For the Love of Letterpress

Letterpress New Years Greeting/Announcement/Eye Test

2012-01-03T15:33:00.000-05:00

Wow, there's a whole lot we need to catch up on...

First of all, I AM alive and printing, I've just been purposefully/accidentally quiet around here. You see, I come from a long line of notoriously fertile women and right about the time I decided to really give this thing (this letterpress thing, as I like to call it) a go, Jason and I found out that we were expecting! I mean, we were trying and all, I just really thought I'd get in a few more months of 'round the clock printing and designing and general starting-a-businessing. Yeah... I should have known better. And believe it or not, my 1 or 2 posts a month was enough to gather quite a few inquiries. For fear of getting in over my head, I put any blogging/advertising on hold. As you can imagine, printing is a little tough when you're verge-of-coma tired, dealing with an ever expanding belly, and have the looming threat of early labor potentially infringing on your deadlines. But don't fret! I haven't been on the couch this whole time! I have a slew of projects (mostly small referral based projects) I've been saving from the last few months to post here, now that I'm officially "too big to print" and have a little more time on my hands. AND I hope to resume printing in early May, after Baby Hanna makes his/her appearance and we've figured out our schedules.

Soooooo, may I present to you the Hanna Family New Year/Birth Announcement Card! It also doubles (triples?) as an eye exam! When I do projects for myself I like to see how far I can push the letterpress printing process, because if shit hits the fan I have no one to disappoint but myself. Minuscule fonts and hairline knockouts put this calendar just at the cusp of legibility. I apologize to my recipients of advanced years...

Yaaaay Babies!!!!

If you want to get organized, sometimes you gotta make a mess first.

2011-08-17T13:16:00.002-04:00

In the midst of changing the office from 70% Jason and 30% Holly to 10% Jason and 90% Holly.
Don't worry, he has 100% of an office in the city now, in addition to the server room down the hall. You read that right, we have an entire room devoted to a server in our little ranch. Although we also have an entire garage devoted to a letterpress machine, so I guess I can't complain too much.

&

2011-07-19T18:47:00.001-04:00

Amazingly, I made it through design school without ever learning how this little bugger got its shape. Finding this tidbit of information while flipping through Polk's classic "The Practice of Printing" just reinforces my undying love for the ampersand.

Well hello there, cupcake!

2011-06-02T16:36:00.000-04:00

Tara is THE luckiest girl in the world. Not only did she recently get engaged to a hot doctor (well... she's a hot doctor too, so he's just as lucky!) but he also proposed WITH CUPCAKES.

In preparation for coming showers/bachlorettes/and all those other things associated with weddings that require a thank you card (enfianced: take note! you will need lots and lots of thank you cards) she commissioned me to design something special to celebrate the cupcake-laced proposal. Don't you think everything should be cupcake-laced? Cupcake-laced traffic! Cupcake-laced dentist appointments! Cupcake-laced jogging! That would be awesome.

And that last photo, the one that's probably a little too busy for a product shot? Total accident. I was using that chair (yes, that crazy pattern is a chair in my house) to prop up a bounce board and I couldn't help but notice that the colors in the card matched perfectly. The fabric is from Anna Maria Horner, I found it in CO on a trip with Jason's parents. I've been an admirer of her work for a few years now, and I picked up this bolt without even knowing it was her. At least I'm consistent, right? Anyway, you should check out her site and especially her blog. She's insanely talented, her house is crazy colorful, and she has like 16 kids.

Letterpress printed on Ivory 110lb Lettra in "Red Velvet" (the cupcake du proposal) with Blossom envelopes!

Now THIS is multitasking

2011-05-26T14:48:00.003-04:00

Cleaning roller riders AND getting a tan at the same time. This is the best job ever.

Love:Holly & Bill

2011-05-24T16:45:00.003-04:00

Not me Holly. A different Holly. I'm already happily married. And his name is certainly not Bill.

I pretty much had free reign with this one. I had just started thinking everything I do is completely unoriginal and lame (which I tend to do, like, everyday) when this little diddy popped into my head. I am butt-crazy in love with the logo I whipped up, and how those lines feel when you rub your nail across.

Letterpress printed on 110lb Flo White Lettra in Good Ol' Black ink with Peacock envelopes

Woot!

Love: Krissy & Steve

2011-05-10T18:31:00.004-04:00

I always like to chat with the bride (and groom! if he's willing) a bit on the phone or in person before a start a design. The internet can be so impersonal. Through our initial email exchange Krissy said the theme of the wedding was "Wine". Wine? Like, just booze? Errr... okay. BUT through further explanation over the phone I discovered that Stephen proposed at a vineyard in California, Bella Vineyards to be exact. Aaaand they are moving from boring ol' Mass to California- sunny, glorious, sunny, vineyard-filled (did I say sunny?) California- after the wedding. Okay, now I get it. I did a little internet sleuthing and surprised Krissy with a custom drawing of the famous caves at Bella Vineyards and incorporated it into a simple design reminiscent of a wine label. She loved it!

Letterpress printed on 110lb Pearl White Lettra in a custom-matched Eggplant ink with Plum envelopes.

Love: Kim & Billy

2011-03-30T19:10:00.005-04:00

The bride & groom wanted modern & simple & not something they'd look back on in ten years and say "HELLO 2011". Fait accompli methinks.

Navy & Poppy on Lettra 110 Flo White. Matching Navy envelopes with custom liners. Return address in Silver. Hopefully my last mag on wood job EVER.

So how are my pictures looking? Good? I am loving this depth-of-field shit. Every time I mess with it I think back to my one photo class in collage and how I totally bombed the depth-of-field project. I just could not grasp the concept for some reason. I'd like to blame the 20-ish year old camera I was using, but in hindsight it was probably just a hangover. Do you think they could be a bit brighter? I'm finding it hard to draw the line between "bright" and "blown out".

Happy March 4th! Here's a Christmas Card!!!

2011-03-04T10:37:00.006-05:00

Printed on Flo White Lettra 110, blind emboss (deboss? the jury's still out) and a custom mixed brick red ink. The always fashionable Sarah paired these with a lovely Gravel Paper Source envelope. More photos here.

And is there some magical blogging formula I'm missing? I'm finding this all very frustrating. It seems everything I try gives me some sort of other problem. Oh look, the left half of my photo has been cropped off! Why the eff is my text centered now?!? How did this space get here?!?!?? WHY IS THIS PHOTO SO SMALL!?!?!?! And it's not even like I went and fancied up my blog, I mean LOOK AT IT. It's basically the default, I'm guessing this is only going to get harder once I start pretty-ing it up.

Maybe one of my 2 readers can help? I'm not asking for much, I'll break it down to bullet points because my anxious nature requires organization:

~~I would like larger pictures, even when I hit the "large" button they're still only the size of my fist on the screen~~.
I would like all my photos to be the same width, preferably the same width of my text. Is this something I need to do myself in p'shop or is there a magic "make all my pics the same damn size" button?
I would like to link up with flickr so people can see a larger version of my photos, but also because flickr is where all the cool kids are. I really don't have the desire to manually copy and paste a link for each photo. Where is the magic "flickr" button?

It's not helping my case that I have no html experience. And apparently I really have a thing for buttons.

Update!!!! Now with LARGER PICTURES!!!!!!

Is this thing on?

2011-03-04T09:53:00.002-05:00

pazxmas20105 a photo by for the love of letterpress on Flickr.

Update: Not exactly the blogging epiphany I was hoping for. Lets try this again...

Flickr

2011-03-04T09:48:00.001-05:00

This is a test post from , a fancy photo sharing thing.

This past week or so has been pretty amazing

2011-02-20T13:14:00.002-05:00

Here's the random smattering of events.

First of all, I recieved two wonderful gifts from my sister:
1. Zoe Patricia

Jason and I have already decided she's going to grow up to be a hipster, or whatever we'll be calling the cool kids in 2030, and she has my sneeze.

2. A Canon G7

It's a hand me down, but I'm already taking immensely better pics with it compared to my old point & shoot with the scratched lens. And I'm super excited about all it's quasi-SLR functionality.

ALSO....
We spent an entire weekend with Paige & Emily while mommy and daddy were busy at the hospital. They are such good girls. There were lots of snuggles and giggles and only one huge meltdown. When I woke up Saturday there were little feet in my hair, and when I finally got home on Sunday I took a four hour nap.

I discovered I can feed southpaw, not as efficiently as the right but in a pinch (i.e. when I'm too lazy to redo make-ready) it works. And I still have all my fingers.

I smashed my first plate, not a good thing, but it taught me that all those other printers weren't kidding when they stressed over and over again "DO NOT PRINT WHEN YOU'RE TIRED"

Two lovely books came in the mail, I should practice using my fancy-dancy new camera and capture some of the loveliness.

An unexpected (especially unexpected since we just celebrated our first anniversary) wedding gift arrived on our doorstep: a weighty, warm, and soft hand-knitted blanket with a beautiful ombre stripe pattern. A sweet handwritten note that accompanied it explained it's tardiness; my aunt had been working on knitting this blanket for over a year, she experienced a few hiccups and with each one she did what most in my family would do: throw it in the closet and wait for it to fix itself. The eventual result was worth the wait, it fits just beautifully in our living room, even complimenting the paneling and the black leather sofas (we're just working with what we've got here, folks, but trust me, it's working). I'm surprised by the emotional attachment I've already formed with it.

It was almost 60 (!!!) here on Friday, which just happened to be a vacation day for me. I ran a 5k in a t-shirt then sat on the front steps with Wookie soaking up the sun.

My Boxcar base is on it's way! Everyday I've been running home to hoping to see it sitting quietly on the front step just waiting for me. Alas, not yet.

AND... this I'm really so excited about. We found our new kitchen table. It had been under a tarp in my Dad's basement THIS WHOLE TIME!!!!!

Wow. I am so screwed.

2011-02-08T21:54:00.004-05:00

Reading My So-Called Freelance Life's section about dealing with distractions when working at home.

I'm a business...MAN!

2011-02-06T14:08:00.003-05:00

Props to all my homeys who got the jay-z/kanye reference.

Thank you, Interwebs

2011-01-05T16:38:00.000-05:00

For making today a little more tolerable.

http://damnyouautocorrect.com/

A little late but....

2011-01-02T11:52:00.007-05:00

Here's our 2010 Christmas Card!!! They obviously went out a few weeks ago, but things have been crazy 'round here lately. Holidays, birthdays, and one very sick kitty who's scheduled for surgery on Tuesday (yes, we are those people) equals little time for blogging. Not that I was ever good at it to begin with. I am SO proud of these babies, check out that registration! I do not screw around. It's kind of a curse. Oh, and I almost forgot to tell you! I have FOUR working rollers now!!! All just kissing the plate beautifully.... life is good.

Hi Maura!!!

2010-11-27T10:42:00.005-05:00

I am so excited to share these. It took a lot of blood, sweat, and tears to get here, but guys, I AM PRINTING!!!! I know, I was already printing before, but that was just practice. Now I'm printing with confidence and knowledge and it is finally looking friggin' GOOD. Not perfect, but good enough that I'll actually share it here...

Not too shabby for one working roller, huh? Roller two has already been fitted with smaller trucks (the trucks that came with it were too large so it wasn't hitting the plate), and rollers three and four just made the long journey to Cali and back for some new rubber, so starting next week I will be printing like a ROCKSTAR.

I designed and printed these for my longtime friend and (sole) loyal reader Sarah who welcomed her little girl Maura into the world this September. I've always loved hand drawing text and since Sarah wanted to keep things simple I thought it would be a good time to indulge in my obsession. The frame around the photo is a nod to Sarah and Paul's (and my) history at a certain unnamed home decor company ;)

Printed in Strawberry ink on 110lb Fluorescent White Crane's Lettra ~ Blossom cardstock attachments cut with my Klik-N-Kut ~ Photo prints from SmugMug

Yay!!!!!!!!

I really don't have this reblogging thing down.

2010-11-08T11:46:00.000-05:00

But Dolce Press is giving away a GLOW IN THE DARK LETTERPRESS poster. Wha?!?

http://dolcepress.com/blog/2010/11/01/good-morninggood-night-poster-giveaway/

The Beast in action!

2010-10-22T11:28:00.003-04:00

Oh! And I've named the beast. Her name is Astrid. A name I've loved for years, but couldn't even consider using on a human just because, well, it has "ass" in it. Yes, I am that childish. (my apologies to anyone out there named Astrid who is offen....wait, who am I kidding, I have one reader and her name is Sarah!) But I figured since there aren't any other presses around to concoct ass-related nicknames, Astrid would be the perfect name for the Beast. It's strong. Bold. Yet capable of such beauty. And it has a nice Nordic ring to it, perfect for a press that has roots in Norway.

OK back on topic. Sesame Street. Letterpress. And can you believe I actually REMEMBER that dog drawing?!?! No really, I do. Vividly. I've had this red scribbly dog thing swirling in my head for YEARS, with no clue where it came from until I found this link. I literally had a mini panic attack because for a second I thought You Tube had found a direct line to my soul.

editors note: (ha! I'm an editor) Unlike the press in the video, my Kluge is missing the feeder, which is fine with me. I can't even get two rollers working at the same time yet, never mind that whole gripping/sucking contraption. So I hand feed, and quite enjoy it, so far.

Could she even pick up a form?!?

2010-09-28T17:00:00.001-04:00

{photo courtesy: Stanford University}

Most of you have heard about the recent passing of Gloria Stuart, the actress who portrayed, um, Old Rose in the movie "Titanic", but did you know she was also a book artist? Yep, when she wasn't chucking huge diamonds into the ocean she was settin' type and takin' names, until she retired at the age of... 96?!?

And yes, I get all of my important news updates via dlisted and wikipedia. Deal with it.

From the Studio Saturday?

2010-09-25T14:26:00.002-04:00

I need a weekly publishing goal. I'm thinking I'd rather set a recurring weekday post though, I like to keep my weekends relatively Internet free. Maybe next week I'll start with iPhone Phridays? A shot from the studio, taken every Friday, with my iPhone?

Font!

2010-09-23T14:31:00.003-04:00

I haven't bought a font in a while, nevermind an entire family. I've already blown all my money on cast iron and motor oil, I need to cool it for a bit. Until this thing starts being lucrative I've told myself I need to stick to fonts I already have, freebie fonts, or if I'm desperate I'll just draw it by hand.

But for you, Geotica, I will make an exception.

OK, maybe NOW I'll post more.

2010-09-04T13:46:00.006-04:00

Bear with me... I'm trying out this mobile blogging app on my new iPhone in the hopes that I can bypass the whole actually-getting-pictures-off-my-camera-and-onto-my-blog problem I seem to be having lately.

So here's a photo (unedited, taken with my iPhone) of a blind impression done as part of a small demonstration I did for some of Jason's employees (which is HILAROUS given my current insane lack of knowledge on the subject of letterpress). Computer engineers actually get pretty excited about antiquated, completely inefficient machinery. Who knew?

The plate is from my collection of old cuts that I've been using to practice... it appears to be a kid sleeping at his/her desk? Strange, yet fitting for this time of year. Oh, and this is my first print on Lettra, which I am already liking way better than Holyoke, which was much smushier.

Wow that was a lot of thumb-typing!!!!

Excuse me while I wipe the tea off my screen

2010-06-23T11:06:00.006-04:00

A few weeks ago Jason commented on the fact that I still had this picture up as my facebook profile (ehm, I guess he hasn't seen my blogger profile lately), and pointed out that the wedding was over 4 months ago, and wasn't it time that I changed it? And I was all 'scuse me, but that is The Most Fabulous Picture I Have Ever Taken, and I'm milking this for as long as I can. In fact I may have it made into a button that I can wear on bad hair days.

So I'm just sitting here today, having my biweekly Killers morning, and what should happen to pop up in my google reader? Why, only The Most Fabulous Picture I Have Ever Taken!!! And where was it? BROOKLYN BRIDE!!

While I was planning the wedding I kinda always secretly dreamed of having our wedding featured on one of the numerous wedding blogs that I stalked for a solid year and a half (like Brooklyn Bride). But now that the wedding is over, I kind of don't give a shit. I mean, why would I want to sit down and organize all these photos, try to come up with a witty story on how we met (online), found our band (it was the only one that island that didn't suck), or saved money (um yeah, we failed miserably at that)? Just so some strangers can oogle at our photos? I have better things to do with my time. Like letterpress. And watch reruns of True Blood. Oh, and spend time with my HUSBAND. Well, it turns out Brooklyn Bride was doing a studio tour of Clark+Walker, and they just happen to have a big ass canvas print of The Most Fabulous Picture I Have Ever Taken on the wall of their studio. So there I am, front and center on Brooklyn Bride, and I didn't even have to do anything! Oh, it's the little things....

{images from Clark+Walker}

And I'm off!!!

2010-06-01T22:07:00.001-04:00

I have two jobs in development already! Not paying ones, but jobs nonetheless. Gotta get my feet wet somehow!

Here's a few quick concepts I'm working up for baby Joe who was born May 15th. His family wanted to celebrate the fact that he is of the male persuasion, as he comes from a long line of female cousins (7th grandchild, first boy!!!)

Of course the gray square is where his cute little face will go! Mom's working on getting a shot of him snuggled up with his two older sisters.

My other job also involves a baby announcement. I think I'm starting to see a trend here... NO THAT'S NOT WHAT I MEAN.

Things I Learned Today

2010-05-10T15:05:00.001-04:00

Water soluble oil paint does not make an adequate substitute for letterpress ink. You're welcome.

And wow, I already suck at this blogging thing. I've spent the last few weeks doing endless research, a little printing (!), and a LOT of thinking. Thinking about where I want this blog to go (a showcase for my work? a go-to source for all things letterpress? a random collection of verbal hemorrhages?), and thinking about where letterpress will take me. This weekend it's the National Stationary Show!!!

I've already been numerous times (for my day job) but this will be the first time going for ME!!! I'm excited to see it again though my own eyes, and not the eyes of what I think will please my bosses. I'm also hoping to meet some seasoned letterpressers and maybe pick their brains a bit, if they are not too busy.

I fully expect to be bursting with ideas come Monday. Yay!!!

Gah!

2010-04-13T12:05:00.003-04:00

Wouldn't this be a fabulous way to learn letterpress...

Wood Type Revolution Wave

A week of classes in Italy?!? In the SUMMER!?! That kinda beats the hell outta tinkering for few months in my garage. Nevermind I've been dying for some time in Europe, I'm all Caribbean-ed out.

brochure here!

http://www.articalligrafiche.it/assets/files/pdf/revolution2010eng.pdf

It just never gets old

2010-04-07T13:04:00.001-04:00

That first really hot day. Hair up. Windows down. And this comes on the radio:

Hell Yes.

The press has arrived!

2010-04-07T12:23:00.009-04:00

the press is home, safe and sound. yay!!!

me? ...not so much.

I am now short one third fingernail, thankfully NOT on my drawing hand, but more on that later.

Holy crap, moving a 1200lb press is HARD. The Beast was in a storage unit in Lynn, MA and needed to make the one hour trek to its new home in my garage. Thankfully there were no stairs or narrow hallways to deal with, but the job still required a moving truck, two pallet jacks, several dollies, a gate lift, and four grown men. Oh and me, having a bazillion panic attacks.

After calling 5 or 6 different moving companies for estimates, we hired Micheal's Movers out of Boston, MA. They seemed to know their stuff and happily worked to meet our budget. Three burly men (OK, one burly who looked remarkably like A-Rod, and two normal sized) met us promptly at the scheduled time of 8am. The men that Micheal's sent were fabulous, they cared about my press, were thoughtful and polite. The Beast loaded up and on its way by about 9am.

OK, I made that sound way too easy.... it wasn't. Every move had to be carefully planned out, even a 1 inch step was a chore, requiring multiple moves between the pallet jack and dollies. It took 45 minutes just to figure out how to get it on the gate lift!!

seriously... 45 min to get up that tiny little incline?!?

After getting The Beast onto the gate lift, the four men positioned themselves at the rear of the truck in press-catching position and I manned the control switch. Palms sweating, I hit "up", as the lift lurched into motion the top-heavy press started to lean backwards. The movers yelled for me to lower the lift so they could reposition and add more strapping. I hit "down". Nothing. For some reason (they blamed the cold) the down wasn't working, so we had no choice but to continue up, with the 1200lb press leaning over my husband and A-Rod and those other two.

gah!!!!

Thankfully when we arrived home "down" decided to join the party, but then the pallet jack broke!! Our construction company owning neighbor was summoned to help. After some fruitless tinkering he suggested trying True Value for a rental and even offered to go get it with his ginormous truck.

yay for nice neighbors!

So with our SECOND pallet jack of the day we brought The Beast to what I learned would be it's final resting place, because my dear husband told me we are NEVER GOING THROUGH THAT AGAIN.

The nice moving men left, our neighbor returned home, and Jason and I we loaded the rented pallet jack into The Matrix (and added it the list of amazing shit I can fit in my car).

pallet jack, CHECK!

We arrived at True Value and as we lifted the pallet jack out of the back, that's when it happened. I was lowering my end to the ground and holy mother of god something just ate half my finger. I really don't know how it happened, maybe the wheel pinched it? All I know is that if anyone wants to clone me there is sufficient blood to do so located in the True Value parking lot.

So there you have it, the press is home, and I'm beyond excited. Unfortunately, I'm still nursing an injured finger that gets all angry and swells up whenever I bump it (which seems to be every time I set foot near the press) so things are progressing slowly. I think it's going to be a loooong journey to get printing.

And seriously peeps, what is up with the blogger editing? Things seem to just be magically moving and shifting on their own! Makes Holly ANGRY!!!!

Oh, look, we're famous!

2010-03-30T12:39:00.007-04:00

Clark+Walker, our fab wedding photographers, did a little advice column on Well Wed and used some pictures from our wedding!! Ah, what every bride dreams of... strangers drooling over your beautiful photos... kinda makes you feel better about the ridiculous amount of energy wasted on ONE FRIGGIN' DAY.

In unrelated news, we moved the press home on Sunday! It's a looooong post that I just don't have the motor skills to deal with right now. More soon!

Loving: Crate and Barrel Loopy Pillow

2010-03-24T11:04:00.014-04:00

I'm into happy things. Even the name makes me smile.

The most exciting this about this letterpress adventure? It's mine. I haven't been responsible for most of my work for the past 8 years. That's corporate life (which I'm still in, but there's always nights and weekends!). Purchasing this press has given me the motivation to get back to the things I love: happy things, swirly things, simple things.

Hmmm.... seaside New England wedding invites (lobstahs!!!), birthday cards (balloons!!!). Focus, Holly. Must get press delivered in one piece first....

Hi hi hi!

2010-03-22T14:33:00.006-04:00

I just bought a 10 x 15 Kluge and have NO IDEA HOW TO USE IT.

Wish me luck.