January 4, 2012
There’s a trend going on around here: every year is somehow exponentially faster than the one before. If I had to guess, it has something to do with being in our 30s and having a toddler; we’ll have to check back each decade, when years feel like days, if that trend is any indication…

2011 was the first year things really felt like they jelled. I often find myself explaining that I’m essentially in self-imposed design school, a total trial by fire. I sit down and draw as much as time allows, get ideas out of my head and onto paper, make new contacts whenever possible, and anchor my work in some key (not always visible and obvious, but present) quotations that I refer to when I find myself straying from the path a bit. I feel lucky, but I know that I worked hard to get myself where I am.

And now, I have a list of ideas that are just waiting to be executed…it should only take me about 17 years to get to all of them.

Matt and Charlotte and I chased the moon around the sky all year and noted its phase and arc each time we caught sight of it. 2012 promises to bring wonderful opportunities and new developments, and while I’m wistful for the sweetness of the last year, I know (from all of you parents who have reassured me that it’s so) that it only gets sweeter.

February 1, 2012
This time of year you can see the stars in Brooklyn when it’s clear. I know right where to look for Orion as I make my near-nightly trips to the studio to print. Moon almost directly overhead, Orion straight above, just over the roofs of Prospect Place, throwing a leg up and over just like in Frost’s “The Star-Splitter”.

Finding center means looking out into the dark and not down at these feet that carry me and carry me. Looking up as high as I can, like I’m in some European cathedral, marveling at the detail above. Just finding a few guiding lights to follow, above all this brightness and noise.

February 9, 2012
If you still haven’t gotten enough Campbell Raw Press and my musings, the delightful Chandra Greer of Greer Chicago (one of our illustrious retailers!) just presented an interview with me on Felt & Wire. Enjoy!

On Saturday, December 10, we’ll be all over Park Slope in Brooklyn, at not one, but two fairs! I’ll be at PS 321 for Stuff You Should Buy from 10-5, and Matt will be at PS 10 for the South Slope Craft Fair from 11-5.

On Sunday, December 11, we’ll be returning once again to the ever-popular Bust Craftacular holiday extravaganza of everything handmade you could possibly want to buy! The show is two days, but we’ll only be there on Sunday (note the two, count ‘em two fairs we’re already doing Saturday!).

Also, this year’s event is at 82 Mercer in Soho, not the Metropolitan Pavilion as it has been in year’s past. It’s $3 to get in and a fun, energetic atmosphere with some of the best independent, handmade work going these days. Please stop by if you have the chance!

See you there!
Maggie

We’d love to see you!

My decision to leave the world of business casual and bad midtown Manhattan delis to take a chance on an idea turns out to have been just the right one. I’m nearly four years into Campbell Raw Press as my full time venture and my days—while often pinball-like in their patterns—are my own. Matt & I work nonstop this time of year but we can’t tell you how rewarding it is to work this hard on something we love. We have a beautiful little life.

* * * * *

As the busiest month of the year begins for us, we wanted to take a five minute break, peek out from behind from the stacks of paper, and say thank you.

If you’ve purchased a set of cards, complimented our work, come to us for your wedding invitations, or looked upon our enterprise with kindness over the last few years, we want to say a sincere thank you. Your support of our work allows us to live the life we want to live. We are here and cranking away because of you, and there is so much more to come.

Thank you.

Maggie & Matt

A few custom projects – one a birthday celebration book filled with letters to the client’s mother; another an illustrator’s portfolios and slipcases, and invitations for dear friends.

Informal botanical study three to four times a week at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden

Printing invitations at The Arm

I’ve been printing and designing invitations like a madwoman in between juggling one and sometimes two toddlers. Coming soon: studio space! Around the corner! Seriously!

Beach!

We just returned from a lovely wedding, followed by a luxuriously long week in Martha’s Vineyard. I had a chance to draw a bit and work on some hand lettering ideas that usually fall by the wayside (you’ll see them soon, I promise!).

My sweet dad, moving yet another press for me in Iowa! This one’s a Challenge MP-15 and I can’t wait to see it!

We have another wedding, and friends in town this weekend, then we’re spinning off to Iowa to celebrate my mom’s 60th (60!) birthday and see some of my recently acquired letterpress equipment in the flesh, as well as take some deep breaths under star-filled skies. We’ve been at a distant point on our orbit, and are looking forward to circling back in close to those people with whom it all started.

P.S. Matt’s been documenting our summer much better than I over here!
P.P.S. I’m sending out some fun letterpress snail mail when we get back from Iowa – email me your address if you’d like to receive a little mail!

Making good use of limited space: My press & shelving setup, on a particularly clean day about a year ago

All of my bookbinding work is done on a 3′ x 5′ table in the corner of our living room with basic tools and minimal equipment. My toolbox of thread, needles, knives, awls, bone folders, pencils, and beeswax sits next to stacks of book covers in various stages of completion, boxes stuffed with printed cards that need to be scored and/or packaged, a large box of invitation samples, not to mention the glue, tape, jars of pens, stacks of books whose endpapers are drying, and finished books that need to be photographed.

And that doesn’t even include what’s under the table…or the toddler who stands on the toolbox next to my table and helps me rearrange those piles 47 times a day.

A pretty average day on my work table

Needless to say, I’m working within some pretty tight confines with a business that continues to grow quite steadily day by day. It’s close, happy quarters, but we’re bursting at the seams. Something’s gotta give.

This past week, we had an opportunity to rent the empty main floor storefront in the building we’ve lived in for about 5 years. In addition to being the most convenient studio location ever, the space has a backyard and about 900 square feet of finished indoor space. For a family of 3 living in a sub-400 square foot apartment, the only appropriate response is to drool.

So, we got to work. We measured, we ran numbers, I inquired about the availability of various equipment, and learned about dimensions, logistics, weight, and safety. There was lots of interest from fellow printers in setting up a small co-op letterpress studio, which seemed like just the right path for our burgeoning little business – a great way to get me the setup I needed to work more efficiently, and also ensure that I wouldn’t work in isolation.

After a great deal of research (and getting lots of help from all kinds of wonderful fellow printers), it became clear that the best way to set up a shared studio was with cylinder presses which are relatively easy to use and understand and are safe, though scarce these days. When that fact surfaced, it was time to make some even more precise measurements and see whether it was feasible.

To make a long story short: even the smallest cylinder press would not fit through the front door of the potential space. Sure, the front plate glass window could be removed if we needed to get things in, but we’re talking about a building we don’t own ourselves and on which we would not have a long term lease. It would be careless to spend so much money, time, and energy to move huge pieces of equipment.

It was disappointing to learn that this wasn’t the space for us but I have to tell you that it was also a relief. When the right opportunity comes along, I have to believe we’ll know it and be ready for it and we’ll make something amazing happen. In some ways, I wish that time were now, but I think we have a little more to learn and grow before that’s a reality.

Tools, tools, tools

For now, it’s back to the living room grind, back to my basic and busy setup, living the dream day to day with Charlotte at my side and pushing the bounds of what we can do with what we have. It doesn’t feel glamorous, but it’s an awfully happy little set up. If you can ignore the daily bout of utter chaos around 3:30 or 4 when there are toys, books, paper, and scraps strewn around the entire apartment, it’s really pretty calm and wonderful. We’ll be ready for real chaos in the not so distant future, and that’s when we’ll make the next leap.

All of this potential for instant change right now reminded me once again that we *do*, in fact, have a great thing going. We’ve grown what we have quite organically, and that’s just what we want. Sure, big breaks are great, but legacies are built with careful, steady, hard work and a commitment to the things we believe in.

Thanks for supporting that sort of organic growth and our personal approach to work. This dream of a sustainable, profitable, creative, small family business is taking shape because of all the people who support us and work together in small ways to lay a foundation. Soon enough, it’ll be a living, breathing, visible building of its own and we’ll be ready for it.

Please stick with us. There’s so much more to come!

The burst of warm weather earlier this week (50! In February!) was a desperately needed reminder that spring really will come again and that the feeling of warm air on your face is, indeed, the tonic and near cure-all it’s always been. Similarly satisfying as the feeling of warm air on your face after a long winter is the feeling of completing a substantial project that began as a tiny seed in your mind’s eye.

On that note, I’ve just finished a new collection of three invitation designs and am proud to finally show them off.

Entwined suite, Signature suite, Leaves suite / All photos by Christopher Walker, Gotham Pixel

Each design has a slightly different feel and each takes advantage of the tactile quality of letterpress printing, layering type, images, and color in delicate and elegant ways. There is loads of information about the designs, options, and ordering on our weddings page, and I am always delighted to talk about paper and printing at length, so please be in touch if you have questions.

And – of course – we’ve been up to lots of other things, too! I’ve been cranking out new books using vintage postage stamps and have lots more to come, and we’ve been reading The Metropolitan Museum of Art ABCs, Numbers, Shapes, and Colors till we’re blue in the face, and I just finished reading Annie Dillard’s The Writing Life. If you need a little inspiration, it’s a great read, no matter what sort of work you do.

Spring is, indeed, on its way in the next month or two. In the meantime, I think I’ll keep my energy up by drawing, printing, building Charlotte’s vocabulary while we walk all over Brooklyn, poring over design & lettering inspiration, and soaking up just how good we’ve got it.

P.S. If you need a great wrapping-up-winter song, I highly recommend Josh Ritter’s “Snow Is Gone“. It’ll shake you right out of any funk you may be in.

Coptic stitch journal spines

In the middle of a regular rotation of reading Olivia, The Circus Ship, Knuffle Bunny, Goodnight Moon, and Where the Wild Things Are, I’ve also made more books in the last week than I’ve possibly ever made in such a short period of time. Hello, holiday season!

P.S. You might like to sign up for our email list (no junk, I promise!) to stay up to date on new card designs, holiday fairs we’re doing, etc.

Overflowing storage, oh my! + a little one who needs room to move + the soon-to-be play corner (you can see the floor now!)

We’d give her her own room if we had one but right now that would pretty much have to be the kitchen and, last I checked, we need that one.

So, in the interest of giving Charlotte a little space of her own to play and grow, we’re clearing some things out! I’ve just put up several albums and a few travel journals in our shop and they’re all on sale (50% off, to be exact!) – have at it!

Parasol Coptic Stitch Album, White Scrolls & Apple Green Diamond Stitch Album, Purple Chrysanthemum Diamond Stitch Album

And, if you’re at all overwhelmed by the early summer heat like we are, I might suggest reading Mary Oliver’s poignant and cooling seaside observations in “Breakage“.

We spent last weekend visiting family in Iowa, and flew back late Monday afternoon…and turned right around to go to the National Stationery Show at The Javits Center in Manhattan Tuesday morning.

We’re kicking around exhibiting at the show next year and wanted to walk the aisles to see what it’s all about. It was invigorating to see all the other great work being done out there by people an awful lot like us and we so enjoyed scoping things out.

We had a great time, met tons of people and saw great work, including:
• BirdDog Press Allison Bozeman uses her grandmother’s feed sacks as inspiration for her lovely patterns and achieves beautiful geometric yet delicate results!
• Rifle Paper Co. Anna and Nathan Bond sell an unmistakable look. Anna’s illustrations and lettering are nostalgic, stylish, playful, and hip. Think Babar + Maira Kalman + 1956.
• Fugu Fugu Press Ken & Shino’s cards feature their own simple yet bold, smart illustrations. Don’t be fooled by the simplicity, though, they’re often printing multiple colors on each card and getting great overlapping effects!
• Rag & Bone Jason Thompson & Ilira Steinman’s company produces beautifully made books and it was a treat to meet this couple in person. I continue to be inspired by the business they’ve built and the quality of their work.
• Sapling Press Lisa Krowinski’s cards are minimal and brilliantly funny and she was showing a fabulous assortment of clean, smart, text-only designs. Plus, Lisa’s a total joy – what’s not to love?!

There was gobs more great work – check these folks out when you have a chance: Pistachio Press, Albertine Press, Flywheel Press, May Day Studio (Kelly makes fantastic books with her own papers, too!), Fine Day Press, Linda & Harriett, Red Oak Press and lots more that I’m sure I’ll remember as soon as I click “publish” on this post!

I talked with my mom after walking through the show and she was curious to know what we got out of it. It turns out that, as with all the shows she’s done and been to, we walked away with something very similar: a great sense of the current climate of fine, handmade paper goods and where our own work fits in to that spectrum.

I’m proud to say I’m part of an informal community of all of these hard workers and to also say that our work fits right in while remaining totally distinctive from anything else out there.

From Joel Lipman’s “Origins of Poetry”

P.S. There’s also great coverage of the show and heaps of great photos over on Oh So Beautiful Paper!

New journals, just about ready to go out the door to Campbell Steele Gallery and Tokyo Pen Shop!

I’m drawing up a storm these days, tearing paper for album and journal pages from a big new shipment of paper, am about to order plates for new letterpress projects, and I can’t sew up books fast enough.

I’m also keeping track of lots of fellow printers and stationery mavens on Twitter who will be exhibiting at and attending the National Stationery Show this year. I’m making plans to exhibit next year, so will be attending this year’s show to scope out the setup and get a feel for the event!

Let’s just be clear: I was a major Twitter skeptic until relatively recently, but have come to really enjoy the community that’s out there, and have definitely seen concrete benefits for my biz…can’t complain about that!

Next week, I’m looking forward to sharing photos and details about a couple of collaborative projects in the works…one of which is particularly Mother’s Day appropriate. Don’t forget, Mother’s Day is May 9 – that’s just a week from this Sunday!