Printed Things

Hers and Hers love cards on press.

I have several new products and projects that I will be releasing soon in my Etsy shop and on my website, many of which are letterpress printed. I am saving the final product shots for the official release, so you will have to be patient, but here are some in-progress shots to whet your appetite.  

 I made a mini love card series because love comes in shapes and sizes.

 Believe it or not, one of my larger projects for the year was an 11 piece coaster set/book art project. I'll go into more detail in a future post solely about this project.

My old gift tag designs are nearly sold out so I did a new, 3 design set that is rather literal and somewhat in your face.

Make-ready for the love card series

 Love card series lock-up

 Gift tags on press.

 Who doesn't love a little sarcasm when they're being sincere?

 I rarely do a card run that's large enough to make ruining a tympan with a scoring matrix worth it. That means whipping out the ol' bone folder and straight edge for a bit of hand-scoring action.

Wood type is just as nice on its own as when it's printed.

SF Raw Discovery

Things have been quiet on the blog lately because I've been busy editing, sequencing, and printing photographs for a display at the SF Raw Discovery event, which was last night. I hadn't shown photos for quite a while before this event so I was quite nervous, plus, the event wasn't your typical gallery venue. There were all types of visual artists and vendors as well as music performers and a fashion show. It was so much fun! There was great interest and good questions about my work from many of the attendees and I even sold a few prints, which is always a good thing. Here's a peek into my preparations.

Editing photos before printing

Trimming the edges to be even

Making sure my layout is good

My final display. With the weathered wood, it was like I had created my own small forest.

Holiday Fair Craziness

Where have I been, you ask? I bet you thought I deserted the blogosphere--NEVER! First there was Thanksgiving, which quickly flows into the December holidays and, in between those, the holiday craft fairs. This was the first holiday season where I did more than just 1 small fair and so I put a lot of extra time and effort into my made things and display.

I flexed my design muscles a little and designed a few new cards on the computer and made polymer plates for the first time in over a year. They came out pretty well, if I do say so myself. 

The first fair was Bazaar Bizarre, where I perfected my display, which was greatly enhanced by some nifty wooden card holders my partner made.

Next was the San Francisco Center for the Book's Annual Holiday Fair; my best fair of the year. After that was Renegade, which was super fun, but, unfortunately, I seem to have lost all the images I took there. 

I learned a lot from all these craft fairs and came up with about a million new ideas for projects and products. I can't wait to put them into action but for now I'm kicking back in Colorado and enjoying a little family and football.

Business Cards

Last week I designed and printed my first ever custom business card job. I usually only make things for myself, so it was a bit challenging and nerve racking, but also oh-so-fun! 

The cards were for friend and photographer, Josh Smith.

Polymer plate, all locked up and ready to go

All packaged and ready to go

Lino Printing At Home

I'm ready to print!

In case I haven't said it before, I really love printmaking. I find the physicality involved in so many aspects of making a print really rewarding. The only problem is I don't have a press at home and I love making things at home. 

laying out the paper

I've been doing printmaking off and on for years, but I decided I wanted to hone my knowledge so I'm taking an introductory level printmaking course at City College of San Francisco. While my sketches are amateur, I'm loving it and yesterday we went over lino carving. Being mainly a letterpress printer, I have a particular fondness for relief printing, plus, you can carve lino blocks and print them by hand at home.

pressing the plate

I decided I just had to try it today. So, after I finished studying for my French test, I set to work carving a 4x6 inch block based on a photo I had taken of my birthday cake. After about two hours of carving (hey, I'm new at this) I had a block that was ready to print. 

Luckily, I had some water soluble (aka super easy to clean) block printing ink at home from a previous lino carving endeavour (which ended when I put a carving tool through my finger), and one of those bamboo covered pads similar to what they use in traditional Japanese block printing. 

3 semi-successful test prints

I quickly realized that humans are not presses, getting good, even pressure is not easy. After 3 partially successful prints on thicker paper stock, I switched to the trusty, text weight Mohawk Superfine and finally got a good print.

yay, a good print!

While my drawing skills may still need some more work, I have to say, I am thrilled with this new process and quite proud of my work!

ink roller and plate