Saturdays have been good.
The past few weekends have been very good for MLK&toast. Starting on April 21st, for Record Store day and then again for the first Marietta Artists Market (that I have participated in) on April 28th. Last year I did the same two shows and the difference between last year and this year is incredible. I'm not sure if it's my work, that people are willing to spend money again or that letterpress has finally become somewhat known in Marietta, or maybe a bit of all three... but it makes me feel a lot better about being a small bitty business.
Speaking of, yesterday was my 2nd anniversary with my C&P and the start of MLK&toast! Sadly, thanks to a computer crash, I lost a lot of my photos of my pre-cleaned press, but I was smart enough to post a few: Here's the link: Getting There...
After getting it welded, having my dad fabricate a part, hunting down a screw to attach the arm more securely and moving it (as well as myself) from Boston to Georgia, I am finally able to use my C&P. It still has a few kinks that I'm trying to work out- like the rollers either missing the middle of the ink disc or the outside edge depending on how I adjust my rollers. All and all, it's a great little guy and will always be my first little misfit press. I do love it so.
Next Saturday I will not only be turning 26, I will also be selling stuff at the Artists Market in Marietta. I'm hoping for a bright sunny day and a few familiar faces.
- Posted from Marietta, GA
Record Store Day is TOMORROW!
I love Record Store Day. Especially when I get to celebrate it at my favorite local Record Store, Sweet Melissa Records. Last year was super fun, I just can't wait to see what tomorrow brings. This year I decided to make a poster for Sweet Melissa Records, I think it turned out pretty sweet. I only printed 25 of them and will be selling them for $25 each. I got a little smarter and sized them so the paper is 12x15, but the image itself is 11x14, in other words... super easy to frame... after printing all the Vinyl Shine's at 11x15 and kicking myself afterward, I figured it was an intelligent step to print at a more standard size.
Because I don't have any large type, I decided to mock up the name in my lead type and then carve it the size I wanted in Linoleum. I also decided since I had to carve it anyway, might as well have some fun with it- So I decided to carve the letters out instead of the background. I knew I wanted to have the first layer be a record, so this worked out pretty well...
Enjoy Record Store Day!
Ampersand Pancakes
So the other day Chris and I made pancakes, which isn't at all uncommon for us since we love them. But on this day, we decided to have a little more fun with them. The outcome ended up being ampersand, question mark and exclamation mark pancakes. I thought I would share.
- Posted from Marietta, GA
Josef Albers
I've been trying to get better about being in my print shop... either cleaning or printing. Last week I was able to spend some of my time printing up some stationery and making a few postcards. I also decided to make a print using a quote (actually it's a short poem) by Josef Albers.
I'm well aware that everyone is on the quote bandwagon, and I was hesitant to jump on. However, the one thing that I discovered was that by using someone else's words, you can focus more on the design and layout of those words without having to worry about making sense... because hopefully you have picked a quote that makes its own sense. So I decided to give it a shot.
I decided to use a short poem found in the book Poems & Drawings by Josef Albers. They are all brilliant, and if you like Albers' work, it's definitely a book to check out, and usually you can find it at a pretty reasonable price on places like abebooks.com or alibris.com
I'm going to do a few more- but I need to find some quotes that I enjoy, which means I need to start reading more (shucks).
I only printed 10 of these, so if you like um, you can purchase it at The Clean Cut Collective
Christmas in February
One of the last things that I wanted to do before leaving my internship at Hatch was to print the largest ampersand I could find... because really, who doesn't like ampersands? Crazy people... that's who. I was just going to ink it up and make a proof of it, but then someone (I'm pretty sure it was either Jhesi or Bethany) suggested asking Jim if he would print it on his press. I asked and he said yes! The only problem was we didn't really have a lot of time left before I left my internship and headed home. So to make a longer story shorter, Jim printed it for me and today I received that ampersand. It sure is awesome. Now I need to save up my money to get it framed... because it definitely deserves a frame.
Right now it's kind of smack dab in the middle of our bedroom wall, but soon it will be surrounded by other like-colored prints.
Oh, you can also get your own... they aren't listed on Hatch's website yet, but I'm sure you can call... or stop in if you are lucky enough to be in Nashville!
Long Time, I know!
Okay. So obviously I haven't updated this in... forever. But I totally have good reasons. The first being that I was at Hatch Show Print for 2 months. You can read about that at: MLK at Hatch
The other reason is I've been kinda sad since getting back from Hatch (just over a month ago). I mean, I not only met some of the coolest people, but I was basically working my dream job. Leaving that and coming home was pretty depressing. But the show must go on.
So the cool thing is I have my Record Prints up at Cool Beans in Marietta Square. I also still have prints available at Antiques on the Square, combined those two spots are my favorite reasons for living so close to the square, and if you live in Marietta you should frequent both on a regular basis. The other super awesome thing... my old boss and the person I owe the beginning of my adventures into letterpress, Rob Charlton is currently moving Goosefish Press to a larger location and once that move happens, he's going to use a portion of the space as a gallery. I'm stoked that I get to be in the first show!
In even other news, I'm in a funny dilemma. I have prints that I can sell, but I don't have the materials to pack them up if one does sell. I also have cards, but no envelopes and plans for more cards, but alas still no envelopes. Hopefully I will find a solution *cough* money *cough* soon. In the meantime, I'm going to go back to reading from one of my christmas presents... a.k.a. American Wood Type 1828- 1900 a.k.a. Rob Roy Kelly is awesome.
Oh, and because everyone likes pictures, I included a picture one of the (sets of) prints that I need to get packing material for.
Just So You Know...
I'm currently in Nashville interning at Hatch Show Print. You can
follow my awesome journey at:
- Posted from Nashville, TN
Shine on Vinyl Shine!
Well, I finally finished my Vinyl Shine series of prints. It's a little crazy. Before printing these, my largest edition of my own work was a series of 15 large etchings.
These are the final stats:
Total Prints: 252
Total Number of Colors: 21
Total Number of Runs through the Press (not including make-ready): 5,292
Reminder: These were run through my Poco Proof Press... which pretty much means I inked every single one of those 5,292 runs.
I learned a lot doing these, and I really can't wait to start printing my next idea. (which is totally already in the works).
All Kinds of Crazy!
It has definitely been a crazy few days. Today was awesome though. Luke Mitchem played a show at Sweet Melissa Records in honor of my kickstarter. It was a really fun day, and Luke is a great musician. Here are a few pics from today and if you like his music, you should check out my last minute kickstarter reward!
New desk set-up
Well... I've got a new desk set up! My studio/office is very close to being in full working order... I just need to make a large work table... that probably won't happen until June, but since it took me 8 months to get to this, I can totally wait another month.
The best thing about this desk? It was (technically) free! (thanks Ray & Vanessa) I bought new knobs for one of the drawers and cleaned it up a bit, took the mirror attachments off, and I'm good to go.
The awesome little scale is from Rust Belt Threads and the brass "forever" calendar is from a local antique store.
Posters are from Yee Haw Press, Hatch Show Press or made by me... including the hand I used in my kickstarter video... the last thing on the wall (in the frame) is an article Chris' dad, John sent me from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel about Two Rivers, WI (a.k.a. Hamilton Wood Type!).
So this is my new space. I'm pretty excited about how it's turning out, now let's just hope I can keep it organized!
