ready, set, go: totally off topic

Not that I have a topic, per se, but I generally try to stick to work stuff. But lately I've been doing too much "work" {here's the short list: printing wedding invitations, co-managing a venue for the Green Mountain Film Festival, making amazing lattes, waiting on your table, making bingo journals, teaching workshops here and there, driving to and from here and there, putting bids on more print jobs, losing my mind in the projection booth at the savoy, designing business cards and cd cases for him, designing baby shower invites for her, and definitely not doing my laundry} and not enough fun stuff.

Fun times chez moi:

all refrigerator photos c/o noonebelongsheremorethanyou.com

Reading No one belongs here more than you. {Two words: brilliant and devastating. If you don't know about Miranda July, where the heck have you been? Go here now!}

Listening to my favorite song three times in two days. It's that good, really. And I just found the r.e.m. + David Letterman video on youtube, and it's here for your viewing pleasure. Also, r.e.m.'s new single is totally stuck in my head: supernatural superserious is my theme song for the week. And it can be stuck in yours, too.

{As a side note, I've been crushing out on r.e.m. and michael stipe for eighteen years now. That's longer than I've known almost anyone else in my entire life. And it makes me feel really, really old, instead of just thirty-ish.}

approaching the dam

(crossing the winooski river 2.17.08)

I cross this river almost every day. Today, as things and thoughts were slowly swirling around in my mind, I looked down and saw the thaw. It's still *mostly* frozen, and nothing's going over the dam, but there's a little bit of river peeking through.

I have so much to tell you about the last two weeks, but it will all have to wait for the dam to thaw. Until then, I've been getting my fill of other folks' blogs (eva's icons, the short livingroom, hot off the press) and you should too.

À bientôt.

paper + snow

It's been a dreary few days here in Vermont. Good for staying in and drinking lots of sweet coffee...but not so good for working. After digging my car out (eight inches of snow + ice = an hour + a half of early morning exercise), my morning task was to take pictures of recent work--I don't have a light tent, so I work au natural--but the serious grayness outside was not proving very conducive to product shots.

Here they are anyway...two new quirky love cards:

I Spy Valentine Card, available soon in my etsy shop

Head Over Heels Valentine Card, available now in my etsy shop

and a treatise on the consequences of impatience (and improper makeready):

Hold Yer Horses Broadside, available soon in my etsy shop

In truth, the broadside was a teaching exercise for my Broadsides for Beginners students this past Saturday. It's meant to be imperfect, so that I can show them how to make it right (amongst other things they'll learn that day). I printed off 5 or 6 of these, and 5 will be up for sale in my etsy shop shortly.

And now for one last look:

spectacular icicles, aka the view from my kitchen window 2/3/08
(that one on the right is over three feet long!)

P.S. Come visit me this weekend at the second annual V-day spectacular Paper + Chocolate, hosted by Albertine Press and Taza Chocolate. It's an open studio, chocolate-tasting, paper-hoarding (and selling!), meet and greet all wrapped up in a sweet v-day surprise. It all happens this Saturday, February 9, from 1-6pm in Somerville, MA. See you there!

looking ahead...

I know it sounds a little cuckoo, but I can't help but be afraid of March. This year, I'll be projecting films for the Savoy Theater as part of the Green Mountain Film Festival--and as I'm still a novice projectionist, just the thought of messing something up in front of a crowd gives me the shivers.

And then there's the workshops: I've just updated the workshops page on my site to reflect dates that still have openings, as well as to announce a new date for Experience the Letterpress Thing (March 15) and a new workshop: Getting to Know Your Tabletop Press. Only one date (so far), March 8. And here's what it's all about:

A unique, hands-on workshop where participants bring their own tabletop press to work on.

The daylong class begins with a review of the press: its parts, operations, care and maintenance, adjustments, and more. In the afternoon, we make our presses ready to print.

Topics and techniques include setting tympan and packing; ink types, mixing, and inking the press; setting and positioning gauges and grippers; choosing paper; and registering the form. Particular attention will be given to troubleshooting and specific problems previously encountered. If time permits, participants will set type and print.

As always, email me for information, and sign up soon!

il était une fois...

...totally off topic, but I gave myself a haircut yesterday, and was remembering my tragic blonde phase. Ten years ago (just saying that makes me feel old), I was spending my junior year of college abroad in Paris. And decided that there was no time like the present to test out the "blondes have more fun" theory.Yikes! That's me on the left, Kathryn and Tori at the Opéra Garnier in late 1997.

P.S. Turns out, blondes don't really have more fun. They just get hit on a lot more.

quirky love

I'm not a big fan of Valentine's Day. I am, however, a big fan of nice teeth. And so...



















..my Valentine's line was born.

I collect odd printing plates (among many, many other things) of body parts. So far eyes and teeth are where it's at, but I wouldn't turn down hands or feet if you're willing to part with them.

These are just the first two of four planned cards in the "quirky love" line now available in my etsy shop. Cards are 4bar size, folded, and printed in lipstick red ink on crane's lettra, with recycled red envelopes.

Buy 'em quick!

seeing red (and a bit o' green)

I woke up this morning and found this:

(click on the picture to go to the actual treasury--but it's only up for the next 24 hours!)

Hooray for features! Being in an etsy treasury is a little like winning the lottery...you might win (a sale), but then again you might just get nothing. Here's hoping for a sale!

P.S. If you missed the treasury, click here to see the full image.

why is vacation so much work?

Although I tried to take a work "vacation," I ended up thinking more about printing & binding than I have in awhile. In the xmas rush, my modus operandi was "do-do-do-get it done"...and now it seems that I need to think for an entire day (it's now after 5 pm and I'm just getting to the "do" part) before I can make anything happen.

I'm still finalizing my holiday cards (I know! I'm sooo late this year.) and working on a few new cards for sale. In the meantime, to hold you over:I'm a sucker for vintage ribbons. These all came from the Re-store yesterday (grand total: $3.05)...a small lot of vintage satins in white, blue, mint, pink, yellow, and red. Those of you who've bought from my etsy shop know that I package all of my book and cards in kraft paper, tied with pretty vintage ribbons.

My inspiration board. I don't have a whole lot of wallspace in the studio, so everything gets rotated on and off here in a timely manner. Up there now(clockwise from top):

• two playing cards "lady midget" and "c" (found by my friend brad in the wall of his house)
• quote from willy wonka and the chocolate factory that i've been repeating to myself all day: "Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple." Send me butterscotch ripple, stat!
• barn swallow drawing by my friend missa
• poppy postcard received from an email buddy
• majorette postcard...my first project on my press
• "merry" poster done by rik in my holiday letterpress class
• tiny art invitation (not yet done...)
• "dolly salad" line ideas (my not-yet realized ideas for fantastic homegoods made from vintage materials)

Grrr. Back to work.

happiest happier happy

Happy new year!(scene on my fire escape at 1 pm today...had to clear off the 3 or so inches of snow to get this shot!)

It's snowy and wonderful in Montpelier today. I wish you could all be here to see it. I'm sending my best wishes for the new year out into the blogosphere (and the webworld at large)--and directly to you.

I'll be taking a week or so off after the holiday to get my end-of-year business stuff in order, but after that, watch out for:

*new letterpress workshops*
**more blog posts, more of the time**
***fancy new stationery sets***
****an etsy shop full of may day goodness****
*****my original artist's books (available soon!)*****

Cheerio!

riot-grrl crafty style

My housemate Tara just ran out the door, but before she left she titled this photo "riot-grrl crafty style, or sixth-wave feminism makes me cranky." Really, it's just me wanting to show off the gift certificates I made for one lucky lady to receive under the tree this year: a day-long letterpress workshop with me! I used vintage wood type, crane's lettra in ecru (offcuts from another job) and Van Son scarlet red ink. I think it's a little less scarlet and a little more va-va-va-voom lovely. What do you think?

Need a few last-minute gift ideas? Here are a few of my favorite things this year:









(left) Limited Edition (and now on sale!) Hand-marbled, letterpress 2008 Calendar by Albertine Press. Even more beautiful in person. Buy it here.
(right) Prints by Swallowfield. I bought (ahem) a few of these as gifts for the holidays. This is my favorite, but shop for them all here.











(left) Merit Badge sets by Pod Pod Post. For the printers, binders, and zinemakers in your life. (I'm hoping that a set of these will be in my stocking this year...)
(right) Thank You notes--essential for after the holidays. Mara and Anna were, once upon a time, my bosses back in San Francisco. Now they run a little something called Dutch Door Press, where they make many more pretty things than I could list here. Shop here.










(left) One-year subscription to Ker-bloom letterpress zine. It's thoughtful, and funny, and made a few times a year with handset type and offcuts of paper. Totally Brilliant. Check out artnoose's etsy shop here.
(right) Not many of you know this, but I grew up in a little town in San Diego (California) county. A few months ago, several wildfires devastated the area, causing massive evacuations, and resulting in a whole lotta nothing but charred brush for many, many miles. My family's entire town was evacuated. Their home was unharmed, but others weren't so lucky. Many families lost homes, jobs, schools, cars, pets, and hope--all in 72 hours. Click here to choose a charity to donate a few dollars to. Please.

weekend wrap-up: sunday

On Sunday morning I was a tired bunny. I woke up rather early to head down to Somerville, MA, for the Albertine Press Paper & Chocolate Trunk Show. Shelley had mentioned that she expected a fair number of attendees, given the numbers from previous events. What she didn't expect was over 600 (600!) folks clambering for magical hot chocolate from Taza Chocolate and press demonstrations by Shelley herself on the Vandercook. The folks were prompted a bit (I'm sure) by sweet mentions on Daily Candy Boston, decor8, and the Boston Globe online. Here's Shelley taking a rare break from her press duties to pose for the camera.

My table...before the crowds hit.
Shelley's beautiful and decadent 2008 was in high demand...but I received one as a thank you. (Thank you, Shelley!) Below is a closeup of my favorite marble pattern. (Buy the calendar here before they're sold out!)
Angela and I traded: one Bingo Book for one artist's book. I don't know who made out better! My treasure is an accordion book called The Owner of the Bow, illustrated by Guido Scarabottolo. Emily's lovely deer print was behind me on the wall for the greater part of the afternoon...and by the end of the day I knew I needed to take it home with me! Take a peek at her sweet business card, too.

It was such a busy afternoon that I didn't get to take pictures of Angela of Carta, Inc., or Becca's prints and artist books, or Melissa's pocket journals and book-structure-explorations. Everyone was so nice to talk to, and it was a pleasure to be among such talented artists! Read more about paper & chocolate at edizioni and hot off the press.

After Paper & Chocolate, I ran off to Wellesley for a private trunk show at my friend Katie's house. There were only a few other artists there: Carrie and Laurie of Two Trick Pony (my new limited edition two trick print is below), whose prints will be available as part of Design Nearby at the pink comma gallery.Other artists I met at Katie's shinding: photographer Leah Cornwell makes the world look quieter and crisper than it really is. She has several striking collections--check them all out! And designer & goldsmith Ilah Cibis brought a small selection of her artisan jewelry...if I had the money, I would have taken this piece home with me. I also loved these earrings, but there were so many appealing pieces there I couldn't have decided if I tried.

Thanks to all the wonderful folks I met this weekend, and those who bought (or bartered) may day goodess, and to the weather for holding off the snow until Monday. And now I'm back to work!

weekend wrap-up: saturday

Saturday was the Queen City Craft Bazaar in Burlington...and the first of three (yes, three!) craft shows I participated in last weekend. It was a very blustery day out, which may have prevented the foot traffic from getting all the way down to us at the waterfront. The booths all looked fabulous, though. Here's a shot down my aisle on the ground floor. (Check out the new table sign. What do you think?)

















Below are some new displays--for Bingo Books and for the complete holiday card line.

































The best part of any show has to be meeting people. And, of course, scoring cool stuff in trade. Saturday was no exception. I met Victoria, whose husband makes lovely pottery here in Montpelier (if you need a sake set, check his out!), and Sarah, whose recycled and vintage-inspired home linens are right up my alley! (As a sidenote, Sarah's husband Richard is a world-renowned papermaker. He stopped by to check out my wares, and we had a lovely talk about handmade, local, and letterpress. I'm hoping to take a visit to his studio--Langdell Paper--this weekend as part of the open studios in Topsham.)

Mandy makes yummy yummy bath treats in the next town over, and will be carrying a selection of my gift cards in her online shop. Next to me was Loretta, who was showing her collection of drool-worthy and oh-so-functional pottery. Those are my new tumblers below!


















Thanks to Sara and Kacey for organizing the bazaar!

handmade holidays

First, a little bit of sad news: last night I received an email from Sara at Made Boutique in Burlington, letting all of her consignors know that Made will be closing as of December 16. And with the very recent closing of Studio STK, where are the masses going to buy their handmade goodies and gifties?
Well, start in Burlington, VT, this Saturday at the Queen City Craft Bazaar. It's a juried show, so you know everyone there is pro. (I'm not rhyming on purpose, I promise.) Don't forget to stop by my table and say hi!Or if you're down in the Boston area, take a trip to Somerville on Sunday for the Paper & Chocolate open house and trunk show. Shelley at Albertine Press (and her neighbors across the hall, Taza Chocolate) have thrown one or two of these now, and in the spirit of the holidays, they've invited a few friends along for the ride. You won't regret it, I promise.

And if you haven't yet stopped by buyhandmade.org, do so now! Make the declaration, and tell the world why you will only buy handmade gifties this year.


Thanks to Sage and Amanda and Will at STK, and Sara at Made for great conversations and rockstar support. I'm sad to see your cool places vanish, but I wish you all the best of luck in the future!

i'm dreaming of...

...a white holiday season. And it's coming true. Today it's snowing in Montpelier--only an inch or so, but it looks white-white-white outside. But that's not really what I want to blog about...

Last weekend's holiday card workshop was a blast! Rik, Asma, and Jenevieve (my fourth student was stuck in the first snow of the season in Ithaca) totally took my hazy outline of the day and ran with it. But don't listen to me, check out the photos for yourself:

Asma jumped right on to the Vandercook to print the first lockup of her four--that's right, 4--step card. She used the Vandy for her wood type "XMAS" before moving on to the Kelsey to finish up the last three lockups.












In the meantime, Jenevieve got busy with her two-color cards, and found the time to print little gift tags for all of us, too.





Rik said that he was trying to avoid the "holiday-ness" of holiday cards, but I think these are pretty traditional....

Rik also found time to make a wood type exclamation-point sculpture to print on the Vandercook. It was a pretty challenging lockup, but Rik pulled it all together and came up with an awesome little decorative print!

Ah, the happy class. It was a full day's worth of work, but I think these three could have printed for another 8 hours if I'd let them. Thanks for the good work--it was a great first class! Check out the rest of the day's adventures here.

monday monday

How's this for the breakfast of champions, eh? Coffee and kettle stitch.

I'm up a bit later than usual today, having picked up my housemate Tara at the airport at 1 am. So I'm having my coffee and working...and listening to old Prairie Home Companion podcasts. Happy Monday!

P.S. I'l post photos from this weekend's letterpress holiday card workshop later--there are a lot of photos to go through!

week(s) in pictures

I'm finding it hard to keep up with the blogging lately. This is my first "busy season," and while I'm not totally unprepared, I am a bit underprepared. And very nearly out of time.

Here are a few shots from the past few weeks:
That's new friend Emma and old friend Meagan having a private bookbinding class in my studio. Here're the finished products:For Meagan's book, she brought fabric that she'd silkscreened, and Emma chose from my voluminous stash of pretty papers.

Last weekend's "Experience" workshop was a lot of fun! Sina, Jinkyung, Jenn, and Sarah were very laid back, and ready to experience whatever the day had to offer.
Sarah getting up close and personal with the Nolan proof press.Sina experimenting with layout on her prints.
Jinkyung, Sina, and Jenn locking up chase after chase after chase...

I stayed late after class to try to get the Vandercook #4 ready to print for this weekend's workshop: success!!
And while all that was going on, I got my first custom order on etsy--and it was shipping to Australia!
Two Bingo Albums, to hold 100 photos each...they're quite fat little books!

Coming up this week: Holiday Card workshop, printing my line of holiday cards, more prep for the Queen City Craft Bazaar and Paper & Chocolate trunk show, and hopefully not flubbing my first day as film projectionist at the Savoy!