Birthday Card Fundraiser Preview #2

Yay! We've got some more completed (and semi-completed) birthday cards!

In case you didn't know, Pyramid turns 30 on April 9 and we're going to be selling sets of birthday cards at the party.

And on to the photos!

A shot taken by Marty of the "done" pile:

Bridget's first color (a really pretty one!):

Erin's awesome orange and pink design:

And a beautiful print of Megha's that I found in the scrap bin!

I'm loving how different these all are!

The studio is pretty much booked solid for the next two weeks, so stay tuned for the another preview shortly!

Tip #6

Marty sent me this photo:

The plan was to come print her birthday card in a creamsicle color. However, because the previous user didn't fully clean up, the creamsicle ink came out looking ochre (the lower print)! After a cleaning, she got the desired color (the upper print).

So the tip is to always fully clean the rollers! And if you're printing in an especially bright (or light) color, you might want to consider doing a check and a preventive cleaning, just in case. But, let's all try to fully clean up after ourselves each time we print. Remember, the golden rule... you wouldn't want someone to leave a dirty press for you, would you?

Birthday Card Fundraiser Preview #1

In conjunction with Pyramid's 30's Birthday Open House celebration on April 9, we will be selling sets of letterpress birthday cards designed and printed by various members of our PA letterpress community. All proceeds from the sales will go to fund Pyramid's awesome programs and facilities! 

This weekend kicked off the busy printing period for this project. We now have two (and a half) designs printed!

Steve's metal and wood type card, with a nod to the Beatles' "Birthday" song (Steve - I was thiiiis close to doing something with the song myself!):

 

Drying rack shot of the front of my own card design, also set in lead type:

And the inside:

Put them together:

And the first side of Marty's design:

I can't wait to unveil the complete sets at the Birthday Open House! Hope to see you there!

Links Links Links

I realized that many of our regular letterpressers have websites, blogs or etsy sites that show their letterpress work (along with other stuff), so I decided to compile a list. Feel free to check out what everyone's been up to in and out of the studio! This list is by no means definitive - if you're a letterpresser at Pyramid and have a blog/site/etsy, please let me know!

Maintenance Day photos!

Huge thanks to all the volunteers that braved the 20 degree weather and came out to our maintenance day:

Beth Schaible, Steve Cole, Aly Hurt, Beck Levy, Bob Cmarik, Jamillah Abdullah, Angelica Temoche, Bea Jackson, Robin Childers, Elizabeth Levenson, Marty Ittner, Daniel Zadorozhnny and Morgan Ward. 

Apologies for the poor photo quality... I forgot my camera and was stuck taking pictures with my phone!

Here's Aly and Elizabeth working at cleaning the bed and bearings of the Universal 1:

Look at the gunk they scraped off:

Here's Steve and Beck cleaning the 4T's lockbar's disassembled parts:

Nice and shiny! Wish I'd taken a "before" shot...

Former Letterpress Associate Beth Schaible working with Bob and Jamillah on the 4T:

Screenprinting Associate Marty Ittner swept and mopped the floor between and behind the presses:

Thanks, Marty!!

It's hard to believe that with all the hours and elbow grease we put in today, the presses could still use a lot more! We hope to have another maintenance day in six months or so to really get these guys in tip-top shape. Melanie, Leslie and I hope to see you at the next one!