penelope's press: the blog

ladies of letterpress conference 2012 recap

2012-08-09T10:14:00.001-05:00

last weekend i went to the ladies of letterpress conference {i went last year, remember this recap and here too?} held in asheville, north carolina. {warning, this post is full of iphone pics, not the best of quality, sorry!}

as usual, the conference had some fun swag

there was informative panels and awesome speakers {from seasoned printers to retailers and legal experts} that were more than happy to share their stories, expertise, and tips

above, ladies of letterpress co-founders jessica and kseniya greeting everyone

{top photo amy of paper boat studios, rachael of pistachio press, kathryn of blackbird press middle photo susan of chirps and cheers, holly of salutations, peter of laywine's bottom photo liz of full circle press, travis of parklife press, lisa of sapling press, allison of igloo press}

oh and so many more not pictured like kyle of boxcar press and john of letterpress things

the reception and keynote were held at the nearby "venue" where abigail rorer of lone oak press gave an inspirational talk on her lifetime career in printing

this year the trade and printer's fair was twice as large as last years, from paper vendors to a showcase of wares from talented printers

headcase press {yes, that is type jewelry!}

fair trade eco handmade papers made from women in bangladesh - sustain & heal by de milo design

letterpress goodies from pistachio press, smokey road press, fly rabbit press, and greengirl press

there was a screening of proceed and be bold, a letterpress documentary on amos kennedy jr, a known name in the letterpress world, followed by a Q&A session with amos and film director laura zinger

there is amos signing some posters i bought. his posters range from bold and thought provoking to witty.

believe it or not, there was even a mixer and printer's dance party - yes, i said it. believe you me, these printers can get down!

the most invaluable part of the conference is meeting fellow printers! i met allison and daniel of ink meets paper and co-founders of the letterpress hotline {have i told you that i am volunteer for the hotline?! it's free, if you have a question, call to speak to a letterpress printer!}

and a slew of incredibly talented printers including fellow chicagoan shayna of steel petal press, julie and tyna of henry + co, and kat of gilah press

and of course in between all of the learning and mingling was a whole lot of indulging in local asheville eats

thank you ladies of letterpress for another great year... see you all next year in iowa!

wedding invitations: linda + shaun

2012-07-26T10:16:00.000-05:00

the overwhelming majority of penelope's press buyers are out of state, so it's nice when i can meet face to face with a local client. i met the groom-to-be, shaun, many moons ago in high school, so i was thrilled when his fiance linda contacted me to discuss invitations! they both liked this invite because it fit their modern yet classy style and asked if i could tweak it. congratulations to linda and shaun! soon i'll be working on their day of pieces- programs + menus!

workday wednesdays: assistant extaordinaire

2012-07-25T11:39:00.000-05:00

i have been having some help around the mess of envelopes and paper these days. meet lisa! she. is. awesome. she has been a huge help with everything from backing wedding invitations {that is what she is doing in the picture}, assembling wedding invitations, taking envelope inventory, computer work... and most importantly, helping me keep my sanity and chit chatting with me while we work {it is amazing how much i miss talking to an adult during the daytime hours}! tomorrow i will you show you the complete wedding suite, stay tuned!

{a big thank you to all those that participated in the oh, hello friend giveaway! there was a whopping 344 entries... congrats to jade miles for winning!}

luggage tag inspired save the dates

2012-07-19T09:24:00.000-05:00

BOB, is this case is not a name, but rather an airport code for bora bora, french polynesia. how many people get hitched in bora bora?!?! wow.

yesterday i showed you sam's letterpress proposal print to nancy. today, let me show you their luggage tag inspired save the dates. green ink, blue ink, double sided, cuts to make the luggage tag look, hole punch, eyelet, twine, and done.

congratulations nancy and sam!

in other news, did you know that penelope's press is hosting a $75 giveaway at oh, hello friend. go there now for a chance to win!

also, i know i am terrible at blogging. i am trying to do better. i am decent at social media though,

posting photos and status updates on facebook, tweeting, instagramming {search "penelopespress"}, pinning, and the like. if you have one of those, won't you join me? hope to see you there!

workday wednesdays: a letterpress proposal

2012-07-18T10:59:00.000-05:00

i've known nancy since grade school. we used to write notes in a notebook and pass it back and forth in class. i still have said notebook {talk about pack rat!}. so when her then boyfriend, asked me to help come up with a letterpress print to aid in his proposal, i could not be more excited to collaborate with him! i immediately went to my ever talented illustrator {my sister!} and asked her to sketch a few drafts for me. the final cut was an illustration of nancy and sam {well, in their likeness} with an appleton, wisconsin backdrop. we used sam's own handwriting that read, "Nancy, Will you marry me? Yours, Sam" that i scanned and brought into the drawing.

nancy sent me the following photos. check out that rock! they ended up framing the proposal print! what a clever and unique way of proposing! tune in tomorrow for pictures of their save-the-dates.

mommy mondays: personalized thank you cards

2012-07-02T08:36:00.000-05:00

my good friend {and client} remy is expecting! with the birth of a baby comes many presents... baby shower gifts, hospital visit gifts, 1st time meeting baby gifts, i saw this at the store and it's so cute gifts... remy needed some thank you cards and apparently she wanted some variety, so she ordered 4 different styles! congrats to remy and geoff, i can't wait to meet baby smith!

a big thank you for voting and sending penelope's press to the second round of the mission small business grant... your support means so much!

{like my new tricks? i'll need to tell you about this class i took recently. i will post about it soon!}

have a productive and creative week ahead!

workday wednesdays: how to start a movement

2012-06-13T09:21:00.000-05:00

i have been trying to get votes for this small business grant i applied for. a few days ago, my little brother sent me this email:

You've got 22 days to make everyone join in the fun in voting for you.

From my view, your true believer, and first follower, seems to be
Terence. Then it's Elaine Villaflores. You are the ember, teach them
how they can spark the revolution.

Morning motivation!

Check out this video on YouTube:

talk about motivation! don't you love TED talks? go out there and be that ember, or in this case, the lone nut!

"if you really care about starting a movement, have the courage to follow and show others how to follow"

won't you follow my movement and vote for penelope's press to win a small business grant? click here for instructions

*terence is my husband and elaine v. is a good friend

penelope's press needs your votes!

2012-06-05T12:24:00.003-05:00

hello blog friends! i recently applied for a small business grant and could really use your help with votes. while completing the essay portion of the grant application, i got choked up a bit. i cannot believe how far penelope's press has grown in the past few years. none of it would have been possible without the encouragement of so many. i dream of opening a community print shop to offer letterpress workshops... won't you help me get there?

below is the email message i have been sending out--

Dear family, friends, clients, and supporters of Penelope's Press,

Penelope's Press recently applied for a small business grant. Chase and LivingSocial are sponsoring "Mission: Small Business", a grant program awarding $3 million to small business owners nationwide. Your support could translate into a $250,000 grant, but we need at least 250 votes {through June 30th} at missionsmallbusiness.com in order to qualify and proceed to the next phase of voting.

It only takes 30 seconds to vote!

Visit missionsmallbusiness.com

Click on "Log in & Support" with your Facebook account

Enter "Penelope's Press" in the business name field and click "Search" and then "Vote"

Please support Penelope's Press by submitting your vote today!

You have supported Penelope's Press in many ways because you have promoted or purchased, fanned or tweeted, pinned or liked Penelope's Press. We are a successful boutique letterpress print + design studio because of your support. Penelope's Press dreams of expanding and transitioning to a brick and mortar community print shop, where handmade goods from local artists will be sold, workshops are taught, and letterpress thrives! The promotion and preservation of print is important to us. Please visit missionsmallbusiness.com, your continued support means so much!

{If you are not already a fan, you can 'Like' our Facebook page here: facebook.com/penelopespress}

Thank you always,

Debbie

national stationery show recap

2012-05-25T15:15:00.000-05:00

i recently returned from a quick visit to nyc to walk the national stationery show at the javits center, the biggest trade show for the industry. how big? there were roughly 800 some exhibitors, 11,000 some buyers from stationery, card and gift shops; bookstores; bridal shops; party stores; department, chain and specialty stores; large chains and "big box" mass retailers; online retailers and mail order catalogs; as well as special event planners, corporate marketers, importers and distributors, and 300 some members of the trade and consumer press {stats from the nationalstationeryshow.com}... that's how big! the show is only open to those in the trade and press, not the public, so i was surrounded by true paper lovers, it was a fantastic experience!

i took the first flight in on saturday and with me, took my photographer friend elaine, and my flower friend, jackie for a mini "working" vacation. upon arrival, we visited the flower district {on west 28th street between 6th and 7th avenue}, ate some food truck gyros, and oohed and aahed over all the pretty flowers and foliage.

the next day was the big show! i only had one day to walk the show, sunday, but i arrived at the show at opening and stayed until close. elaine came with me and was my official photographer for the day. naturally, as a photographer, she wants to take pictures of EVERYTHING creative and interesting. sadly, but understandably, some exhibitors didn't want photos of their booth or product taken. the exhibitors that didn't mind though, were gracious, thankful, and welcoming!

enough "talking" already and on to the pictures. all of these photos were taken by my awesome friend elaine. she's having a new home built on the web, but in the meantime you can visit her here. i do not like getting in front of the camera, but elaine insisted on documenting my whole experience.

and thank goodness she was there to take photos, because most of the time, my hands were full, and my face looked like this {completely candid photo, ha!}...

as soon as we walked in, the first booth we saw was of b.t. elements... we were blown away!

i had a long list of exhibitors i wanted to meet, so it was booth after booth after booth! we started at 10am and took our first and only break at 3:45pm then kept going until close at 6pm. this is only a sampling of all the photos elaine took! first up was blue barhnhouse.

the ladies of letterpress {which i am a member of} had a combined booth showcasing 11 talented stationers. among my favorites were seed house, moglea, and petal press...

adrienne of dingat press and i in her super, fabulous, scalloped wall-filled booth.

the cute husband and wife duo, garett + jessica, of wednesday

me with the ladies of sugarcube press

the sisters of fawnsberg and i... they have awesome stamps that i must buy soon.

i met sarah of the permanent collection press last year at the ladies of letterpress conference where we chatted it up and quickly became friends. this year she debuted at the stationery show... so proud of her!

allison of the social type with her refreshing + colorful goods

the awesome booth of one canoe two

rebekah of wild ink press with her ridiculously awesome ombre walls

super adorable kim of paper lovely

the nic studio and their awesome artwork {how many times have i used the word "awesome" in this post?}

the funny jodi of paisley tree press

amber of flywheel press was so kind... she took some time to chat with me about exhibiting... she was so encouraging and offered to give me advice anytime! incredible!

lisa of sapling press has the wittiest cards

pistachio press sans rachael who i heard speak at the ladies of letterpress conference last year

the incredible booths of blackbird letterpress

and two paper dolls

paper boat studios had awesome letterpress game pieces, dominos and checkers, so cool!

katie of kelp designs runs tradeshow bootcamp an awesome resource if you're looking to exhibit at the stationery show {i took one seminar last year to get my feet wet and cannot wait to take part in the upcoming series}

egg press with their incredible line of cards

i cannot get enough of kate & birdie paper co.

this is me saying, "your stuff is so awesome!" {see there's the word awesome again} to the sisters of 9spotmonk. vivian thought she was being "punked" with ashton kutcher {that one show} because i kept oohing and ahhing. she said people like me don't come into booths with my reaction. i know, i was a big dork that day with either eyes of wonder or the goofiest grin plastered on my face.

while at 9spotmonk, i ran into retailer kara of magnificent milestones where my chicago line of cards and notes that my sister illustrated are sold

and last, but not least for photos, is suann of simplesong design and fifteen/eleven. i love everything about her designs, style, and inspirational style blog

phew that was a long post {that's not even a fraction of all of the photos that were taken}! again, a huge thanks to elaine for taking all the photos!

the talent was amazing, products beautiful, and exhibitors exceptionally encouraging and kind! it is incredible meeting the folks behinds the products that i've admired online, who's blogs i've read up and down, and websites i stalk {there were dozens more i wish i had the time to meet}! i came back with awesome paper goodies and samples, made many stationery contacts, and have a renewed sense of creativity and energy! thank you nyc for a fantastic working vacation! i hope to return next year as an exhibitor! cheers to you... i hope you do something creative this memorial day weekend!

happy mother's day!

2012-05-13T10:08:00.000-05:00

this is one of my favorite photos of my mom and i at my wedding, we're kneeling at the statue of the virgin mary. wishing all of my mommy readers {and my own mom} a blessed mother's day!

things i'm afraid to tell you

2012-05-04T01:45:00.004-05:00

so, i follow a lot of bloggers for a lot of reasons. their style. good content. great photos. inspiration. etc, etc, etc. on one of the blogs i follow, ez from creature comforts posted about "things i'm afraid to tell you", {inspired by this post here and here by jess of make under my life } and decided to rally other notable bloggers and encourage them to post about being transparent, real, honest. it's incredible how this little campaign has turned a bit viral and how many bloggers, big and small have been brave and have written truthful, raw, honest posts {and some very witty} about the things that bring them fear, discomfort, anxiety. so, in the spirit of the movement that ez and jess have started, here is my short list of "things i'm afraid to tell you". i encourage you to visit ez's site to find a list of bloggers that have agreed to be open and share.

--i procrastinate, i do. in everything in life. even when given so much time to finish something, i still procrastinate.
--my house is messy 95% of the time and it drives me nuts. if you were to stop by my house unannounced, i would probably detain you at the door and you would definitely not be able to go upstairs. when forced to though, i can clean up like no body's business.
--it's hard being a ~~stay-at-home~~ work-at-home-mom- juggling 3 kids, keeping house, fulfilling orders, all the while keeping my sanity, or at least trying to. i question myself and my mothering skills when i see other moms {including my own mom friends} so put together and polished and calm and patient with their children.
--speaking of children, mine bring me the greatest joy AND drive me crazy. i tell my husband not to be surprised if he finds me embracing my legs and rocking in the corner one day. it's not funny to make light of that, but i'm not being funny.
--i have a potty mouth. i'm trying.
--i follow all of these letterpress and stationery folk and think, "seriously, how do they do it? do they have kids? do they have a nanny? a cleaning lady? a money tree growing in their backyard? do they sleep at night?" cuz dammit, i sure don't {not the kids part}.
--when i'm really in it, with packaging orders or in the middle of designing an invite, my kids take advantage that i'm preoccupied and literally snack on and do whatever they want. then i snap back into mommy mode and catch them doing whatever they are not supposed to be doing and think, "i'm the worst mother ever". working moms, outside the house have it hard too {don't get me wrong} but to be the primary care taker of your children is no walk in the park.
--i have a degree in english with a concentration in writing and my grammar is embarrassingly terrible.
--i don't consider myself a blogger, i'm just a letterpress printer and small business owner that has a blog so i assume that if you {meaning the teeny tiny handful of you that actually read and follow this blog} are here, you probably want to know about letterpress and print related things, but deep down, i wish i had an anonymous personal blog where i rant and rave about anything and everything.
--sometimes i like how i'm not really known among my stationery and letterpress peers and in the whole blogsphere and social media ramblings... sometimes it feels like high school or competing with the joneses or a really long rat race-- it's tiring and gets old fast.

so there. some truth for you. i could go on and on, {believe you me} but this is plenty personal for me considering i am not at all personal on this blog. if you have a blog, i encourage you to do the same. wear a little bit of your anxiety and fear and honesty on your sleeve {if you don't already} and then hit "publish post". feels good.

image by ez of creature comforts

mommy mondays: ex-real estate agent

2012-04-30T11:30:00.001-05:00

my real estate license expires today and marks my official departure from the real estate industry. before my letterpress life, i was a real estate agent with baird and warner, the oldest independent brokerage in the country and the largest in illinois. i worked out of the lincoln park office, which was the #1 office in the state. we had an awesome office and extensive sales training. over the course of my real estate career, i saw a lot of homes- mini mansions with elevators, posh high rise condominiums looking over lake michigan, white picket fence homes in the suburbs, to beautifully rehabbed four squares {let's not mention the handful of rat infested, poorly maintained, dilapidated properties i saw, even a condemned property a client was trying to view, sheesh!} so, when i passed through a nearby downtown suburb over the weekend and verbally expressed to my husband how it would be perfect to open shop in one of these vintage homes, can you imagine how my draw dropped when i saw this perfect little place? for sale and zoned transitional for work+live/live/work! it was built in 1907, the perfect little home for my 1900's old presses and some sweet retail goodies. sigh... day dreaming.

mommy mondays: 7 years + counting

2012-04-16T10:11:00.002-05:00

i've known the mister for 14 years and today marks 7 years of marriage! since i'm in the business of designing and printing wedding invitations, i thought i should share some images of our special day. it was {besides the birth of my children} the happiest day of my life... so cliche, but so true! i still remember how my face hurt from all the smiling!

our wedding was traditional... the roman catholic church, the grand ballroom reception, and all that jazz, infused with some filipino {me} and chinese {the husband} cultural traditions. i loved all of it, good times!

workday wednesdays: a little video of my letterpress life

2012-04-04T13:10:00.001-05:00

i am obsessed with you tube and vimeo. it tops the cake when the video is about letterpress, typography, anything to do with book arts, or showcases the workspace of a letterpress printer. i've been dragging with getting a video done, but i finally tidied up a little for some footage to be shot.

vince of stizo media put together the video... {i met vince and his wife 16 years ago in college and we've remained good friends ever since. geez, i feel old} vince has ridiculous talent. he's a graphic designer by trade but has his hands in all aspects of design, from motion graphics, screen printing, to branding/logo design, and the list goes on. if you follow the blog, you might remember that i printed his "certificate of authenticity" for his hand painted sneaker line {yep, he's a sneaker artisit too. crazy.} you can read that post by clicking here. visit stizo media when you're done watching it and show him some love.

i just realized that this is the most personal i've got on the blog... until yesterday's post, i don't think i've ever posted a photo of myself {not that i'm shy, believe you me... more like i'm private i guess}. here's a sneak peek of my little workspace. ok, i'll shut it already... on with the video.

behind the scenes at penelope's press from penelope's press on Vimeo.

disclaimer: the last scene with the type spelling out "goodbye" was reversed to read properly by stizomedia

tangent tuesdays: i'm back!

2012-04-03T10:35:00.000-05:00

hello blog friends! "where have you been", you ask? on vacation and it was fantastic! i'm not one to get really personal on my blog, but here's a little sneak peek into my family's 14 day vacation...

the first half of the vacation, we {my entire family- my folks, my siblings and their families, my younger brother, and my family- 18 of us in all!} were on the m.s. eurodam of holland america.

{all of these photos were taken with my iphone. that iphone, it's pretty incredible.}

we had 4 ports. grand turk, turks and caicos...

san juan, puerto rico...

st. thomas, virgin islands...

conch fritters, yum!

and half moon cay, bahamas...

in between our ports of paradise, we stuffed our faces with food. we ate like this every. single. day. yum...

i've sailed on royal caribbean and princess cruise lines and in my opinion, the food on the holland america line was out. of. this. world {i'm not even going to talk about their top notch customer service}! can you imagine dining like that every single day? goodness.

after the cruise was over, my family and my sister's family did the whole disney thing. we went to magic kingdom {let's keep it real, jessie looks a little scary here}...

and animal kingdom...

and there you have it. it was nice not having to check email or package orders, but now i'm back and fully submerged in wedding season, orders, and custom projects. i have some new stuff to show you that i am sure you will love {including an awesome video that i'm posting tomorrow}... stay tuned!

blogging break

2012-03-17T12:01:00.001-05:00

the weather is unseasonably warm here in chicago and spring has officially set in! i'll be taking a short break from blogging for some quality family time. i'll be back in april to let you know what we've been up to here at penelope's press. see you in april!

{any orders placed online or at the etsy shop will start shipping april 1st}

fancy fonts + another birthday

2012-03-08T15:58:00.000-06:00

yesterday i celebrated my ahem "24th" birthday {sure... i wish, add a whopping 10 to that number!} i have realized as the years pass, the lower key the celebration is, the more i like it! gone are the days of dressing up to the t's and having a night out on the town. instead, i spent the early part of the day working on files for photopolymer plates for some new designs and custom projects. the husband took a half day and gave me a break from my normal routine of juggling the kids and penelope's press. then, the husband, children and i ate lobster {at red lobster, haha, let's keep it real}, put the kids to bed, and spent the remainder of the night on the couch catching up on dvr'ed episodes of our favorite shows. i also treated myself to a birthday gift {the husband's gift to me is the new ipad, woot! i cannot wait for it to arrive} and finally splurged and bought some fonts that i've been pining over for some time now... here are a few that i purchased.. i cannot wait to use them on some designs that we're conjuring up here. you can pick up some awesome fonts for yourself or a friend at myfonts.com

{thank you lynda of greenstar creative for introducing me to "samantha"... love it!}

souvenir foto school wrap up

2012-03-02T17:01:00.000-06:00

well folks, i did it... i took a photo a day {with the exception of 4 days, because it was allowed} of a-z for the entire month of february. here are my final 4 photos that i took. {i'll let you know when the next class is so you can join in on the fun}

in case you've just started following the blog... i am participating in souvenir foto school and will be posting all of my photos.
the assignment: to shoot a photograph a day for 30 days, using the alphabet as your guide
my theme: close up shots of print/book/paper related items

W for wood type

wood type from my collection placed on top of more wood type

X for xylograph

xylograph is an engraving on wood. in collecting all of my letterpress paraphernalia these past few years, sometimes things just get thrown in because the seller wants to get rid of it. these are the only engraved pieces in my collection.. an "s" and a really large percentage sign symbol. engraved blocks differ than milled wood type because the engraving is done by hand... you can see the marks and nics left by the engraving tools {no, i did not know the word xylograph until this class}

Y for yesteryear

i took this picture with my iphone and instagramed it because i am clueless on how to use filters or presets in photoshop and wanted to give it that sepia-ish look.

my little workroom transforms into a scene from the past... hence y for yesteryear! these are two of my printing presses and guillotine paper cutter, circa early 1900's

Z for zig zag

a zig zag border from my collection

souvenir foto school update, letters t-v

2012-02-27T07:43:00.001-06:00

here's my souvenir foto recap from the weekend...

in case you've just started following the blog... i am participating in souvenir foto school and will be posting all of my photos.
the assignment: to shoot a photograph a day for 30 days, using the alphabet as your guide
my theme: close up shots of print/book/paper related items

T for tuscan floral type
i purchased this pretty and ornate set at the annual midwest and great northern printers fair this past year and cannot wait to print with it!

U for uppercase

just a few capital letters from my collection of type

V for vandercook

so yah, snore. i think this photo is so, so boring. i took an unplanned nap on sunday which ran right into my evening plans so i literally assembled the paper model in the car on the way to our party and took this photo in the parking lot on top of the hood of our car as the sun was going down. BUT, it did take care of my "V" word!

this is a tiny paper model of a vandercook proof press - a cylinder, flatbed press. the vandercook is unlike the presses that i use regularly {i own platen presses w/ flywheels}. the vandercook is like a porshe, range rover, bentley {what have you} of the letterpress world. everyone wants one. they cost an arm and a leg so this paper model is the closest i'm going to get to owning one, ha! the paper model was in our tote bag of goodies from paul moxon at the ladies of letterpress conference i attended this past august.

{i should've placed something near it to show the scale of the model, the paper vandercook is a little longer than the length of your hand}

that's it for now folks. only a few more days left of photo goodness. have a productive {and creative} week!

souvenir foto school update, letters r + s

2012-02-22T22:18:00.000-06:00

only 7 letters left!

R for redington counter
you can see a splash of yellow ink on the press {a blog post to follow}... wedding season has begun {for me}!

S for spokes {on a flywheel}
this is the flywheel on my 8x12 old style chandler and price, circa 1903.

souvenir foto school update, letters k-q

2012-02-21T03:10:00.000-06:00

today, my younger brother asked me where my "klmnop" was? confused, i said, "huh?". he was referring to the photos that i am supposed to be taking for the alphabet challenge that i'm participating in. i am in fact taking a photo-a-day, but not blogging everyday about it. i thought i was perhaps boring people with posting them everyday. my brother said he was expecting it everyday. whoops. perhaps you, my blog reader, are expecting it too? here are my k-q images from the past couple of days... enjoy!

in case you've just started following the blog... i am participating in souvenir foto school and will be posting all of my photos.
the assignment: to shoot a photograph a day for 30 days, using the alphabet as your guide
my theme: close up shots of print/book/paper related items

K for keys

these are keys taken from my "new", old underwood typewriter. i love typewriters. this was purchased last fall at the randolph street market.

L for ligatures

these are ligatures from my collection of 18pt goudy italic and caslon old style. in case you don't know what a ligature is... back in the day, ligatures were formed when 2 or more letters were combined to form one character.

M for monogram

i bought this cut this past fall at the l.a. printers fair.

N for nibs

in calligraphy, the nib is the metal part that is dipped in ink. nibs are also found in quills and fountain pens. these nibs belong to my sister. she dabbled in calligraphy many moons ago. oh how i wish i knew how to write calligraphy. soon.

O for off cuts

off cuts are the remnants/scraps of paper, fabric, wood, etc. of the main project/piece.

P for pantone color guide

the pantone color guide is a color matching system used in many industries.

and today...

Q for quoins

those metal rectangle type things are high speed quoins. when the quoins are tightened, they expand and lock up your form {or hold a boxcar base} in your chase which is then placed inside the platen or on the bed of the press.

workday wednesdays: B H L D N recap

2012-02-15T01:09:00.001-06:00

i have been a big fan of B H L D N since they came onto the scene. if you keep tabs on the wedding blogsphere, you are no stranger to this exquisite brand. the bridal collection of anthropologie {urban outfitters, inc} opened their second store in chicago just yesterday on valentine's day. they had a special preview night on monday and yours truly was present. the two story boutique was swarming with wedding industry folk, bhldn enthusiasts, a ton of photographers, press, and darcy miller {senior vp and weddings editorial director for martha stewart living} and company. my friend elaine, a budding photographer asked if she could photograph the event... below is just a handful of photos that she took {visit her site here for more pictures of the event}.

the food was fabulous...

there is darcy miller signing my issue of martha stewart wedding. so cool! and somewhere under that black mass of wavy hair is me. if you could see the expression of my face, i had the goofiest grin! darcy asked what i do so i told her that i sell letterpress stationery. darcy then tells me that she wants to see my stationery and asks for my business card. short story... i made some martha stewart contacts. are you kidding me!!!! awesome!

B H L D N flew in a silhouette artist from maine {i know, coolest giveaway ever!} that's my silhoutte that she cut by hand. no tracing with a pencil first, she just stared at me and started cutting away with her teeny, tiny scissors. so amazing!

and of course the place was packed with gorgeous wedding gowns, incredible accessories, jewelry, and so much more! if i were to get married all over again {to the same man of course}, B H L D N would definitely be part of my big day. thanks B H L D N {and darcy + co.} for a fantastic time!

souvenir foto school update

2012-02-13T14:12:00.002-06:00

here are my most recent images for G, H, I, and J. in case you're curious, i shoot with a humble canon eos digital rebel xsi. it came with a kit lens, but i received a 60mm macro lens from the husband for christmas '10 and LOVE it and use it all the time! i also shoot in manual. in manual, you have control over the aperture, iso, and shutter speed... and that my friends is pretty much where my knowledge of dslr functions end.

in case you've just started following the blog... i am participating in souvenir foto school and will be posting all of my photos.
the assignment: to shoot a photograph a day for 30 days, using the alphabet as your guide
my theme: close up shots of print/book/paper related items

G for gooey {the day i took this picture i had to mix a color called "peacock". i use both oil and rubber based inks in both tubes and cans. this is a tube of oil based ink in pantone green.}

H for hamilton type cabinet {i was squatting while taking this picture... that's when i realized that it would be really nice to have a tripod.}

I for ink {these are cans of rubber based ink. one of the biggest differences between oil and rubber based inks is the drying time... rubber based ink can stay on the press for hours, even overnight, without drying.}

J for jotting in a journal {my friend melanie was over when i took this picture this past sunday and i made her quickly pose for me. i would have taken a picture of my own fingers, but they are not cute- chubby man hands, wrinkly skin, and ink stains on my nails and cuticles. gross.}

i've been receiving comments and emails that folks are enjoying the fotos. i may just have to incorporate a new blog series, perhaps "foto fridays". have a wonderful {and creative} week!

souvenir foto school: days 5 + 6

2012-02-08T01:21:00.000-06:00

i'm lagging a bit... here are my shots for E and F

day 5, E for en dash

so, you're probably like, "what the heck is that?" my subject is an "en dash". you know how on your computer keyboard you have a key with a short dash and a long dash. well, the short dash is the "en dash", the length of an "n". this is the smallest in my collection, 10 pt. i placed it on a dime so you can see how small it is. {my white balance is off, i know. this photo was shot at night and i have a hard time when the light source isn't natural light}

day 6, F for furniture

not the kind you sit on, but the kind that's used for letterpress printing. wood furniture is used to fill the empty space between the form and the sides of the chase.

in case you've just started following the blog... i am participating in souvenir foto school and will be posting all of my photos.
the assignment: to shoot a photograph a day for 30 days, using the alphabet as your guide
my theme: close up shots of print/book/paper related items

souvenir foto school: day 4, D for deboss & deep impression

2012-02-06T22:36:00.000-06:00

over the weekend i shot a past wedding invite. the image is actually upside down, but they are hand drawn leaves {by my sister}, made into plates, and letterpress printed into the paper. i love my macro lens. if you sell products online and you take close up shots, i think you should really invest in a macro lens {and that's coming from a non-photographer, i can only imagine the awesome lenses that photographers have in their arsenal}. we're allowed 4 days off from taking photos, in case you're wondering how is that i've already missed 2 days.