2012 Calendar Sneak Peek #1!

Calendar pages are starting to appear in the studio! Here are some photos...

Laura and Molly were in the studio this week printing the first run of their awesome February design (I taught them my two-person printing method!):

While I was there, I could see Leslie'd started her October page by printing her lino block that she'd cut:

Also saw Morgan's beautiful May sunrays on the drying rack:

Lastly, a peek at Alyson's test prints for her January page:

Check out her blog post about her trial run here.

This is my favorite phase of the calendar project.... Going to the studio and seeing that new pages have appeared! Stay tuned for Sneak Peek #2!

In the studio... (One Night Only!)

As I've mentioned before, Steve and Gretchen have been working on a poster for a Levon Helm show at The Fillmore. Tonight's the night of the show so I thought I'd post some great photos that Steve took throughout the process of making this fantastic 5-color poster!




In case you noticed that the posters read "Thur Oct .3" -- a nearly disastrous mistake! Luckily Steve caught this typo in time to make the swap to "Mon" before printing the entire run!

Happy Hour 9.21.11

Some photos from last week's Happy Hour!

Erika came to print the type she'd set at the last one. She's now done with her Christmas cards for the year!

Lauren came by to print some birthday cards:

A lot of them! (all on the Vandercook 0!)

And Chau and set some type for gift tags:

Here's her proof:

So cute! The idea is circle the giver's (or givers') roles (whether they made, found or wrapped it) and then circle the giver's name(s).

Hope to see you next time!

2012 Letterpress Calendar critique

This year I decided to include a critique as a part of the process of creating the 2012 Letterpress Calendar. I figured this would be a great way for this year's calendar crew to get some feedback on ideas and also just have another excuse to get together and get to know one another a little better. Here are some photos of the critique which took place last week (including a few mock ups and draft designs!):



Can't wait to see the final designs in print!

In the studio...

One of our studio regulars, Kathryn Hoeppel, is an excellent watercolor artist. Since she's gotten into letterpress, she's been playing around with combining the two. She's done some beautiful business cards printed over paper that she'd painted on. Now she's done a pretty set of thank you cards as well. She was kind enough to leave one on our bulletin board:

Happy Hour 9.7.11

I was only at last week's Happy Hour briefly but managed to take a few photos before I left everyone in Leslie's care.

Erika started setting type for her holiday cards. Every year, she does something with the phrase "Peace on Earth," which is a really great idea:

Lauren came by to play around with wood type for her April calendar design:

And Sabrina Gray came by for her first Happy Hour! She was hoping to make some personalized stationery as a gift. I hope it turned out well.

Here's a photo of (almost) everyone plugging away at their projects"

In the studio...

Steve and Gretchen have been working on putting together a poster for The Fillmore, a new music venue in Silver Spring. Some photos (all taken by Steve):

Here are some photos from their third round of proofing:

The lockup:

The color:

Inking:

Inked:

And the proofs:

Looks great! Can't wait to see the finished poster!