The evening news

October 6, 2008October 7, 2008 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

Hey all, I know I’ve been a little MIA lately, but it’s been quite a week! On Monday, I had double meetings: one for wholesaling 622 press goods (yay!) and one for a logo design for MMoCA (yay! ahh! More to come on this later). Anyway, the meeting went really well, and in a couple weeks 622 press pieces will be available at Iconi Interiors (534 W. Washington Ave., Madison).

Iconi has been my very favorite home store since it opened last May, and I decided I might as well start at the top when approaching stores for wholesale, and it worked! The owner, Coni (get it?) Marotz is great and she has an amazing eye for putting together living spaces. The shop is an eclectic mix of original new pieces, great vintage and re-upholstered furniture, beautiful contemporary art and unique accessories. Basically, I want to live there.

Left: A bookshelf of vintage barware; Right: A bevy of lamps in the far front corner of the sunny shop

She’s planning on carrying a couple holiday card sets, several of the others in my etsy shop, as well as some pieces that are exclusive to Iconi (and she just about bought me out of my “Marine” Limited Edition, so get them while you can!). She also had two vintage cuts for sale in her shop that she sent home with me to test print. I was skeptical because they seemed to be a bit worn, but they printed absolutely beautifully. I did a small run of each (see below), but plan on doing more soon. They’re so cool! And in my limited experience it’s pretty rare to find large abstract designs. I like that they’re a little more masculine and geometric than my illustrations.

iconi_blue — Vintage cuts courtesy of Iconi Interiors

I also printed a really fun purple version of my ornaments card for my little sister (remember — you can order any design in any color, it only takes a couple weeks), and finally got a good run out of “Tablescape” (below), one of the first designs I created but haven’t been able to get to print well yet. (I think the cooler, less humid weather helped significantly, as well as my getting better at knowing the correct ink consistency and pressure.) So, even though I’ve been a total slacker on the blogging front, I’ve gotten a lot done!

Happy Holidays!

September 1, 2008September 6, 2008 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

I know it’s only September, but I’ve got my first round of holiday greeting cards finished! To celebrate being ahead of the game, I’m offering 10% off all orders placed through email before October 1st. Standard pricing is available here (cards range from $2 to $3 each with shipping another $3-$10 depending on where you live), or just email me for pricing on the quantities you want (I’m happy to split card sets for you). Enjoy!

Purchases & Productivity

August 26, 2008September 6, 2008 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 2 Comments

Left to right: A funky vintage owl cut, wood type, vintage world cut.

Yesterday, I drove to Racine to purchase some letterpress paraphernalia I found (once again) on craigslist. Tom had a TON of stuff, all in really great condition, and I got two drawers of lead type, an assortment of large wood type (that I cannot wait to try out) and several vintage cuts (technical term for blocks with images on them). I can’t wait to get printing!

I also got a ton of printing done this weekend. I finished up all four holiday card runs that I had started (more to come on that later this week) and completed two custom orders, below. On the left, Save the Dates that the bride, a graphic designer, designed herself, which are probably the best technically correct printing I’ve put out to date–they’re lovely. And then on the right are some earring cards for Ashley Akers Jewelry.

Limited Editions

August 21, 2008September 6, 2008 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 1 Comment

Last week, I finished printing one of my new favorite cards. Using original illustrations I drew just over a year ago, I’m creating a series of limited edition, numbered cards. This first edition is very small, just 25 cards plus one artist’s proof, shown here, a couple of which have already been claimed (the first one was claimed by my grandma before the ink was even dry!). And I’m just in love with them, so I’ll need to keep several for myself! The rest you can purchase here.

Limited Edition 'Marine' Letterpress Notecard — Limited Edition "Marine" Letterpress Notecard

The studio

August 16, 2008September 6, 2008 ~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

Ever since I fell in love with typography and letterpress in college, I knew one day I’d buy a press. One day meaning when I had a house to put it in and the time to do it (ok, so maybe just the former).

Then came craigslist. The boyfriend, he is addicted, and he found this press under an hour away from where we live. With everything I needed to start a studio. Plus type. For cheap. How is this possible? Well, of course because I had nowhere to put it. Then the most surprising part of this whole enterprise, my parents were easily sweet-talked into letting me take over half their basement. I had a studio!

just after she moved into the basement (left) and with her second inking (the first one was a bit of a disaster) — Bess, my press: just after she moved into the basement and during her second inking (first successful print — the first one was a bit of a disaster)

A very dirty studio. A studio covered in dust and bugs and 120 years of ink and solvent (mixed with dust and bugs of course). I bronze-brushed every square inch of the press (ok, only the important square inches, but it works, doesn’t it?) and have been slowly but surely going through the process of taking every compartment of type out, cleaning it in denatured alcohol, drying it and putting it into a clean type case.

Top: the drawers of type. Bottom, left to right: dusty type (no bugs in this drawer at least), a toad who thought a freshly washed type drawer would make a nice home, delicious squeaky clean lead type.

Then I had to figure out the whole image thing. The only image I had ever letterpressed before I made with a solar plate, which didn’t create a deep enough impression, wasn’t mounted at the right height and was generally a total and complete pain in the ass. Thanks to briarpress, I found boxcar, and later Owosso Graphics.

While boxcar does beautiful work and many many letterpress artists swear by their photopolymer system, I like Owosso for two reasons. 1) The initial investment is significantly less (as in less than 10% of what it would have taken to start with boxcar’s system) and 2) There’s something wonderful about working with wood and metal, materials that have been used in this manner since this method of printing was invented, that photopolymer plates simply can’t match. Since then, I’ve also found they have great customer service (as in they call you if they’re unclear on your order—a real person, not an automated anything) and a super quick turn-around. GO OWOSSO!