This page is dedicated to following the history of The Adventures of Happy Joy. Thanks to Steve, Amy, Jenny, Maqui, Pam, and Barry for their encouragement and advice. Thanks to Noah, Amy, Jasmine, Josiah, Laura, Jeri, Amanda, Beka, and Mary Grace for inspiration in the stories. Thanks to Barry, Jan, Ruby Ann, Tracy, Shawna, Nancy, Gloria, Theresa, and the rest of the staff at Butler's for help in printing the books! Thanks to God!
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November 2009: Happy Joy and Her Friend Amy Joy is written. The original title: Happy Joy Introduces Her Friend Happy Joy. Decided that the title is too long, so the "Introduces" is replaced with the table illustration on the title page, and the title is changed to Happy Joy and Her Friend Amy Joy.
(more details forthcoming)
March 2010: This blog is started on behalf of hcfproducts.
October 2010: First printing of Happy Joy Makes a Quilt. (20 copies) This first printing measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" with a bright green cardstock cover, top bound with bright blue yarn. Unfortunately, the copy quality is not very good :( The books are first displayed at the Harvest Festival in El Morro, where one copy is auctioned, and the remaining copies are distributed for free to children in the El Morro and Gallup areas.
November 2010: First printing of Happy Joy Makes A Sled Run. (2 copies) This first printing measures 4 1/4" x 5 1/2" with a red cover, side bound with a single staple. Unfortunately, the copy quality is pixelly. One copy is given to Noah, and one copy is used as a sample for sales and donations. Barry suggests that the books be copyrighted, so the front covers of books that have not been distributed from first printings are hand-written with "c. 2010 by Happy Joy ... hcfproducts.blogspot.com". We realize that the copier can make pamphlets that can be stapled into 8 1/2" x 5 1/2" booklets, and then cut in half... but only if the original copies are cut in half and fed into the copier as booklet pages. The best exposure is at darkness 4. It is realized that the reason for the pixelly-ness is due to scanning of the book at a low resolution. Suggestion is made from Barry to re-scan images at a higher resolution. One page is scanned at 800 resolution. Two copies are printed on a laser printer, one in color and one in black and white. The color printout has thicker lines, but after going through the copy machine, it is determined that the copy made from black and white printout does not differ in quality from the copy made from the color printout.
Astrobright cardstock, 250 sheets, is selected for the covers.
November 2010: Donations and orders begin to be collected so that the printing costs can be covered!
November 2010: Facebook page is started.
December 2010: All pages of the ten adventures are scanned at 800 dpi in black and white, saved as JPEGs, copied into Word, and saved as PDF files, in landscape format with two copies of each image on the right hand side of each page, spaced for copying and cutting!
December 2010: PDF files are printed on laser printer in black ink.
December 2010: Copies begin to be made. First, each sheet is cut in half. Each book is collated, alternating with book pages and blank pages. These are placed upright in the copy feeder. The covers are placed face down on the bypass tray. Special modes is selected, and pamphlet is chosen. 1-sided copies; cover with no copy, heavy paper in the bypass tray. White 92lb paper is placed in Tray 3, and selected. One copy is made first to check that the book will come out correctly. Then, 24 copies to use up the remaining covers!
Covers are chosen, in the order that the adventures were written, following the color of the spectrum:
Red: Amy Joy
Orange: Quilt
Yellow: Yard Sale
Dark Green: Pine Needle Tea
Dark Blue: Sled Run
Purple: Door
Bright Blue: Corn Husk Figures
Lime Green: Wall
Burnt Orange: Yarn
Pink: Clean-Up
**Note: while putting books into sets, it's observed that the oranges should have been swapped, so that all of the darker hues would be together, and all of the brighter hues would be together.
December 2010: Printing is completed (egad, it was difficult to get the last set printed, due to the copier jamming during the folding process!) Books are cut in half using cutting machine. Cutting machine is set at 4.25" and slices cleanly through the books!
December 2010: Books are put into sets and tied with raffia
Next steps:
(1) Decision on free gift... something that goes with the story (tape measure, level, needle and thread, corn husks, dirt without organic matter, pine needles...) ...or a CD/DVD?
(2) Inscriptions for donated books! Decision: calligraphy or no calligraphy?
