Around the Studio

With my first holiday show just three weeks away, I'm in full holiday prep mode. The press is fully up and running now (although I'm definitely still learning), and I've been printing hundreds and hundreds of Christmas cards to get ready. I'm also working on a long list of custom projects, which always seem to pick up around the holidays too.

Whenever I hear people talk about how commercial or materialistic Christmas is, I say bring it on. It is hands-down the best time of year to be in business, as people start shopping and thinking of personalized gifts to give. Plus, anyone who has seen me struggle to wait till Christmas morning knows how much I love giving and receiving presents. So bring on the holiday season!

Read More

The Beauty of Engraving

The Beauty of Engraving by I DO Films from Beauty of Engraving on Vimeo.

Engraving is one printmaking process that I have never attempted (although I have done etching which uses similar plates). This really well-made video shows all the presses and heavy machinery at work and is fascinating to watch. So if you ever receive an engraved invitation in the mail, you'll know just how much work went into it.

Read More

Steamroller Prints

This Saturday, I drove into Stowe to see the Steamroller Print Workshop at the Helen Day Art Center. I've heard of these events before, and they have one at the San Francisco Center for the Book, which I visited when I was in San Francisco last month. Basically, people carve large scale blocks and then roll over them with a steamroller like a huge printing press.

People were busy carving and inking up their blocks, and then one at a time they would roll the steamroller over the top. I didn't bring any of my blocks, but next year I'm going to think ahead and bring some. Or maybe rent a steamroller and try it myself? Maybe on some massive novelty greeting cards?

Read More

Two New Additions

This weekend Joe and I drove four hours south to pick up a new addition to the studio that I found on Craigslist: a Chandler and Price letterpress. It was quite an adventure; we borrowed a trailer and drove the GPS's "most direct route" which went through winding back roads and unmarked paths (I think it's time for a new GPS). When we got there, the door needed to come off the studio it was in, and it took us two hours to roll it out and onto the trailer. Then we hauled the one-ton press back over the winding roads, to it's new home in the garage.

With all the orders coming in, it has been impossible to keep up while printing everything by hand. So in order to speed up the process, some of the prints will now be done on a letterpress. First it needs to be cleaned and oiled and it needs new rollers, but once we get it going I can start printing blocks on the press!

And the second new addition: our puppy Luka who we adopted a week before the Stationery Show and likes to sleep in random places:

There's a lot going on here, and I can't wait to get the press all cleaned up and ready to go! I can't even imagine how nice it will be to print 500 cards in a run rather than 50. If you want to see how it works, Elizabeth from Sugarcube Press has a great video here.

Read More

Printing Tea Towels

I went over to the Torpedo Factory yesterday to work on some tea towels for Arts on Foot, which is coming up in two weeks. I print my cards and coin purses in my studio by hand, but for a large quantity of big pieces, it is much easier to just crank them out on the press. I took a few pictures of the process so you can see how they are made.

I start by ironing all the towels so there are no creases, otherwise the print won't go on smoothly.

I use a rented etching press to make the prints. I would love to have one of my own, and recently saw an ad for one that was in my price range, but getting a five-ton press into my sixth floor apartment would be a huge challenge. Plus, it would take up the remaining five square feet that isn't already filled with prints, so I'll wait until a more appropriate time to buy.

When I'm working at home I use Speedball brand inks because they are easy to work with and relatively odorless. On the press though, I use Graphic Chemical inks which are much thicker and messier but have much richer colors. They also smell really strong and you will get a headache after working with them for a few hours in an unventilated space. The results are great, but if you are working at home I would suggest using something else, your lungs will thank you.

Mixing the right shades of magenta:

The presses are covered in "felts," which are several layers of felt in varying thicknesses. This pads the block while it's going through the press, and you need a layer of paper between the block and the felt to stop the ink from transferring everywhere. The paper gets this fuzzy multiple-exposure print on it after a few runs.

Laying the block down on the tea towel:

Cranking the press:

And a finished tea towel, fresh off the press!

Clean-up is a lot messier with these inks, and you use a special razor blade to get all the ink off the glass. It is one of the most satisfying things in the world.

And that is how the tea towels are made! Much more complicated than printing by hand, but much faster when you are working on large pieces.

Read More

A Chinese Printing Press

While walking down the street to a dim sum lunch, we passed by this printing shop. It was just a hole in the side of the building where this man operates his business. I watched him printing receipts for a parking lot, and couldn't believe that letterpress printing is still used for such everyday objects. It's not the letterpress we think of here, making expensive wedding invitations or stationery, and I couldn't imagine how he competes with digital printing to print the receipts.

He didn't speak English so I couldn't ask any questions about his business, but I told him I was a printmaker too and we exchanged business cards.

I loved his studio, all his materials were packed into the tiny space that was just a few feet wide next to the sidewalk, and the way anyone walking by can stop and watch him work. I hope the demand for hand printed receipts doesn't go away!

Read More

Ink, Ink Everywhere

Yesterday I spent the day at the Torpedo Factory in Alexandria using the printing press. I do most of my printing by hand in my apartment, but for the big things like tea towels, they really need to go through a press to come out right. At the Torpedo Factory (and places like it around the country) you can rent out the press for the day and you get to use all their inks, rollers, solvents and all the other expensive materials you need for printmaking. So until I buy a barn to fill with an antique press and hundreds of different inks and supplies, I will be renting.

The new towels are all available right here! Now back to the Christmas cards; the first design is finished, and you'll be able to see all of them by the end of the week (I hope)!

Read More