pom pom programs

Angie was married on her family farm and I recently designed these small pocket sized programs for her. They are about 4x5", 4 pages and tied together with black ribbon. These are programs your guests won't just dump because they can easily fit in their bags or pockets. While they weren't letterpressed due to lack of having a press, I think I have some really good news on that front. More to come next week.

i'm in love with chandler & price

I had a wonderful Saturday spent learning how to operate a Chandler & Price (C&P) platen press at the International Printing Museum. 7 hours of pure printing fun! Up until now, I had printed on Vandercook's and Heidelberg Windmill's. And, I know I have mentioned previously that I have my eyes on buying a Windmill. But that all went out the door within the first few hours of my class. I think a C&P is definitely the press for me. And, the museum has a few to refurbish, so one of them might just be the Dear Lola work horse. The presses we operated in the class were 9x12 and 10x15, which means that's your printing area. The 9x12 was a little easier for a small girl to operate, but I think I will go the 10x15 route. Since the C&Ps there didn't have a motor, we had to treadle with our right leg to keep the press in motion. It was quite a test in coordination, but I finally got it down. When there is no motor, you have to treadle so the platen will keep momentum and keep printing. So you are pushing the pedal with your right foot, while you feed the press with your right hand and your left hand takes your finished print off the press. It's like rubbing your tummy while patting your head. But 100 prints later, I feel like I got the C&P dance down. I will most likely opt for a motor on my own press which will free up my leg from treadling. But if you're just doing a few prints, there's no point in turning on the motor.

I loved the class so much that I'll be spending this Saturday taking the second part class where we will go deeper into color registration. Oh, such an important and crucial thing to know unless you plan to only print 1 color, but what's the fun in that!?

dear lola in the minted design challenge finals!

I'm tickled with excitement! 4 of my designs have made it to the finals in the Minted Design Challenge. You can vote here. There are some incredible designs in the mix. Minted is going to have a fabulously modern collection of holiday cards this year.

congrats, sister!

I'm heading to Seattle this weekend to celebrate my baby sister's graduation. I'm so proud of you, sister. You've accomplished a longer list of stuff than most people your age (and most people my age). Seattle has been lucky to have you there the past 4 years. I know Philly and the students that await you won't be disappointed. Maybe I'll be inspired to create some Seattle and grad worthy designs with a modern twist?

flea market fun

Yesterday morning, Kelly and I spent the day having some flea market fun. It's so refreshing to see old things waiting to be loved by new people. Much like the old Heidelberg's, Vandercook's, C&P's, Kluge's (the list goes on and on) being salvaged by a young generation of printers. Such an amazing art.

Luggage waiting to be loved via We Heart It

holiday cards, anyone?

I've been hard at work on my designs for the Minted Design Challenge. It's been a lot of fun pretending that Christmas is right around the corner and the June Gloom at the LA beaches has really helped put me in the mood. As voting starts, I'll share more, but here are a few of my designs. Would you like to send these out to your loved ones around the holidays? I hope the answer is an enthusiastic, "YES!"

P.S. Photo cards are difficult to translate into letterpress, but I have a few modern ideas up my sleeve that involve putting my soon to be received Husqvarna Viking to good use.