letterpress table

This table has just started making the blog rounds and I must say, I am in love. (That is twice this week, including the chandelier). This lovely little table is from Crate and Barrel and comes with a not so little price, $900.

The reason I like this table as opposed to a table that uses actual wood type (this one is simply carved to look like individual blocks) is that original wood type is something letterpress printers treasure. It breaks my heart every time I see a set of wood type on Ebay & split up so it can spell out words like 'friend' or 'dream'. There are so many letterpress printers who desperately search out old type to print with and to see it treated as a novelty totally trivializes what we do.

But that is just my two cents. ;)

nss (part three)

Today's post features some of the wonderful paper folks that I had the pleasure to interview for my Etsy article. (By the way, the article is finished and is just awaiting publication- I'll post a link when it goes live) These gals made some wonderful work and were super sweet to answer all my questions. They gave a lot of good advice which I passed on in the article about exhibiting at trade shows. So here is just a little pictorial tour of some of the booths. Enjoy

Pie Bird Press

JHill Design

Ink + Wit

Sub-Studio

Sweetbeets

Albertine Press

Letterary Press

Micah and Me

nss (part two)

So one thing I must say as I go through my photos of the show... the lighting at Javits is not very good at all. I feel terrible posting some of these images as they do not do the work justice. That being said, here are some more images from the show... Tomorrow I will post much of the work from the folks I interviewed.

Smock is a new company run by the folks at Boxcar Press. (They make a large number of the printing plates for all us smaller companies). They have developed a whole line based on a bamboo paper that they are having manufactured just for them. I am super jealous as I have been trying to track down a bamboo paper for a while. Think they will sell me some paper? ;)

More lovely cards from the Screech Owl Design booth

More from the Fugu Fugu Press booth.

Eco postcards from Night Owl Press. I wish the creatures in my backyard looked as cute as theirs.

I found this display at the Pretty Bitter booth to be pretty funny. Perfect for the manly man in your life.

While I was there I ran into an old letterpress friend of mine, designer Andrea Burke. We took classes together forever ago. She was there with a new line of cards. It was super nice to see her again.

Ice cream + letterpress = non-stop YUM from Motormouth Press

Okay, so I apologize for less than stellar photos. I tried to pack lightly and opted for my smaller digital. Next year I will bring my larger SLR for sure. Come back tomorrow for the NSS/Etsy roundup.

paint chip interiors

I need to list more of these in my Etsy shop. I just want to rephotograph them first. I may have mentioned these before, but these are some prints I did a few months back. I created two different room illustrations and then printed them onto those big Behr paint chips. I think they are super cute. I sold a ton of them already at the Renegade Craft Fair in September and December but have behind on listing the rest on Etsy. I have two listed but that is it.

trunkt

We are now on trunkt. Trunkt is an online portfolio of sorts for artists that is geared towards the trade. Most people who visit trunkt are wholesalers, art directors, editors etc. We will see how it goes.

brooklyn letterpress

Here are some new postcards in our Etsy shop. They come in sets of 4. Great to send but I think they'd look nicer in a frame.

Printed in green on the super thick Crane's Lettra paper. It is 100% cotton (tree free) so it not only looks lovely but is super earth friendly as well.

studio sneak peek

People keep asking me about my studio so I thought I would show a few images of my home away from home. The space is very small but more than enough space for us. I love this first photo as it has everything I love... my 1200 lb monster of a press is in the reflection of this super old mirror I have mounted on the wall surrounded by lots of wonderful photographs and bits of goodies... vintage maps of Chicago, little typewritten lists, etc. It is just a fun wall to look at and keeps me inspired. (Many of the band photographs were either taken by myself or by one of my super duper friends, Jeff Winterberg) The rest of the photos include little bits of stuff I have collected that also serve double duty.... an old dartboard becomes a great bulletin board, vintage French kitchen tins hold all my letterpress goodies.... and the blue and white tables are actually old science tables salvaged from a local high school.

baby announcements and more

I FINALLY got around to photographing a bunch of custom work, including the much anticipated (according to our family) birth announcements for Jackson. We couldn't decide on a 'theme' so I just whipped up this circus/wanted poster style design. The swirls are in a pool blue to match the envelope and all the text is in a cocoa brown. As for the photo, he is just 3 weeks old. Look at all that hair! (He's lost most of it....sad).

As for the other work, mostly wedding stuff with a Bar Mitzvah or two thrown in. Why the sudden rush to document the invites? Well I am redesigning the website and am updating the gallery. Aside from adding the pics, the site is done and should be up soon. In the meantime, here are a few shots from my photo session. Enjoy.

This was a Bar Mitzvah set that included 2 invites, an rsvp, a map/directions booklet, thank you cards, place cards, and printed envelopes. Everything was in an assortment of blues, and browns.

This is just the rsvp to a super fancy invite. I was given a swatch of fabric and told to mimic it. This set is a whopping 3 colors (that is usually more than many people get) and the invite itself was two sided. Every inch of the front and back were printed to look like a piece of fabric. Very interesting project.

hamilton wood type museum

If you ever happen to find yourself in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, you must stop by the Hamilton Wood Type Museum. The Hamilton Co. started manufacturing wood type in 1880 and quickly became the largest provider in the U.S. Newspapers as well as other public information such as those old wanted posters, were printed using wood type. The museum is in a less-than-flashy building in an even more less-than-flashy town. The museum is run by a small group of volunteers, many of whom originally worked in the factory. When you look past the dust and homemade displays, you find over 1.5 million pieces of wood type, beautifully aged and worn, scattered about the building. From the second you walk in the door, you become immersed in a part of history often overlooked. While I consider myself a little ahead of the game when it comes to the general public's knowledge of letterpress, I never thought about things like... "in all the old ledger books, pre-computer age, how did the little red and blue lines get there"... Perhaps this seems obvious to you but I had no clue. At Hamilton, they have the original machine from the 19th century that used this elaborate system of strings coated in red & blue ink to put the lines onto the paper. It is pretty incredible. The Hamilton Co. also dabbled in other things, which are on display, such as medical examining tables and the first gas dryer ever invented. The museum is free to visitors and for letterpress folks, you can rent time on their presses (mostly Vandercooks) for $30 a day. After a day at the museum, head across the street to the Washington House, the original site of Ed Berners' Ice Cream Parlor... the officially recognized location of the first ice cream sundae.