The gift wrap in Smock is starting to become more popular lately.
Round em up!
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Whimsical Fun At Fugu Fugu Press
With the combined talents of illustrator Shino and hands-on printer Ken, Fugu Fugu Press of Pasadena, California has been buzzing since its debut about four years ago. The printing pair muse over moving stories, churning out vibrantly colored letterpress pieces, and talking shop with us about the things they can’t live without, from great design to irresistible jazz.
LAUNCHING LETTERPRESS Shino went to Art Center in Pasadena for a degree in illustration, and worked as a freelance illustrator for about 13 years before starting Fugu Fugu Press. While freelancing she mostly did editorial illustration for print publications and some website work. Freelancing was a rewarding, if sometimes wild and unpredictable experience. She had the pleasure of working on pieces for Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and Penthouse magazine. She did storyboards for movies and illustrations for a number of children’s books, and a regular column for the LA Weekly. It was interesting and fun to get different assignments and work with various art directors, but she’s very glad to be her own “art director” now with Fugu Fugu Press! Ken is a California State University, Chico grad and has a history of joining bands and roaming around the country playing music. He’s also done a fair amount of playing piano for musical theater productions, church services, teaching music to kids, recitals, and has worked on a number of TV shows and movies as a music editor along the way. He also likes puttering around with old machines. When he and Shino set off to launch Fugu Fugu Press he was very happy that his official job would include motor oil, knob twisting, and getting dirty.
IN THE BEGINNING While freelancing, Shino worked for a couple of friends who owned another letterpress greeting card company. She learned how to print on their C&P and Kluge there. They also encouraged her to design for them, which she did.
PERFECT COLOR IN PASADENA Our print shop is officially in it’s 3rd location so far. When we started looking for presses, we followed up on a Craigslist ad for a printshop in downtown LA that was going out of business and selling its presses and other hardware. We bought a Heidelberg windmill, C&P, a big stone imposing table and Challenge paper cutter from the owner Davy Chao at Olive Leaf Press as soon as we saw them… and then immediately started panicking about where to move them all to!
Luckily, Davy wasn’t in all that big of a hurry to actually close his shop, and we were able to keep the presses right where they were for about 6 months while we looked for another location. This was a very fortunate arrangement as Davy was very helpful with getting Ken up to speed on how to print well on the Heidelberg and C&P. Ken and Davy would often be printing next to each other on separate projects, but it was nice that Davy was always glad to lend a hand…although he wasn’t too sure about the part where you intentionally make an impression while printing!
We did eventually find a place closer to us in Pasadena and made the move. We liked it a lot there in the new location, and stayed there for about 5 years. We did holiday pop-up shops there, and hosted “open studio” weekends where our friends would come and sell what they made. Unfortunately the roof leaked whenever it rained though (sometimes right on the presses or paper), and after a while we started looking to move again. When we bought our house, we did a little garage conversion and moved everything into the garage. People talk about how bad traffic can be in Los Angeles.. but our commute from the kitchen to our printshop is about 30 seconds! It’s great! We’ve talked about maybe opening a workspace kind of shop at a “retail friendly” location at some point, but until then.. things are nice and we’re happy with everything as it is.
PRINTING MENTORS Hiroshi and Karen, the former owners of the company that Shino worked for, taught her how to print. Ken learned with Davy in Davy’s shop before we moved everything to the Pasadena location. Ken was very glad to have Davy there to help him learn the hidden secrets of running a windmill and getting the printing to look good. As far as inspiration, we looked to the beautiful work of Egg Press and Hello Lucky! among others. Great designs and great printing. They were definitely strong influences early on.
CREATE AND PRINT Shino is the main designer. She doodles constantly, and looks at images everywhere for inspiration. She is an illustrator by training, so her designs tend to be more image-oriented, not calligraphy or type heavy. We toss ideas back and forth all the time to help get ideas going, and Ken has done designs for some custom work we’ve done for people.
FULL TIME FUN Fugu Fugu Press is Shino’s full-time job now. It has been for about 4 years now. Ken prints and also has a regular thing playing the piano in the bar in the evenings at the Hotel Bel Air, and plays gigs on the weekends in different spots around Los Angeles with his jazz band friends.
PRINTING FEATS The first time we did the stationery show, and started writing orders. It was back in 2008. Getting ready for that show was a major hurdle. Just getting everything printed in time, and getting everything to New York in time, and getting ourselves there in the time took a lot of preparation and, well.. money. And there was no guarantee that we would get enough new accounts to make it worthwhile. We were very happy to come back home feeling good about having done that show.
PRESS HISTORY A 12×18 C&P and 10×15 Heidelberg.
BOXCAR’S ROLE When we got our presses and got into this business we really felt like there was little to no support group or information to help us along. We heard about Boxcar Press and visited the site regularly. We were so relieved to see that they had answers, and were making bases and plates, and had easy to find .pdf’s of important and hard to find things like the Heidelberg windmill manual and parts list. (We’ve used the parts list to order parts from press dismantlers and vendors.) And we’re glad to see that Boxcar is innovating and helping push the craft forward. We were just talking to a fellow letterpress friend of ours at the most recent stationery show about Boxcar’s new mechanical “flag” guide for the lay gauge bar that aids in getting the sheet to be printed to slide reliably into the correct position for registration without skipping the pin. We have our own method for doing that.. but are secretly really wanting to give that thing a try…
SHOP TIPS Use violin rosin to get some stickiness on your roller tracks and maybe shim your trucks to get “ghosting” under control. Oil your presses. Whatever you do, don’t die cut directly on the platen. Don’t let any pins you might be using on your guides hit your block, form or wooden type. Don’t “force” your press to do anything in doesn’t want to do.
Those little “doorstop” shaped sheet lifters you can get to lift the back of the pile on the feed table can absolutely do wonders along with the air blast in getting “double sheeting” problem under control on a windmill. And speaking of double sheeting, there’s that weird little trick where you reach behind the press and lift that little spring loaded piece that rides in the groove back there, and get your flywheel to temporarily spin… backwards. Great for clearing a jam where your press has double or triple sheeted and has gotten locked up, and you can’t manually advance your way through the jam. Our press tech friend Bob showed us that one the last time he was over to our place, and as far tricks and tips go and… yep…that was a good one to learn. These are some of the things that we’ve found that worked for us, but as with anything, proceed with caution and at your own risk whenever trying anything new!! Let common sense be your guide!!
WHAT’S NEXT We will be doing more split-fountain stuff and die-cutting!
Huge heaping round of kudos out to Ken and Shino for letting us get the skinny on Fugu Fugu Press!
Morphing plate
One of our photopolymer plates catches the light just right to look three dimensional.
We’ve been foiled!
The ends of foil rolls make a lovely pattern of shiny circles with rings.
Vintage Exit Sign
In the midst of Smock paper goods hangs this lovely paper sign. It lives above the door and has been hanging there for countless years in the old converted factory we call home.
Cutting Edge With Keeganmeegan & Co.
Katy Meegan and Keegan Wenkman of Keeganmeegan & Co. have grown a small idea into a large community-empowered printshop over the past six years. The power printing duo houses a love for the yesteryear production model, the smooth whirl of Vandercook, and the inspiring Portland, Oregon resident support . To find out how the vibrant printshop ticks, we rode shotgun with Keegan and it’s been one amazing adventure.
LETTERPRESS BEGINNINGS Keeganmeegan & Co. was founded in 2007. Known for hand-illustrated relief printing, Keeganmeegan has also been recognized for award-winning design and print & packaging solutions for local and global clients.
We live and work in Portland after moving out west from Minneapolis in 2005. Both of us have been printing since our teens — Katy doing Book Arts at MCBA and I did silkscreen most notably at Burlesque Of North America.
Art brought us to print, in order to duplicate our art and be an assistance in our artistic community. We’ve had the shop for 8 years now, and focus on commercial and artistic editions modeled from the job printing shop of yesteryear. We unite illustration and design with printing and die-cutting services all in house.
FOR THE LOVE OF LETTERPRESS Katy worked at MCBA and one day she casually showed me their shop. That was it for me.
BUSY IN THE BEAVER STATE We have a 2,500 square foot shop in SE Portland next to the iconic Burnside Bridge. It’s on the ground floor near the Towne Building and was formerly the warehouse for Blake, Moffitt & Towne Paper Company based out of San Francisco.
We still have the original payroll safe in the shop and we’re coveting seven Vandercook cylinder presses primarily used for art editioning services and experimental projects. The rare 232p, in particular, has one largest print areas of any Vandercook, an absolutely massive 32½ -inch by 30-inch. We also employ 2 Heidelberg windmills and 4 Chandler & Price printing presses for job printing.
PRINTING MENTORS Stumptown Printers mentored us early on, giving us business advice and direction. Midnight Paper Sales was a big inspiration. Also the crew of CC Stern Type Foundry helped with our shop up-keep.
DESIGN + PRINT We are illustrators, designers, print makers, commercial and artistic printers, we are fun loving idiots for art, problem solving, and perfection.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS Old books, pen and paper. If I go online for inspiration I just spin my wheels. I do what people did before computers: think for themselves.
FULL TIME FUN We have supported ourselves for 8 years, each receiving a salary as 50/50 ownership.
PRINTING FEATS We’ve grown a small idea into a large success thus far, through hard work and being kind to people. Hence, our clients are absolutely lovely being that they are makers and thinkers alike. They make us laugh, bring us gifts, and have allowed us to keep this going strong and grow more each year.
Additionally, we’ve been able to work with a lot of artists, touring bands, comedians, and people on the forefront of our current culture.
BOXCAR’S ROLE Boxcar Press makes the biggest poly plates available that I know of. You’ve allowed us to completely max out our Uni III / with 2 13×18 Boxcar based butted up together (take a look).
PRINTING TIPS Ask the right questions to the right people and you can get yourself far in life. It helps to fail a lot too. Otherwise, people always ask me how I cut my linoleum blocks, my answer is black magic and podcasts. Podcasts are a lone printer’s best friend.
WHAT’S NEXT We will just keep going, every day is a new day with new problems to solve and chances to learn. We will also go on vacation, gotta love vacation. We didn’t take one for the first 3 years.
Huge round of thanks out to Keegan over at Keeganmeegan & Co.!
Letterpress, Type, and Bears Eat Berries, Oh My!
There is something that pulls you in when chatting with Laura Wentzel of Bears Eat Berries — it could be the nonstop letterpress itch that started with a printing whim, the minimalistic cool look of her printed pieces, or her zealous determination for ink distribution. We talked with Laura in her studio about the many brilliant moments that define her love of all that is letterpress.
COLORFUL PRINTING VIEW I’m Laura, owner of Bears Eat Berries, a design + letterpress studio in the heart of the southwest in Arizona. When I’m not designing or printing, I prefer to be outdoors in the mountains or sitting by my backyard fireplace in the evenings. I kiss my dog’s head about 50 times a day, I’m crazy about textiles, and I love reading modern Chinese history as well as mountaineering stories.
THE LETTERPRESS ITCH I’m a graphic designer who, a few years ago, was itching to work with my hands a bit more than stare at computers all day. My sister wanted letterpress printed wedding invitations at the time and, though I only abstractly knew the concept of letterpress printing, I just told her, “I’ll do it!.” At that point, I had never touched a press before.
I highly recommend taking a class on printing because I did it the hard way and taught myself. It took countless hours, tears, sweat and blood before I had it down. Crying at 2am because your ink distribution isn’t right and you have no idea why is not fun. But when I finally pulled a perfectly printed piece off the press, I was in love.
BRIGHT IDEAS IN THE COPPER STATE I now print on my 100-year-old Chandler & Price 8×12 floor press of which I am only the third owner! It came with the original motor but a 100-year-old motor is a bit scary. I prefer to use the foot pedal where I have more control.
I live in Arizona so my press is in my garage because it never gets too cold here in the Valley of the Sun. My husband and I just moved into our house a few months ago, so I am still working on setting everything up. But if anyone needs advice on moving a printing press across the country, I’m your gal!
PRINTING MENTORS I am constantly in awe of Studio on Fire. They aren’t afraid (and must have great clients) to use the best quality materials and push the boundaries of letterpress.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS I’m a designer and printer. I went to school for graphic design and even at a young age, I was always drawing and creating. I have a love for visual simplicity, nature and animals. I also love a little twist of humor. I pull inspiration from children’s picture books, Japanese design, and any great use of negative space and clean design.
I start each design by sketching it out on paper. Then I’ll recreate it on the computer. I love the process of designing by hand, manipulating the design digitally, and then turning it back into a tangible object. But it’s not an easy process for me. There’s a lot of erasing, crumpled paper, and ctrl+z going on.
FULL TIME FUN With a very supportive husband, I launched Bears Eat Berries two years ago and it is what I do full-time. In addition to my product line, I do some freelance design work and custom projects.
PRINTING FEATS I am extremely proud that I learned how to letterpress print on my own. Again, it wasn’t the easiest route, in fact, it was one of the hardest things I’ve done. But I surprised myself at how determined and patient I was in the process. It’s that age-old adage of “if you put your mind to it, you can do it” and my business is proof of that. By learning myself, I gained a deep knowledge of techniques and of my own press’s quirks.
It may sound strange, but I’m also extremely proud of each sale. When a stranger buys one of my products it reminds me that there are people out there that share my aesthetic and value independent designers/artisans… and that’s a very rewarding experience.
PRESS HISTORY I was living in Pennsylvania at the time and was on the hunt for a press to start my brave/foolish new adventure into printing. On a random google search I came across Dolce Press, a print shop in New York. The owner was selling her 5×8 Sigwalt tabletop. I drove up one day with my father and picked it up. I then spent the next few months figuring out how to use the darn thing!
BOXCAR’S ROLE Because of Boxcar Press’ professionalism and high quality work, I am always confident in ordering plates and supplies through them and never have to worry about it. They’re also just really nice people to work with. They are flexible and as a small business themselves, they understands the needs of an independent business like mine.
Boxcar also has brilliantly morphed the concept of letterpress printing with their Boxcar Base and polymer plates and allow us designers to design freely and not be constricted by handset type or expensive materials.
SHOP TIPS My advice for letterpress printing is to not be afraid… there’s no one “right way” to print. Today’s printers are applying new techniques to this age-old craft and these new approaches are exciting. Develop a workflow and technique what works for you. It’s the end result that matters. Also, believe in your style. Though it’s always helpful to find design inspiration from others, it’s important to find your own voice.
WHAT’S NEXT Bears Eat Berries is a constantly evolving venture. I’m experimenting with new materials and I’m planning on releasing more limited edition prints and series. You’ll see more than greeting cards from my shop in the coming year. I also love to hear the wants and needs from my customers… so if anyone reading this has an idea they want to see, let’s talk!
Big round of thanks out to Laura for letting us take a sweet look at Bears Eat Berries!
Coasters in progress
A giant slew of coasters have just been letterpressed and are now going to be foil stamped. After that, they will be diecut into circles – the final step before being ready to accommodate a refreshing beverage.
A Taste of the Letterpress Edible Project
Roxy Columbus of Italy’s Pirouette Press has been gathering the seeds of letterpress community to sow a whole new way we printers connect with each other via the extraordinary Letterpress Edible project. The project focuses on bringing together the international printing community via collecting local seeds from printers, delivering them via letterpress packaging, and growing the seeds in different environments/countries.
Come check out the project’s Facebook page for more information on how to get involved!
Handful of Eye Candy
A handful of delicious Smock bar mitzvah cards makes the eye wobble with delight.
