We all volunteered to fold and assemble, as did our reporter Brett Throop and local artist and projectionist Laura Thomson. Letterpress printer and graphic designer Jeff Macklin lent us tools and expertise, and taught us how to do gusset folds. And we couldn’t have done it without our sponsors: Peterborough GreenUP, Jackson Creek Press, Watson and Lou, OPIRG Peterborough, and Sadleir House.
It was a big effort. And it was worth it. It was a fun summer project and we’re proud of the result!
And now you can hold our Creek Week Walking Guides in your hands. They cost $16 at Watson and Lou. You can stop by their store (383 Water Street) in person, or you can purchase the guides online.
