Sketches transformed

We are lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful and talented friends! Our friends Dan and Anna contacted us about creating some personal cards that really reflected their personality and their new home in San Francisco. Dan is an architect and Anna is a law student out in Berkeley. They have an amazing view of the bay and the city from their living room window. Dan drew a sketch of this amazing view and sent it to us to convert into completely unique letterpress cards just for them.

We chose to use the long #10 cards in lieu of a traditional folded card in order to further emphasize the panoramic view. Now Dan and Anna can write on the back of these San Francisco Bay cards and have a hand drawn and hand written note to send to all of their friends!

Local resources + classes

Letterpress is such a wonderful art and we are so excited it’s seen a revival in the past 10 years. We’ve blogged about  a great online resource for letterpress enthusiasts–Briarpress.org, but we think the best way to learn is by interacting face-to-face and getting some hands-on experience.

I fell in love with letterpress and all things typography a little over two years ago after I took an “Intro to Letterpress” class at a local community studio through the Virginia Art of the Book in Charlottesville. I was able to spend a Saturday afternoon designing a card, setting type, locking up a chase, creating a makeready, and finally printing a small run of my greeting cards.

It was such a great experience for me to be introduced to typography and letterpress from teachers that have been life long printers and experts in the field. I was able to learn so much from that one afternoon and started to really appreciate the printed word and all of the love and labor that goes into the art. It’s very different to be able to set lead type than it is to make a few font/size changes in the computer.

We want to encourage anyone who is interested to find your own local resources. This could mean contacting a local print shop, a community studio, or the art department at a local college or university.

Below is the first letterpress card that I ever designed and made two years ago at the VABC. I used Korbel and Copperplate lead fonts and printed them on a Vandercook Universal I proof press. Thank you, VABC, for introducing me to such a rewarding and wonderful art!

It’s a yellow kind of day

We ran a few thank you cards yesterday with the extra yellow ink from our school of fish press. We love this mix of yellow that we call sunshine. It’s the perfect balance of brightness and gentleness that will truly bring a smile to your face. The thank you cards are simple and elegant where you can express your gratitude with a personal note inside.

School of fish

We attended a wedding this fall with a fly-fishing theme that incorporated all of the beautiful feathers, textures, and lines that are associated with the sport. Those details inspired these cards featuring a school of fish – with one refusing to follow to crowd.

These are perfect to send when you just want to say hello or tell your friends that they are really special.

 

XOXO

Valentine’s Day is right around the corner and the studio is filled with so many different V-Day cards. One of our favorites so far is just as simple as XOXO. It’s not fancy, there are no frills–it’s just a simple statement with two little letters.

Italy sketches part 2

We loved how the Venice cards came out back in December and wanted to create a whole series of cards from travel sketches. These are all of my personal drawings from a trip in 2010 to the Veneto in Italy.

The first drawing is of a narrow set of stairs wedged between two buildings in Vicenza. This is a pretty normative condition in the area where the city grew organically. The second is of a church campanile on the island of Burano in the Venetian Lagoon. The tower leans so far forward and it can be seen from almost any point on the small island. Burano is know for it’s colorful houses which helped the fisherman identify their street from the canals, but it is also home to the other iconic tower of Italy.

Be Mine

Do you remember making Valentine’s Day cards in elementary school with doilies and red construction paper? We wanted to capture those nostalgic memories with a contemporary spin. You’ll see our version of a doily postcard that’s perfect to send to your valentine. Because the doily is the negative, it actually feels raised as if we actually glued a paper doily on top of the postcard.

F is for …

After hours of calibrating the new press, we finally have it up and running! These fox cards are the first run with the new press and we are so excited.

We have wanted to do a series of alphabet cards and this is our very first version. It’s fun to imagine what kids might say with this card–‘F is for Fox’ or ‘F is for Fur’ or ‘F is for Four Feet.’ We intentionally left it up to interpretation and love the look and feel of these. We can’t wait to start designing more letters!

Letterpress exhibit

We went to the Library of Virginia in Richmond yesterday to see a Smithsonian traveling exhibit about letterpress from Hatch Show Prints. It was really amazing to see how one letterpress shop adapted to changing technologies and media.

The Nashville, TN shop has been designing and printing posters for movies, music and much more since about 1890. All images and text were carved from wood blocks, a part of the craft that has inspired us to (one day!) try some wood block prints.

If you are in the area, head down to the library and check out the show – it closes February 4!

Cultivate workshop

We’ve been working with Flaire Weddings & Events as a sponsor for a wedding vendor workshop in Florida. The Cultivate Workshop will be held this weekend with their agenda, menu and welcome gift tags made by StudioTEN15. The suite is tied together with a common design element: the debossed block pattern gives an embossed quality to the text. We had a wonderful time working with Flaire and look forward to hearing feedback from the workshop!