This weekend I delivered the last of the order for Books & Brew. Located in the Old Junction Mill in Milton, WI, Books & Brew is a cozy little coffee shop that holds regular events like book clubs, signings and live music. Thanksgiving weekend, they’ll be hosting me at a ‘Meet the Artist’ afternoon. If you’re out shopping in south-central Wisconsin, stop in and say ‘hi!’
This weekend was a total bust. Yesterday, I had grand plans to drive all over the state to buy several cases of wood type and visit my sister and a couple of friends from college, but the only thing that worked out in my whole scheme was lunch with my sister. And she was hungover, which was funny, but I think so was our waitress, which was not. Five hours of driving later, we returned home with full bellies and empty hands.
In better news, I finished up the last bits of Iconi’s order (above) and met with the owner of a coffee shop in my hometown of Milton, WI. She’s going to carry a selection of my holiday cards and host a ‘Meet the Artist’ afternoon November 29.
I also got some printing done: I’m currently working on my first stationery collection of the first year (hoping to have everything printed by December so I can start on PR!) and trying to print all of my vintage cuts so I have samples (a few are below — I love that owl!).
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!
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.
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!
622 press | LETTERPRESS GOODS MADE BY HAND 