three cheers for pistachio press!

So excited for my friends Rachael and Jake at Pistachio Press! Tonight and tomorrow are the great big grand opening of their brand-new stationery shop (and I'm so pleased to have been able to supply them with may day studio notebooks, notepads, and greeting cartds!).

If you're in the Rochester area, hop on over and give them a big hello from me!

saturday edition: hard at work

So, here I am again: New York City. I had an "is this really my life?" flash this morning, as I was eating brunch in Central Park with the Pistachio Press crew.  The answer: yup.

Shelley from Albertine Press and I finished almost all of the setup for this summer's NYIGF yesterday, but I went back in today to finish a little labeling.

I'm trying out a new setup, color-coordinated this time, and highlighting my 2012 calendars, which I think are super-cool.

mixed-tape monday: taking measurements

I wasn't able to post this photo on Friday--the recipient hadn't yet seen them...but here they are!

Jodi from Paisley Tree Press drove out to Letterpress Things on Saturday to meet me and pick up her new custom binders--she squealed a bit, I won't lie.  They'll be making their debut to the public at Paisley Tree's booth (No. 1665) at the National Stationery Show in May--do stop by and ogle them for yourself!

Today was a lot of catching up--and then a lot of cutting.  This is a stack of 1200+ 135gsm sheets, if you can believe it.  They started out as 25 x 38" parent sheets, and are now 4-1/2 x 6-1/2".  Whew!

finished fridays: new new new!

I'm so excited to share my newest pattern:

(I'm still looking for a name, if anyone has any suggestions....)

I'll be debuting the pattern (and its five colorways) at the NY International Gift Fair, which opens January 30 in New York City. Visit me at booth number #4124 in the Studio Division--I'll be there with the lovely and talented ladies of Albertine Press and Carta Inc.

workbench wednesdays: backwards week

So here we are, in the middle of the first week of the year...and I just can't seem to work fast enough. 

I was on the Vandercook today, printing more programs for Anais Mitchell's Hadestown show (happening next Monday in New York City!).  There's 400 to do this time around--and two ink colors, double-sided.

One color down!

P.S. Less-than-awesome photos today, because I forgot the camera at home and photobooth can only do so much!

finished fridays: off to boston!

Today I was so busy I didn't even get to take pictures!  But two (big!) boxes went out the door, lots + lots more paper was cut, and the car was loaded up for a big weekend!  Join me tomorrow at...

Paper & Chocolate!  Chez Albertine Press, with special guests both papery + chocolatey.

And then on Sunday, come on down to...

Bazaar Bizarre!  It'll be my first year at the BBB, so stop by to say hi and check out the new stuff!

on the bench: making a mess

One of the (good? bad?) things about being awesomely busy is that there's never a chance to clean.  The recycling piles up, and stacks just keep getting shifted around until I find the project I need to work on.

Today I had four projects sharing space on the bench, along with bits of paper, the laptop, three or four rulers--and that's just the beginning.

But the exciting bit is what I actually finished.  Ten new check-holder-books for Kismet, one of my favorite restaurants in Montpelier.  Probably in the world, actually. 

Hand-marbled covers, and lokta endpapers, with coordinating marbled straps for holding your end-of-brunch bill.  Yum.

interlude: feverish

Hello folks.  It seems I've come down with a nasty viral something-or-other, and am going to be sleeping away much of this week.  So, to keep you entertained:

I'm loving Emily's posts over at Sophie & Eleanor.  I met Emily earlier this year, when she came to take one of my workshops in Montpelier.  She writes a very, very pretty blog, and I'm so excited to see the changes as she leaves the corporate world to follow her dreams.

Fellow Montpelierite and bookbinder Elissa at Blue Roof Designs recently tackled the wild world of bookbinding in Japanese.  Read parts one, two, and three here.  It's a lot about miniature books, which is one avenue I've never traveled.  Perhaps soon...

If you're not a fan of Linzie Hunter, you should be.  Take a peek inside her studio, and then read the rest of her blog for handlettered and quirky character goodness.

For more inspiration, check out Sarah Ahearn's new book, Painted Pages.  And then get creating!

I'll hopefully be back healthy and with regular posts next week--there's a lot of work waiting for me!

interlude: my online inspirations

I missed my "on the press" post yesterday because I've been suffering though allergies for the last three days--my afternoons and evenings are mostly lost to killer headaches.

In the meantime, I've been catching up on my blogroll, and have found some really lovely (and inspiring) posts:

Brooklyn Bookbinder aka Maggie's writeup of the Fine Press Book Association's journal Parenthesis (be sure to click on her links--they're beautiful!).

 

Image (c) Ampersand Duck

Ampersand Duck's chronicle of being a printer-in-residence, and having seven (!!) multi-color poetry broadsides (plus the folio) to print on handpress (!!) and on a deadline!

Shelley at Albertine Press did a lovely writeup of our time at NYIGF (I'm really terrible at remembering to take pictures!): look at part one here, a little bit of our daily walk here, and the ever-adorable Sadie's adventures through the Javits.

Image (c) Albertine Press

Did I mention that May Day Studio has a little feature in a new book about letterpress?  Shelley took some lovely photos here.  Reinventing Letterpress (released in the US as Little Book of Letterpress) is filled with studios small and large, many of whom I'm totally crushing on right now.  Many thanks to Charlotte Rivers for inviting me to participate!  Charlotte writes the incredibly stylish blog Lottie Loves...which should be added to your blogroll asap!

finished: saturday morning edition

I took a little break Friday afternoon, after shipping out orders to four new stores (Paul Smith! Perch! Jacqueline Bed & Bath! and Just Paper & Tea!), and stopped by the Drawing Board to check out my display.  Liz put this together a week ago, and I just haven't been able to make it downtown during business hours.  So here it is!

Thanks to Liz, and all the amazing ladies & gents at the Drawing Board for the awesome display!

finished friday: late night

Why yes, it is 10:30 on a Friday night.  I'm actually home early (for once this week)!

I've spent a lot of time on the Vandercook this week--first, three runs x 200+ sheets for Anais's Hadestown programs.

And tonight, three hours on the press for the last batch (for a little while) of charcoal grey for decorative sheets. 

P.S. I saw the October issue of Martha Stewart Living at the grocery checkout, and squealed like a little girl.  Go out and get one!

on the bench: multitasking

One of the greatest joys curses challenges of being a small business owner is having each day be completely new, and completely unplannable.  Yesterday I had to step away from May Day Studio for a few hours, to train for a few additional responsibilities at the Savoy (for when my dear friends Eric and Megan are on maternity leave!), and didn't get to all the bookbinding that I needed to finish up.

But some of it did get done--the Bingo Books, at least, are ready for next week's shipment.

And I had to squeeze in a last-minute reprint of Hadestown programs for my friend Anais Mitchell. 

Here's the first color down--two more press runs to go!

finished fridays: september 10

I'm not feeling super accomplished this week (I spent a lot of time on the computer, which doesn't feel like "work" to me), but taking photos and updating the blog does make it seem like things happened.

I cut down piles of paper for notepads--these are trimmed and waiting to be glued.

Yim actually printed these for me--it was her first real crash course on the Vandercook--three colors in under three hours.  She was very patient while I mixed a slightly darker yellow ink, fiddled with the underlays and slipsheets, and reminded her over and over again that precision and perfect prints are way more important than printing quickly.

These postcards were my "fun" time for the week.  They're my submission to the latest Ladies of Letterpress swap, a collection of "Hello from...." postcards.

finished: one week at a time

It's been such a busy week.  I haven't stopped since getting back from New York (and tonight, I'm really feeling the drag).

This week I finished three wholesale orders--to three stores that I'm so excited to be a part of: Urban Mercantile, in San Francisco, Papel New York in Brooklyn, and The Drawing Board right here in Montpelier.  I did a little photo shoot with the Drawing Board's goodies before I dropped off the box with Jodi, Liz, and Jen. 

Don't you just love the way pages drape and curve?  They're so sturdy and practical, and yet are so light.

Also this week: I've been thinking about this packaging for six months--no, seriously.  My decorative papers, stitched on the sewing machine into pretty little packages for card sets.

finished fridays

Part three of the new blog goals: Finished Fridays!

Every Friday, I'd like to show off a little something that I finished during the week. This week, a lot of stuff is still in progress, but I did complete one wholesale order, and dropped it off at the chocolate factory(!) Friday. Thanks to Nutty Steph's for falling for my Quirky Love cards!

keeping busy

I'll be in New York this weekend for the New York International Gift Fair.  I'll be sharing a booth on Pier 92 with good friends Albertine Press and Carta, Inc.  Stop by the piers to say hi!

here we are again!

Meet me in Brooklyn, tomorrow!  I'll be sharing a booth with Albertine Press again this year--let's hope the rain holds off a few more days.

so much, so fast: story in pictures

Being a printer (and my own boss) has its ups and downs: I sometimes go two weeks without a day off, but I get to make pretty, pretty things that will make people gloriously happy.  Or in this case, make a birthday surprise that much more surprising.  

 
That's Saul, my apprentice for the month, working on the big beast.

 Going into the press for the third time!

Getting the second pass through the gocco!

Registering for the second color!

Lovely!

Just waiting for assembly!

Those are CD sleeves for my dear friend and local rock star Sara Grace.  It was her birthday a last week, and her partner (as a surprise) had the singles from Sara's album-in-process professionally pressed, and designs finalized by Bridget at Brand New Key, and finally printed letterpress and gocco at May Day Studio.  Sara also got a three-week, all-expenses paid trip to Amsterdam, with three shows booked in advance.   All this came together in less than ten days...and we're all thrilled (and exhausted)!

so here we are at the beginning...

...of something completely new and promising.  I'm so excited about the things to come (and things to do! and things to share!) this year.  Thanks for being along for the ride.

I wish you all the best and brightest of new years.  Cheers!

anniversaries, and taking the time

Do you ever have those days when you really, really need to get something done?  And instead of going the easy way, you end up spending three hours fitting together tiny pieces of metal together?
That was my yesterday.  And I am totally and completely in love with the results--the way all of the border pieces work together, the pale mint green ink, the size and weight of the lines--but it pushed back the Fort Can advertising posters another day.
You see, it's been just over a year since I called up a couple of artist friends, and talked them in to sharing studio space with me and my printing presses.  So we're having a party!
It's also the first time that I'll be showing in the gallery--it's a really big deal, and I have a series of prints in mind for the show. They're still in my head, so I'd better get back to work!