Translate pulsations into images

November 18, 2008, 11:48 am

While Matt’s cranking out wildlife code cards (aren’t they fun?!?), I’ve been working away on some more designs (New Year’s cards are coming!), and have also been finishing up some new books with a variety of new cover materials. I have great leather scraps and am combining them with this fantastic, extremely soft wool/cotton blend fabric.


Details of stitching on dark brown and pale blue leathers and wool with linen threads for Coptic stitched album covers.

And two of the full (yet to be bound!) covers:

I’m excited about the simple textures and abstractions that I’m getting out of these materials. Maybe it’s that I’ve been doing a lot of work with maps lately, but there’s an element of landscape in these, at the same time that the rough stitching crudely and beautifully joins the materials with very different textures. A lot of the book and printing work I do involves seams and edges and lines and organization and I’m finding myself fascinated by the decorative and functional purposes of lines and seams as I sew and make more and more of them.

I’ve also been getting a lot of printing projects finished up and packaged and sent off, including these sets of monogrammed cards, which were a lot of fun to do, and turned out to be a little too fun to keep to myself!


Details - printed in hand mixed goldenrod yellow, sage green, blue green, and a soft combo of magenta & cranberry

And…mark your calendars! I was just accepted to exhibit at the 2008 Bust Holiday Craftacular at The Metropolitan Pavilion in Manhattan on Sunday, December 14th. It’s a huge event and Bust Magazine does an amazing job of organizing and promoting the whole thing. I’ll have lots of new work on hand to check out…and don’t worry, I’ll remind you when it gets closer!

Beautiful words from Adrienne Rich on a chilly day at the beginning of winter.

Comments (3) | Posted in bookbinding, design, letterpress, quotations

Wildlife Code Cards

November 16, 2008, 10:03 pm

Hello again fellow letterpress lovers! This entry is penned by Matt—I’m giving Maggie a much needed break from Sunday night blogging duties. Happily, I also have some new work of my own to show off. But first a little preamble…

At many of the craft and design fairs we’ve attended, the subject matter tends toward the same familiar, furry friends. Typically, there are birds like sparrows, doves, and owls… really anything that flies, as long as it’s not too scary or patriotic. Alongside our feathered friends are often large mammals like deer, with the occasional rabbit or hog thrown in for variety. These animals are by no means the sole province of letterpress printers: birds alight on canvas bags, purses, and sometimes even silkscreened t-shirts. Clearly, people love these woodland creatures and identify with them on some level (a topic for another post blog).

Sparrow Code CardThis is not to fault those who create these designs. Designers have found a vein of imagery that has proven profitable and it only makes sense to work with these animals until the trend passes. It was this realization that fueled my most recent idea: Wildlife Code Cards!

Wildlife Code Cards are letterpress printed greeting cards with HTML code on the front which renders images of:

Of course this is all a bit tongue-in-cheek but I have a hunch there are a few other people out there who will appreciate the meta nature of these cards.

Wildlife Code Cards

P.S.—to head a few of you off at the pass, yes I am aware that without alt text these cards are not 508 compliant.

Comments (4) | Posted in design, influences, letterpress

As long as you got it, make something of it.

November 14, 2008, 9:33 am

After finishing that mountain of calendars and cards on Tuesday, I treated myself to a trip to Newark on Wednesday afternoon. I know, I know, that doesn’t sound like a treat, but I promise you that it was.

In tandem with a fantastic book arts exhibit they have up, The Newark Public Library organized a talk by Amos Kennedy, Jr. and a screening of a new documentary about him and his work. I mentioned Amos’s work a few weeks back, when I first heard about the documentary and was pretty much immediately hooked. When I heard that there would be a screening, I made sure I could have that afternoon and evening free to make the trip, and I’m glad I did.

Amos is a letterpress printer and bookbinder who lives and works in Gordo, Alabama. He has a strong academic background in letterpress printing and book arts, in addition to a strong practical approach to his work and life. He studied at the University of Wisconsin with Walter Hamady (a book and printing god - this is a great sample, but definitely investigate him more, if you’re interested) and knows the technical and theoretical aspects of the craft, but has adapted it into something that serves him in a very personal and beautiful way.

Amos is a wonderfully genuine guy who is contagiously happy because he loves the work he does. He is a gregarious personality who makes it his business to challenge people’s assumptions and, as a black letterpress printer in Alabama, I get the distinct impression he gets to challenge people a lot.

He primarily prints posters on chipboard that are heavily layered from wood type, overlaid with various quotes that are a mix of hilarious, challenging, brilliant, personal, and historical. Right now he’s working on a powerful exhibit design including several of his posters for an exhibit commemorating the Selma to Montgomery march. His own website has a great assortment of his poster images, and is well worth exploring. The images I’ve included here are the posters I was lucky enough to pick up for us on Wednesday.

All of this is to say: there is a lot of great work going on by a lot of different printers and book artists that I find unbelievably inspiring. I’m excited to get a few of the projects I have in mind out of my head and into existence. When Amos spoke on Wednesday afternoon, he said that his wish is that everyone could be as happy with their own work as he is with his. I am, and I have that same wish for everyone else, as well.

As for me, there’s been no perceptible slowdown in things around here, and I’m finishing up books and cards just as fast as I can, and loading up my Etsy shop, as well as my site. Enjoy!

Comments (1) | Posted in art, bookbinding, influences, letterpress, quotations

Holiday cards & letterpress calendars!

November 11, 2008, 10:56 pm

As promised…holiday cards & calendars are finally done!

There are 3 things I think of when it gets to be chilly and December’s not far off: big bulb Christmas lights, snow angels, and a blooming Christmas Cactus. This year, we’ve made cards out of all of them!


These strings of Christmas lights were Matt’s idea, and they are letterpress printed on bright white 100% cotton paper in red, yellow, blue, green, and orange, with Christmas-light-cord-green ink! More here…


Snow angels in blue with a blind debossed (no ink) print of the angel outline, all on bright white 100% cotton paper. More here…


Blossoming Christmas Cactus in leaf green and bright pink on pearl white 100% cotton paper. More here…

And because it’s always fun to have more this time of year: calendars (it’s plural, you read correctly!)!

The first calendar for 2009 is twelve two-color letterpress printed panels, each 4.25″ x 4.25″, packaged in a chocolate brown folio, sealed with a letterpress printed label with strips of maps from an old atlas I picked up at The Strand.


Letterpress Panel Calendars all packed up and ready to go!, panels laid out, April detail…and they’re up on Etsy!

And calendar #2! This one is an accordion fold wall hanging calendar with the calendar text printed inside in dark grey on heavy, cream-colored printmaking paper. There are a few different covers and all of the calendars have a 1/4″ hole at the top to hang easily.


Accordion fold calendars all packaged up, a detail of the top panel hanging, and in context! And these are up on Etsy, as well!

All of the cards are up on my site, and on Etsy, and the first batches of calendars are up on Etsy, as well - enjoy!

I’ve had a lot of fun making all of these and I hope you enjoy them, too! The thing you’ll notice as you go through (these mountains of) photos is that they’re all printed under the imprint of Campbell Raw Press, which is the new us! Matt & I are excited to be working together on a lot of projects, and we decided to formalize it a little while ago…the site & everything else will follow! In the next few weeks, we’ll be updating the site to show the name and a little bit of a new look.

And, finally, while you’re in the habit of looking at pretty things, take a peek at my baby sister’s fantastic intaglio prints in her new Etsy shop: Willa’s Eggs (after her fledgling egg selling business when she was about 10!).

Mark Strand can be too heartwrenchingly serious and sad to share here, but these are beautiful, wise words to enjoy!

Comments (4) | Posted in bookbinding, letterpress, quotations

Wild hope can always spring from tended strength

November 10, 2008, 9:16 am

Somewhere in the middle of what must have been my 7th hour of printing last night, I remarked to Matt that it really doesn’t seem right to call something work when it’s just what you want to be doing with your time. After a great deal of research and practice, we’ve confirmed what we already knew: I love printing.

I spent a lot of time this weekend finishing the first of many stacks of accordion fold calendar books, and packaging for the calendar panels I’ve only given you sneak peeks of, for now. Everything will be ready to unveil completely tomorrow(!), but here’s a little look at what the weekend had in store.


Calendar labels, accordion fold calendars all packed up!, a quick corner of one of those holiday cards

Needless to say, all of this has been making me very happy the last few days, and I hope they’re a little reminder for everyone of why this time of year can be so wonderful! I can’t wait to show everything off and - in the meantime - I’ve got a busy Monday ahead of me, if I want to have everything ready for you tomorrow!

And because something about this time of year makes me think about the Midwest even more than usual, a few words from James Dickey.

Comments (0) | Posted in bookbinding, letterpress, paper, quotations

Getting to work

November 6, 2008, 9:08 am

Lest you think I’m only going to be gushingly emotional and political here…not to fear! That’s all propelling us forward, of course, and fortunately now I can focus again and some very fun work is coming out of it!

I’ve been busily putting together books these days, including stacks of small casebound journals, larger casebound albums, and tiny Coptic stitch notebooks (these are each 3″ x 4.5″).

Today I’m finishing up (fingers crossed!) the multi-panel calendars, so those will be ready to show off soon, soon soon. I’m also finishing up the second version of 2009 calendars that I’m doing, and starting to print holiday cards (!!!). It’s a gray morning - I can’t think of anything better than printing and sewing all day!

Once again, some beautiful words from Wendell Berry.

Comments (0) | Posted in bookbinding, letterpress, quotations

A kind of dangerous unselfishness

November 5, 2008, 9:39 am

I am so proud.

As the election was declared for Obama last night and we left the apartment of good friends on E 13th Street in Manhattan, people up and down the street were chanting, “Obama!” and the same atmosphere greeted us when we got back to Brooklyn. This was the scene in Union Square last night:

As someone who has studied a lot of American history, and as a life student of history, as we all are, the thing that cuts right to my core about this election is knowing of the long, long trail that paved its way. There was a lot of hard work in the last 2 years of this campaign, but this is a trail that is much longer.

I’m not often much for symbols or commemoration or ceremony; after all, Barack Obama is a politician and, as he himself has said, government can’t - and is not supposed to - solve all of our problems, but this is a moment to savor. Though this was not an election about race, it was certainly about possibilities, access, opportunity, equality and humanity and, in the U.S. in my lifetime those things have all intersected with the notion of race.

Knowing that only 43 years have passed since the Voting Rights Act was signed into law, to see a 47 year-old man elected to speak for us who himself could not have voted the year that he was born because of pervasive prejudice is a beautiful thing. It is rare to see sea changes of that magnitude in one’s lifetime and I believe that this victory belongs to anyone who believes in the ugliness of prejudice; it is for those protesters, bus riders, marchers, and voter registration workers who are not just chapters in a history textbook, but living, breathing people whose beliefs and dreams and work have come to fruition.

For me, there is something personal, that will always be a part of the lenses through which I look at the world: I was the only white face in my kindergarten class in Omaha, Nebraska. When you’re five, you don’t see color, you see friends. You don’t yet know the history that preceded your lifetime, and you have no reason to believe that any one person is better than any other (except your mom and dad, who will always be the best). We could all learn a little something from the five year olds around us. Last night, we got a little closer to seeing only friends, not color.

Now, let’s get to work.

Comments (0) | Posted in Obama

GObama!

November 3, 2008, 7:12 pm

There’s a woman on our block with a megaphone, reminding Classon Avenue that tomorrow is Election Day, and we all need to get out and vote for Obama.

I had a realization earlier, after listening to hours of radio coverage that has no end in sight: if Obama wins tomorrow night, I’d be really proud to say to anyone in the world that I’m from the U.S. I’m pretty sure I’ve never had that feeling in my life and 28 years in seems like a pretty good time to start. He’s a politician, I’m not fooling myself there, but he’s a major step in the right direction.

During that radio coverage, NPR excerpted a few minutes of a rally in Philadelphia earlier this week and the man leading it said to the crowd, “Martin Luther King, Jr. marched so Barack Obama could run, and Barack Obama is running so that we can fly.”

I’ve got a sort of megaphone here: make sure you know where your polling place is, get out and vote tomorrow, and let’s get this one done for the good guys.

Comments (2) | Posted in Obama

All that pent up joy

November 1, 2008, 3:31 pm

For a change of pace, I’ve been getting lots of fun new little casebound books together this weekend, and also printing round two of calendars. If all goes well, I’ll have two different 2009 calendars ready this coming week! November is off to a speedy start!

Tomorrow we’re making plans to see a bit of the marathon, which passes not too far from our place and is always good for a healthy dose of inspiration, and then heading up to Williamsburg to check out Prints Gone Wild, the annual affordable print show…hopefully also a good source of inspiration! I’m really looking forward to seeing work by Tugboat Press from Pittsburgh, Cannonball Press from here in Brooklyn, and also Yee-Haw Industries from Knoxville, TN, and Purgatory Pie Press from Manhattan.

In the meantime, while I’m tired of listening to election coverage, I’m also not sitting back and assuming that Obama’s got this one in the bag. (Come on, if you didn’t know where I stood on this, you’ve gotta be kidding.) I know things are looking good, but - as though it needs to be said - we all need to get out and vote on Tuesday. Even if you don’t agree with Obama on everything, I think you can safely say that someone who espouses the ideals of hope, optimism, and constructive movement toward a better world is a good thing for all of us. Not to mention the fact that the words “president” and “Palin” do not belong in the same sentence. If you need some visual material to consider a few of these issues a bit more, I highly recommend checking out the latest effort of our friends Chris, Julia, and Jesse: 30 Reasons.

Enjoy the sunshine, if you’ve got it like we do today, and curl up with a book full of good ideas, if you don’t…and enjoy a little Philip Appleman to get you started on your way!

Comments (0) | Posted in art, bookbinding, letterpress, quotations

Paula West

October 30, 2008, 9:55 am

I’m working away on sewing up books, packaging cards, gluing up covers, and preparing for the holiday season on the horizon, but had to share this. It’s a video of Paula West performing “Like a Rolling Stone” at The Jazz Standard in Manhattan. I dare you not to feel a shiver - think of what it must be like to be in the same room! (Frankly, I can’t believe people just kept eating while she was singing…):

If you are in Iowa - and I know at least a few of you must be! - you need to get tickets to see her perform at Campbell Steele on November 14 & 15. I’ll admit that I - cultured, pretty well-versed Brooklynite that I am / have become - did not know about Paula until my dad booked her to play at the gallery for 2 performances in November. And - the true point of delinquence - I hadn’t actually listened to her music until this morning. Don’t make the same mistake I did - check her out and make your day a whole lot better.

Comments (0) | Posted in breathing, music

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