In addition to all my awesome new holiday cards, I’ve made a special edition of coasters this Christmas! Get a set for yourself and grab a set to pair with a bottle of vino for the perfect hostess gift. Just four sets available, so get them here today!
With mixed feelings, I finished up the last poetry broadside for Brain Mill Press. Finishing the fourth print (check out the other three here!) holds such a sense of accomplishment, but it’s bittersweet because it’s been such a fun project!
Now that the Etsy shop is closed up, I’m excited to share some of the commissions I’ve been working on! Truth be told, this project has consumed so much brain power over the last few months that I thought I’d already written about the first edition, but it turns out I haven’t, so here goes!
You all remember the limited edition of sweet little blind emboss prints I created for Brain Mill Press earlier this year, right? (If not, guess what? There’s a link right up there ^ ) Brain Mill Press is an independent publishing house in Wisconsin, started just a few years ago by two incredible women. They publish prose and poetry that offers an authentic view on the human experience—especially love. Please don’t let your mind go to tacky romance novels, though, these are incredible works by accomplished and novice writers alike.
Each publication is printed first in a fine art first edition, which comes with a special gift for the first 100 pre-orders. For a series of four poetry chapbooks, that special gift is a broadside designed and printed by yours truly!
Each print features a commissioned illustration by Ann O’Connell and an excerpt from a poem hand-set in lead type. By some luck or fate, I just happened to have a font of lead type that is very similar to a typeface they were already using on their website! The drawer was fairly well stocked—meaning I have a lot of letters—but the poems were longer than I expected, so I ended up having to print each one in several sections as I ran out of certain characters, which was a bit of a challenge.
Tanka, Seaborgium and The Presentation are finished and delivered, and I have one more to print in early January! I just love how they’ve turned out so far, I roughed up a digital design before I began each one, but nothing compares to the letterpress printed project: The paper is so luxe, the type has a great bite… they’re lovely. In fact, I’m considering hanging an extra Artist’s Proof (the not-quite-perfect prints that didn’t make it into the edition) of all four in our guest bedroom!
I will be finished with this project in about a month, so if you’re interested in commissioning something similar, please get in touch!
Last week, I received an email about a rush letterpress job for a Wisconsin book printer. They were releasing a new publication and wanted something special for customers who pre-ordered the book.
I only had a few days to create the print, but luckily, they were flexible on the design, so I was able to use some of the vintage lead type I have in the shop, and they were very interested in the idea of a blind deboss, which means no waiting time for ink to dry. (Plus, inkless prints are a bit cheaper than regular ones, since I’m using fewer supplies and save quite a bit of time without inking and cleaning the press.) I’ve written about creating an impression before, and this design was absolutely perfect for creating a deep, sharp deboss.
I shuffled my schedule around a little and was able to complete these in time for their newsletter last weekend! Scroll down for more about the book and to see my bio!
Interested in a custom print for your corporate or personal life? Shoot me an email, let’s see what we can come up with!
With all the new wood type I’ve added to my studio lately, I’ve been wanting to create more type-based prints. I started with this fairly simple beer print last week and I love it! It was a huge challenge to get it locked up in the press, but totally worth it!
It was also a huge challenge to get all the different fonts to print evenly. I wanted some paper show-through to give it a vintage feel, but some letters were so worn they didn’t print at all on the first few passes. Lots of extra packing behind the letters and some careful balancing later, voila! My new favorite print. Available in the shop—perfect to give that man in your life this season!
622 press | LETTERPRESS GOODS MADE BY HAND 