Making Stuff...

I like my job.  I like making stuff for other people.  I especially like when it comes out looking fine, not too crooked, or inky or splotchy.  I made business cards last week for two ceramic artists.  Roberta sent me a drawing to incorporate into hers.  She makes drawings and functional and nonfunctional work and is about to graduate from Lousiana State University.  And her work is amazing.

For Kim, I hand-lettered her business name instead of using a whimisical-but-overused typeface.  Handdrawn elements are fun!


It's been springlike here and we finally started doing something with the dirt and weed patch called our yard.  Last week, I dug up and turned over a 10 x 5' patch that we mulched to become our garden.  Remember folks, this is not a gardening blog and we have more ambitions than skills. Oh, and we have a good guide book.  So far, there are only marigolds, but I am working on that. Hopefully soon I will post lovely things emerging from the acidic mulch.  Not tonight.

what grew there before

our "garden" where nothing grows

Customized

I'm not one for keeping a steady pace.  I like a lot of coffee, then no coffee.  Stay up late working, then a few days off.  Last week I got my fill of resting during a little sickness that put me to sleep for 2 days.  Sleep and TV.  No printing, no writing or reading.  I didn't even make my own cup of tea.  Now I am not 100 percent but at least I can stay awake long enough to go to work and cook my own dinner.

A few weeks ago I printed these fun stationery cards for a postcard subscriber.  She let me have free reign with the design and they were fun to print.  I posted partial pictures of the cards, but here they are in full, with the address obscured for privacy.

New postcards are in the mail. I ordered these nerdy poet stamps a few weeks ago and finally the chance to use them.  I have been printing at home on Ben's Vandercook, for the postcards which has been working out wonderfully.  Lucky lucky me.

Sundays are usually for printing but this weekend I made this tiny book instead.  Oh sweet procrastination!  I haven't decided yet if I will sell it on etsy or keep it for notes.  It is the first book I have made with some of the paper I brought back from Italy.  Six months of saving scraps and tickets and take-out bags are collected in a shoebox.  Honestly I thought there was more.  I need a new journal so I suspect you will be seeing it soon.

Just for You!

printed for Viva Snail Mail

A few weeks ago, I offered to print postcards or business cards for five subscribers of Keep Writing, for only the cost of materials.  Melissa was the first to respond, within an hour, and finally, here is the result: a postcard-sized award for those who help promote the written letter.  Check out her blog, Viva Snail Mail to see who might be up for such an award and why.

one of these plates doesn't print right

 I took advantage of a lovely sunny day to clean up and organize a little before starting on the next custom work, for a subscriber in Berkeley.  Here are a few sneak peeks at her postcard, but I won't let you see it before she does!

success!

subtle split fountain

 I love a day off! Even if it is to print at home.  At home there are Krazy straws for my water, and a mid-day mail delivery bringing me postcards from Power and Light Press.  Printing at home means naptime, like Sunday, or staying up late.  Like now.  Good night!

krazeeee!

thanks Kyle!

Cut and Paste Forever

 

 

Happy Groundhog's Day

I've been working a lot, printing other people's computer-generated designs.  And I've been printing my own computer-assisted designs.  Which is fine.  I like printing.  Maybe a little less at 10 pm on a Saturday night when there is a warm bed and a book waiting for me but it still beats out everything else I could do for "work". 

channeling the spirit of Astropress

 

 

 

 

 

Yes, there have been many work-induced headaches lately.  At my roommate's suggestion, I thought about playing hookey today but the things I wanted to do are, well, things I want to do.   I thought I'd give it a go before I head out into the sunshine (there is still time for that).  I busted out the paper and exacto and pencil, demoted the computer to streaming Italian music only and worked on the postcard  idea I've been carrying around for a week.  You'll have to wait until next month to see it.  And the sketch rarely looks like the final project but here's a start.

keep writing number 49

Even in printing using polymer plates, I can't help cut and rearrrange.  Handset polymer plates, we've been calling it.  It's kind of a pain but I like results.  I hope Viva Snail Mail does too.  She writes a great blog about mail with lots of great photos.  She was also the first person to respond to my offer of custom postcard printing for only the cost of materials.  Here are some peeks at my printing the cards I designed for you.  I will post a photo of the finished project once she receives her cards!

our shop's current soundsystem.  note that it plugs in.

also did a little press maintenance