It's here! Where to start? With Frank? The STRANGE TITLE? The magic junkyard? Keep reading for answers - give that rabbit a tap! Frank enjoys some VIP attention with Penelope and his book in Richard's Corner The cat's out of the bag...or rather, the rabbit's out of the hat. Or sleeve. "A Flat White For Frank" is now available through Blurb for purchase or perusing, whichever your pockets and will-power allow. Love it and want 12 copies? A dozen Franks for you. Can't spend a nickel outside of your budget but want to read a story about creative recycling and seeing life beyond trash? No judgement - the preview option lets you page through cover-to-cover. You can read it for free, you can buy a physical copy... either way, enjoy the message: S e e beginnings w h e re o t h e r s s e e endings. (( FIND THE BOOK HERE: www.blurb.com/b/11508029-a-flat-white-for-frank )) B a c k i t u p a y e a r . . . Spring of 2022 - The Picketwire's very first issue. Douglas Furr's very first "Trash Craft" feature. Nothing was conservatively laid out, words weren't held back, and Douglas' trash craft build went straight to the high end of the skill level meter. There were no warning shots fired - The Picketwire was here, and it had a little bit of everything ... whether you were ready for it or not. A 7 out of 10 on the difficulty meter, the "Build Your Own Bag Bunny" trash craft required more patience and handiness than it did materials. The basis of the project was a way to use plastic bags, plastic wrap, really any clean plastic that would normally be thrown away or may be difficult to recycle. Douglas Furr heads his own Possums Against Plastic campaign and the reality is that not everyone has the opportunity to easily recycle their plastic bags or plastic wrap. So stuffing a bag full of said plastic and disguising it as something adorable seemed like an appropriate way to remedy this issue. And that's how it started. Before we go into more details on the bunny build, here's a quick snapshot of the original Trash Crafts tutorial in all its 3-page glory. If you haven't already checked out the first issue of The Picketwire to see this build step by step, you can hop on over for a quick peek here: www.blurb.com/b/11137284-the-picketwire-spring-2022 and select the "preview" option. Click the pages to turn to pages 20 -22. You will be able to expand the pages larger on your screen but gee gosh darn, be careful with your tapping and clicking - each gentle poke of the page may flip it to the next one! Frank had some exciting outings in his first few days of reincarnated life. He went to the bank. He went to the park. He basked in the sun under bluebird skies. He hopped across the bank teller's desk. He felt the wind in his ears. Life as a rabbit was so much more exciting than being spent plastic. Now, f a s t f o w a r d to the preparations for the 2023 Spring Picketwire. Cover photos are chosen, layouts are fabricated, stories are being rounded up for Possum Nook. What tale will be the first of the year? Although there were a few other lookers, a story about Frank seemed to be the obvious choice. He was brought to life in the previous year's spring issue, and as the first ever Trash Craft to grace the pages of the magazine, it seemed fitting to celebrate a 1 year anniversary of his build with a story about him. Words were typed and scenes were doodled onto notepads. Having a recycling-themed story for Earth Day would be an exciting bonus, and hopes were high that Frank clones might be created by readers inspired to recycle their own plastic bags. When it was all said and done, a story called "A Flat White For Frank" occupied 3 pages of The Picketwire's "Possum Nook" story corner, with a fourth devoted to Frank's glorious portrait photo taken at Green Lane Park. The Spring issue was almost complete... just a few more edits and small additions and it would be ready for print. Nothing left to hustle over, just polish and print. Just print. Right? ... right? W r o n g . One question. That's all it took to pull that well-positioned needle across the record. " How did Frank come alive ? " Well, there was an answer to the question: a magical moonlit junkyard. But the story was already written and finalized in the magazine. I had one extra page to work with but that wasn't enough for the remainder of the story, even with 10 point font. And I wasn't about to ask anyone to read a story about a recycled rabbit in micro font, no matter how small some of the actual story characters were. There was clearly only one answer. Fill the missing narrative gap by creating a book containing the entire story, with all supporting doodles, and the backstory. And do it right away so that the extra page in the magazine could be used to highlight Frank's book and where to find it. The book would have to be completely finished and made available for sale so that a link could be published in The Picketwire. This of course had to happen in roughly 24 hours to stay on schedule with printing. So it did. And the doodles that were used in the book are just that, sketched on demand. Frank's story wasn't meant to win any awards, it was meant to make smiles and inspire people to use their imagination to create better things out of discarded items. It also stands to show that possibilities always exist, it's just a matter of whether or not you are willing to act on them. T h a t t i t l e though .... Yes, that title. In traditional publishing, through a publishing house, with a major publisher, it would never fly. That title would have hit the editing floor so hard and fast that it probably would have shook the ceiling on the floor below. "You can't name a book after an unfamiliar coffee drink, kids don't drink coffee, and it's not even ABOUT coffee it's about recycling! We need 'Douglas and the Trash Rabbit' or 'A Recycled Rabbit's Earth Day'. Plus, nobody knows what a Fairlane is anymore - scrap that Ms. Galaxie character. You're just creating more confusion." And that's why it's self published.... But it's also a one of a kind title that doesn't run risks of copyright clashes and crests the top of any online search for "A Flat White For Frank". It also has roots in a real story which will be it's own blog post. It stems from a late summer coffee drank in the quiet morning hours of M O A B, Utah, before the streets came alive with seasonal traffic, on a trip that was as unplanned as this book (but even the trip had more prep time). There'll certainly be more blog posts about Frank and the things that make up his story. For now, get acquainted with this rosy red rabbit by reading the book. It's a short read and is perfectly suited for pairing with your morning (or afternoon, or evening) coffee. Find out how a few pieces of trash + one crafty minded possum = the creation of a coffee sipping rabbit named F R A N K.
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Tales of Douglas Furr (and his friends)narrated by Crissy Clossin Archives
February 2024
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