2014 Christmas Cards

One of these years, I won't be so last minute about things. I actually had a Christmas card design prepared months earlier but, when push came to shove, I was feeling a little art deco and switched things around.

The cards are simple, and I had a two-hour window while my daughter napped to do the make ready and run 100 cards through the press twice. Miraculously, I just barely made it.

They're not perfect and they didn't all arrive at their destinations before Christmas, but... we had a card! (And a lovely new family photo, thanks to James Everett Photography.)

On timing, letterpress, and the theory of everything

A few nights ago I wanted to give my husband and his visiting friend some privacy, so I took myself to a late night movie. I used to do this more often, but now that I have a toddler, going to the movies is kind of a rare treat. That said, I wasn't particularly excited about the film and, once there, I found myself completely alone in the theatre. Which kind of creeped me out (think: old theatre, smallish screen, red velvet curtains on every wall). But once I chose a seat, the screen immediately lit up with this:



Then they got right to the previews. So I had this weird reaction of simultaneously feeling impressed that the video found an appreciative audience (of one), mixed with some cosmic mumbo-jumbo about feeling like I was clearly in the right place at the right time, mixed with some paranoia about targeted advertising (which, of course, this wasn't). That I was there to see the Stephen Hawking biography, The Theory of Everything, also felt relevant to this whole experience somehow.

All of this to say, Local Local's short video on Green Girl Press is lovely and worth a watch.

The San Francisco Center for the Book posted this artwork on their Facebook page today. I love it.

Somehow, we're a third into August. That means I should be thinking about a Christmas card, as far as the letterpress is concerned. My goal was to open an Etsy shop in 2013 with at least a small inventory, so I have only a few months left to do so.

Speaking of a love rush, my time home with Isobel has been amazing and though it seems like I should have a lot of printing time, my days are mostly filled with play and meals, and my free time on freelance writing work, not to mention keeping track of the plethora of photos we've amassed in the past year. So, the printing days are out there, and I'll get to them, eventually.

An Iconic Letterpress Moment

Also a mysterious one. My husband came across this image on Tumblr:

She's working on a floor model platen press (so, like mine, but bigger) and all I have to say is, Look at those shoes!

Thank You Ladies of Letterpress!

As mentioned in my last post, I recently attended a workshop at the San Francisco Center for the Book.  The workshop was focused on tabletop platen press maintenance - which, for me, as a newbie, is really important. It's sort of akin to playing a song on a badly tuned instrument. Even if you've learned the song, it won't sound good unless the instrument has been properly cared for. I am very grateful to the Ladies of Letterpress for allowing me to attend this workshop as a recipient of their 2013 scholarship!

The workshop was held in SFCB's new location on Rhode Island St., and what a beautiful space. I loved the way their old space was ink-splattered and lived-in and smelled vaguely of chemicals, but their new building has a sort of calm, cool, spacious vibe which allows them, importantly, to house more presses. There is room to print, offices, classrooms, a gallery, and a very long worktable - and all impeccably organized.

As luck would have it, the workshop was actually cancelled at the very last minute - so last minute that I was already onsite. But since my husband was at home with our baby, I had the freedom and time to enjoy the exhibition I last posted about.

The reschedule was the following week, and though the class size had grown in the meantime, another strange turn of events made it so the other four students couldn't attend. This time, however, both the instructor, Alan Hillesheim, and I were there, and so I had a private lesson. It was fantastic.

The center has 2 platen presses that are similar to mine, which we were able to use as references. The workshop covered how to level the platen on its four axis points, as well as how to advance the entire platen toward the press itself, the importance of taping the rails and when to do so, oiling the press, and general tips about packing and inking. As I was the only student, I was also able to ask specific questions about my press and other printing-related matters. Needless to say, in three hours we covered a lot of ground. 

A big thank you again to Jessica and Kseniya and the Ladies of Letterpress!

Sneak Peek: Merci Beaucoup Notecards

I am slowly beginning to create designs and inventory for an eventual online shop, and as I am a bit of a Francophile, the first few will be in French. These flat thank you notes are printed on my favorite 100% cotton paper.

oink.

These piglets were a fun departure from the rest of the custom stationary I printed over the holidays. They are printed on 100% cotton A6 flat notecards, packaged with charcoal envelopes.

simple thank you's

These thank you notes were printed on high quality ivory, textured Italian paper stock sold by Cavallini & Co.

Custom Stationery

Before printing our holiday cards this year, I printed eight sets of custom stationery as gifts (not all pictured), packaged as boxes of 10 envelopes and flat cards.

The majority were printed on 100% cotton A6 flat notecards, using fonts by Emily Lime Design.

2012 Holiday Card

Hopefully our holiday cards have all reached their destinations. I didn't intend to wait until the last moment to design and print our cards this year, but due to some circumstances beyond our control, we spent much of the Christmas prep time away from home - and away from the letterpress.

I wanted to create a letterpress photo card (much like what Apple offers here), as it was Izzy's first Christmas, but I wasn't sure where I could order only the photo print, on nice card stock.

So we went for an A6 flat card on Paper Source's lovely new Savoy Cotton paper and sent a separate photo of our daughter. We were trying to keep it simple, and were hoping for a sort of modern vintage feel. I'm not super thrilled with how the cards came out, but they made it into the mail before Christmas!

Moveable Type: Kyle Durrie's mobile print shop visits SF

Yesterday I went down to the San Francisco Main Public Library to visit the Moveable Type truck, womanned by Kyle Durrie, founder and owner of Power and Light Press. In November of 2010, Kyle launched a Kickstarter campaign to outfit a Chevy step van with two letterpresses: an 1873 Golding Official No. 3 tabletop platen, and mid-twentieth century Showcard sign press (which was really cool).

Kyle spent a year traveling across North America in her mobile print shop before returning home to Oregon. Luckily for me, she recently took the van out for another spin and I was able to visit her shop and make a print. Given my love for books, our library-themed print will definitely be finding a home on our wall.

Isobel's Birth Announcements

Nearly everyone who reads this blog should have gotten Isobel's birth announcement in the post by now, so I think we're safe to post a few images.

A few notes - I designed the announcements before she was born and filled in the details afterward. My mom came over to watch Isobel while I printed these; it was actually the rest of the prep work, not the printing, that took the most time - cutting and adhering photos (why did I think wallet sized photos would come perforated? isn't this the future?) and tracking & writing down addresses. So, a tip for moms-to-be, address the envelopes before the baby comes!

I thought they turned out rather well, but here's my lovely daughter's take:

Custom Wedding Invitations

I had the honor of designing and printing custom letterpress wedding invitations for my cousin Jessica and her fiance, Tim, who will be married the first weekend of May. This was admittedly new ground for me, and I hope Jessica and Tim are as pleased with the results as I am.

Marriage, a Journey

This project has been long in coming. In truth, I'm skirting the statute of limitations for getting my gift to the couple within a year of their celebration. The quote here by Frederick Buechner used to be at the bottom of the bride's emails, sent during years abroad with the Peace Corps and the Foreign Service. She now signs her emails with a new quote, but this one seemed apt in relation to marriage.

The gift needed to be small, as the couple moves every two years, and the wooden cutting or cheese board beneath the frame, made by Russell James Ooms, is a small piece of California that can hopefully travel with them.

Our 2011 Christmas Cards

The idea this year was simplicity. I was thinking about printing white on white, and I was thinking about snowflakes - perhaps because I began designing our Christmas card while in the mountains over Thanksgiving, where it snowed ever so briefly one afternoon. Our card was nearly finished when my laptop decided to stop working.

Still, perhaps this hiccup was fortuitous. I'd chosen a lovely quote for the card ... lovely but not quite right, the result of a Google Search, and for the rest of our stay in Tahoe, I was forced to stay offline. Instead I walked, took some cooking lessons from my mom, and read. I was doing some research on St. Francis of Assisi and his good friend, St. Clare, when I came across the words printed on the inside of our card. The phrase is attributed to St. Francis, some 800 years ago. The words rang true. They are simple. And it never hurts that they're in Italian. The association with St. Francis is perhaps why I added a bird; I'm not sure. That happened rather last minute when I scrapped the previous card design and started over a few weeks later - at home, with a repaired computer. We got the cards printed and out in the nick of time.






















































































The holidays always feel like a long time coming and then pass so quickly. I hope everyone had a merry, joyous Christmas and holiday season.

Letterpress Gift Tags

Imprimatur: Let it be Printed

Let's hope the Latin translation is correct. Everything sounds better in Latin.

A couple things:

1. The new header is not my logo. I am very much in continued transition where the letterpress is concerned and not ready to jump into business. Still, I've heard that if you have a press you should name it. Not the press literally, but your work.

2. For now, I'm going to keep this blog for what it is: a place to share progress & projects. A new blogging platform or website may come later when I have inventory to sell.

3. Milestone achieved! Though arduous, though imperfect, though slow ... we finally have all the parts necessary to actually use the press, and we did our first print run last night. Photos to come soon...

In the meantime, this is what polymer plates look like: