Lately, the moon has been in a triangle with Venus and Jupiter, all 3 brighter than anything else in the early night sky, with Orion close on their heels as they all fly west (more correctly, as we spin east). I mark my nights by the angle of Orion relative to the tops of buildings, even though I see only a narrow swath of stars at any given moment.

In combination with the calendar arrival of spring and the buzz of our own family’s hive, all of this observable celestial movement inspires thoughts of cyclical change and growth, our roots extending and shoots inching our heads above ground to feel the newly warm air. It is no coincidence that the flowers identify, too – in fact, they led the charge. Snowdrops bloomed. Daffodils and magnolia are already wilting and leaves are unfurling, while bleeding hearts, tulips, grape hyacinth, and cherry blossoms begin to open.

As you may have gathered, we have a few things going on around here, and we actually put one project together last year that is just plain perfect for spring and Mother’s Day, but we were a little late to the party. This year, I’m thrilled to be one step ahead of things (at least on this front!) and show off a series of cards I put together with my mom.

My mom, Priscilla Steele, is a phenomenal drawer (draughtswoman? sometime illustrator? fine artist, to be sure) and she drew these tiny delicate blooms last winter in anticipation of me letterpress printing them. I did the lettering for each of four flowers: Bleeding Hearts, Dutchman’s Britches, Meadow Rue, and Sweet William. Truth be told, collaboration with my mom is about as good as it gets. We may be 29 years apart, but we are often like the same being, just at different points on the same orbit. It was a pleasure to put together this small collection of botanicals that showcase the very earliest flowers, the spring ephemerals, the first markers that spring is on its way.

Sets of 8 cards (2 of each bloom) are available in our shop and would make a delightful Mother’s Day gift. To make it even sweeter, I’m more than happy to wrap and ship them anywhere in the world with a note, too!

It’s one thing to be busy and go on and on about it (see: almost all previous posts). It’s quite another thing to actually show off what it is that has kept me so busy. There are a number of custom wedding albums, binding of family letters, wedding invitations, etc. in the works around here, but I thought, rather than tackle the whole stack at once, I’d bring them to you one at a time since they’re all pretty involved and elegant.

Elizabeth Carey Smith, she of The Letter Office, is a dynamite designer who came to me for a custom wedding album for some good friends of hers. We met up on one of the sweatiest days of last summer in Bryant Park, and bonded over design, materials, and our adorable, similarly happy and vibrant little girls. E dropped off the photos for the album mid-holiday season, and last week we got together for the hand off of the finished album. (It doesn’t generally take me for-e-ver to make a book, but this was a casualty of one seriously crazy holiday season…so here we are, mid-March.)

Hard workin’ hands, custom album & slipcase, interior

Elizabeth wanted something clean and elegant, but fun and with some bright colors that played a role in the wedding. I set to work making a casebound (traditional hardcover) album covered with a linen/cotton blend cloth. The cloth is that brilliant combination of stylish and durable, and a letterpress printed panel with the couple’s name and wedding date is inset into the front cover. Elizabeth designed the emblem, which also appears on the first page of the album. Inside the front covers, we used bright-as-bright-can-be fuchsia endpapers; a Nepalese Lokta that is fibrous and thick and just lovely. On the slipcase, covered in the same linen/cotton, we chose a wide, leaf-green grosgrain ribbon to complement the pink interior. The whole thing is understated and bold, celebratory, and timeless.

Letterpress cover panel, Endpaper & slipcase ribbon, Cover page, Slipcase, Album & slipcase

This album was such fun to put together, and it’s always a total treat when you meet–and get to work with!–a kindred spirit on a project. And! This album is just one little piece of what I’ve been up to…with plenty more to come! In the meantime, go check out the rest of Elizabeth‘s work. She’s a powerhouse.

P.S. Chandra Greer interviewed me for Felt & Wire’s blog in February, and I talked a little bit about just why I love making books like this album.

P.P.S. Are you interested in a custom album of your very own? Please send me a note and we’ll make it happen!

January 4, 2012
There’s a trend going on around here: every year is somehow exponentially faster than the one before. If I had to guess, it has something to do with being in our 30s and having a toddler; we’ll have to check back each decade, when years feel like days, if that trend is any indication…

2011 was the first year things really felt like they jelled. I often find myself explaining that I’m essentially in self-imposed design school, a total trial by fire. I sit down and draw as much as time allows, get ideas out of my head and onto paper, make new contacts whenever possible, and anchor my work in some key (not always visible and obvious, but present) quotations that I refer to when I find myself straying from the path a bit. I feel lucky, but I know that I worked hard to get myself where I am.

And now, I have a list of ideas that are just waiting to be executed…it should only take me about 17 years to get to all of them.

Matt and Charlotte and I chased the moon around the sky all year and noted its phase and arc each time we caught sight of it. 2012 promises to bring wonderful opportunities and new developments, and while I’m wistful for the sweetness of the last year, I know (from all of you parents who have reassured me that it’s so) that it only gets sweeter.

February 1, 2012
This time of year you can see the stars in Brooklyn when it’s clear. I know right where to look for Orion as I make my near-nightly trips to the studio to print. Moon almost directly overhead, Orion straight above, just over the roofs of Prospect Place, throwing a leg up and over just like in Frost’s “The Star-Splitter”.

Finding center means looking out into the dark and not down at these feet that carry me and carry me. Looking up as high as I can, like I’m in some European cathedral, marveling at the detail above. Just finding a few guiding lights to follow, above all this brightness and noise.

February 9, 2012
If you still haven’t gotten enough Campbell Raw Press and my musings, the delightful Chandra Greer of Greer Chicago (one of our illustrious retailers!) just presented an interview with me on Felt & Wire. Enjoy!

“Even now; with a thousand little voyages notched in my belt, I still feel a memorial chill on casting off.”
- E.B. White

A few weeks ago, there was a flurry of announcements that scientists had found the largest black holes in the universe yet. The beautiful thing about announcements of that magnitude is that they make us all quiet for a moment, as we are reminded of just how tiny we are.

I made this newest Post-Marked collection to celebrate the vastness of the world around us and the universe beyond. This is the last collection for 2011, but I’m excited to let you know that I’m going to keep making books in this series in 2012. For now, the plan is to make a new collection on a different theme each month, so stay tuned for what’s to come!

On Saturday, December 10, we’ll be all over Park Slope in Brooklyn, at not one, but two fairs! I’ll be at PS 321 for Stuff You Should Buy from 10-5, and Matt will be at PS 10 for the South Slope Craft Fair from 11-5.

On Sunday, December 11, we’ll be returning once again to the ever-popular Bust Craftacular holiday extravaganza of everything handmade you could possibly want to buy! The show is two days, but we’ll only be there on Sunday (note the two, count ‘em two fairs we’re already doing Saturday!).

Also, this year’s event is at 82 Mercer in Soho, not the Metropolitan Pavilion as it has been in year’s past. It’s $3 to get in and a fun, energetic atmosphere with some of the best independent, handmade work going these days. Please stop by if you have the chance!

See you there!
Maggie

We’d love to see you!

My decision to leave the world of business casual and bad midtown Manhattan delis to take a chance on an idea turns out to have been just the right one. I’m nearly four years into Campbell Raw Press as my full time venture and my days—while often pinball-like in their patterns—are my own. Matt & I work nonstop this time of year but we can’t tell you how rewarding it is to work this hard on something we love. We have a beautiful little life.

* * * * *

As the busiest month of the year begins for us, we wanted to take a five minute break, peek out from behind from the stacks of paper, and say thank you.

If you’ve purchased a set of cards, complimented our work, come to us for your wedding invitations, or looked upon our enterprise with kindness over the last few years, we want to say a sincere thank you. Your support of our work allows us to live the life we want to live. We are here and cranking away because of you, and there is so much more to come.

Thank you.

Maggie & Matt

“Huge elephants! Huge jellyfish! Huge whale!”

That was Charlotte, as we made our way through the American Museum of Natural History about two months ago. There’s nothing quite like going to the museum with an active, curious toddler in tow. You see everything as if you’d never laid eyes on it before and it’s all magic, all over again.

We make it up to the natural history museum whenever we can, and the last time we went, about two months ago, she was on fire. We spotted jellyfish, seals, zebras, squirrels, owls, butterflies, fish, deer…just about every animal you can think of. Nevermind for the moment that every specimen at the museum is long dead; it will never cease to amaze me that in New York City, where you can feel so removed from any sort of wildlife, you can walk in and see all of these incredible organisms that inhabit(ed) our planet. It’s incredible.

Post-Marked #5: Animalia is now available exclusively in our shop through Monday, December 5, 2011…and Post-Marked #4: Remaining Wilderness is available through this coming Monday, November 28 – two at once, for the weekend!

And, suddenly…it’s November!

My mom has an incredible green thumb, and her dad, Grandfather Bud to me, studied forestry at Syracuse. Growing up identifying every plant that crossed our path (or was even close to our path), I’ve learned enough to identify most common plants, but I’m still no expert. More than anything, I have a serious appreciation for the astounding complexity of plant life.

Between printing, packaging, and sending out holiday card orders like mad, I also launched the third new collection of Post-Marked journals and albums on Tuesday. The stamps on these books celebrate everything botanical, and feature a gorgeous, bright selection of vintage U.S. and international stamps. My favorite would have to be the Moroccan olive branch…although the diamond Russian mountain flowers stamp is a close second!

There are a few of the Botanica books left in our shop and they’re available until November 14. On November 15 we’ll launch the fourth collection in the Post-Marked series and Botanica will be all gone!

October is my favorite month. Yellow leaves are falling outside now and even here in Brooklyn, where the colors are beautiful but somewhat less than spectacular, the change of the seasons is palpable. Sunlight comes into our apartment late in the morning now and as soon as the day’s begun, it seems we have spun back around to darkness.

Matt & I had our first date on October 10 fourteen years ago. We were married ten Octobers later. And two Octobers after that Charlotte was born. October is home; it is the familiar, well-worn path, even with the momentous changes it brings. Squarely situated between summer’s swelter and winter’s bite, in October balance almost seems possible.

People chide Midwesterners for all their talk of weather, but there’s something beautiful about acknowledging the position of the earth on its axis and your place on that globe as it tips toward and away from the sun. Noticing the weather – and talking about it – may be the thing that always identifies me as a Midwesterner.

Working away in our new studio space, mixing ink, and checking registration

As of a week ago, I have studio space – complete with a large Vandercook No 4T press – about 2 blocks away from our apartment. I’ve been getting up very early to print and so I’m out in the neighborhood before much of anyone is up. Tired high school students descend onto the sidewalks in the lamplit dark, shuffling to buses. On Saturday morning the air had cooled significantly. The sun was just peeking up into the streets and made the yellow leaves that lined Prospect Place absolutely golden. I breathed deeply, and looked up at the leaves and the bright blue sky. When I reached the studio I mixed up my ink, turned on the press, put on workin’ music, put my head down, and printed. It seems October’s brought its promise of balance once again.

On that note, the newest collection of books in my Post-Marked series is available today. It’s entitled “Familiar Territory” and it’s all about the places I feel at home.

Yesterday I launched the first collection in a very large batch of new work; a series of approximately 125 (very) limited edition photo albums and journals I’m calling Post-Marked. I’ve been making these books up for the last few months so they’d be ready to go this fall…and they are finally ready to show off. A new collection of books will be available every two weeks through December on our site. Collection #1 is full of vintage Air Mail stamps and it’s live in the shop now!

Process and materials

I developed a pretty solid stamp obsession earlier this year and wanted to find a great way to showcase each of these tiny gems. Each book in the Post-Marked series is covered in a cotton/linen blend cloth and a vintage postage stamp is inset into the cover. In addition to the Air Mail collection, there will be great US state stamps, natural history specimens, and world travel stamps coming in the next few months. Each collection is available exclusively on our site for 2 weeks, and then they’re gone! There’s a great selection coming and I hope you’ll check back often to see all the new books. I’m very proud of this work and I hope you enjoy it, too.

31 cent 1976 Red, White & Blue Air Mail Accordion Fold Photo Album (5″ x 7″)

Many of the stamps I’ve used on these books are from the ’40s, ’50s, and ’60s and I’m hoping to get into some of them in detail here, so stay tuned for a few more frequent updates very soon!