Category: paper goods

X marks the spot

~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 1 Comment

Consider this the first in a series of long-overdue blog posts! For those of you who don’t follow Peach Farm Studio’s blog: Start. Wonderfully creative with a beautiful studio and ever-evolving body of work, their blog is a little bright spot in the cyber universe!

During the first several months of this year, they were offering free letterpress bookmarks to anyone who sent in a S.A.S.E. Needless to say, I did just that. I love the classic typeface and the roller technique they used in the background of these miniature works of art.

Impressions

~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 1 Comment

As letterpress becomes more popular, more and more customers want their pieces to look LETTERPRESSED, by which I mean they want their design to be printed with a deep impression that they cannot only see but feel. That is the point of springing for letterpress isn’t it?

Results on my press can vary greatly and what I’m learning is that the design of the piece can influence the depth of the impression just as much as any adjustments I make on press. Some designs can only go so deep.

Take, for example, these two holiday cards I embossed a few years back. The design on the left is a busy, all-over design that consists of many very thin lines. When a plate like this is pushed into the paper, the paper has nowhere to go, no space to give to the design on the plate. The result is a relatively light impression, especially in the areas where the design is particularly concentrated.

The design on the left is much simpler, with slightly thicker lines and less of the paper covered with them. The result? A very clear, deep impression.

Hatch Show Print

~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ Leave a comment

I’ve never written about arguably the most well-known and respected letterpress studio in the U.S. until now because, well, almost everyone else has. But last night I watched Jim Sherraden of Hatch Show Print present the shop’s work and history and I’m so inspired I can’t resist.

Hatch is the longest running letterpress studio in the U.S., operating continuously for well over a century. Jim has been instrumental in not only keeping the shop running through the hard times (also known as the ’80s) but preserving its historical accuracy. He doesn’t allow any new wood fonts into the shop, believing the Hatch brothers (founders, originally from Wisconsin!) carefully curated the collection to work well together; and by only allowing new artwork that’s been hand carved—no digitally-created photo-polymer cuts.

Hatch does, as you can see, regularly employ the magnificent collection of historical printing plates, adhering to a theory they call “Preservation by Production”—or the belief that vintage wood cuts and fonts fare better with regular use. I would rather see these artists create beautiful work than gaze at plates behind glass any day. They have a cut of nearly every famous artist that ever played Nashville, as well as some of the earliest printing plates in the states—and they’re still printing all of it. I’m thinking of planning a trip to Tennessee just to visit Hatch!

Back to Business

~ Bess Paper Goods & Gifts ~ 3 Comments

When I first started my company, I did everything I could to drum up custom business. Business cards, stationery, wedding invites—you name it I was up for it. And my prices were low (seriously, if you were a custom client of mine a year or two ago, you got a GREAT deal!), so low that I think I was losing money once I figured in how much time I was spending on each project—not to mention the ones that never came to fruition! I would kill myself trying to make an impossibly short timeline, include tons of freebies…. It was a completely unsustainable business. A handful of jobs came and went and finally I wised up: it simply wasn’t worth the time and stress.

Over the past year or two, I’ve done a piece here or there, but generally I turned down more work than I took on. However, I recently had the pleasure of designing and printing business cards for a local tutor and to my surprise when I finished the project I felt really good about the whole experience. The finished product is beautiful of course, but I think the best part was that after all was said and done, I didn’t feel burnt out or defeated, but inspired and ready for more! Not to mention, my skills have improved over the last couple years, so the process of creating the cards went much smoother from beginning to end.

Business cards by 622 pressI finally learned to value my own work. I know I am good at what I do and my time and talent are worth charging a fair price for. The stress and inconvenience were all internal, and once I let that go, I was able to enjoy the work again. I’m excited to revive and revamp this aspect of my business, you can check out the details for business cards here and watch for more to come! I hope this post reminds you to let go of the internal pressure you put on yourself and take pleasure in whatever you’re working on.