We printed these crazy cool letterpress save the date for our friend Rebecca at The Pink Orange. They feature an ornate 3-color letterpress design on the front and an all over blind deboss pattern on the reverse. Paired with a great 2-color envelope, they’re a little bit funky, a little bit sophisticated and a whole lot awesome.
We’ve been printing a lot of cool letterpress business cards of late, not the least of which is these sweet cards we printed for Blackletter. They feature a great letterpress flood printed in black, offering sharp contrast to the bright white paper and perfectly setting off Blackletter’s simple, typography-loving branding.
We printed these cool letterpress business cards for designer Christina Clugston. The logo is designed with a series of super fine lines, overprinted to give a three-color look to a two-color job. Paired with simple typogprahy, these cards are some of the coolest we’ve seen in a while.
Last Friday night we packed up and headed out for a night of bowling. There were color-coordinated shirts, lots of trash talk, fake mustaches and ample fun to be had for all. With catchy team names like Gutter Down and Split Happens, we brought our finest bowling skills to show up the local competition.
The rumors are true. Carrie – the most senior member of our printing team – can often be found sporting a cape after hours. Perhaps not coincidentally, she can also be spotted hanging out with Cathy, our esteemed platemaking account manager, on a regular basis. Cool people tend to hang out together, we’re told. (Cool people? Super heroes? You be the judge.)
Two newer members of our team, graphic designer Racheal and client coordinator Erica, survive their first Boxcar Press outing! Turns out, Racheal is a rockstar bowler. (Former varsity bowling team rockstar. For real.)
All in all, we enjoyed a rather cheerful night of innocent debauchery complete with one failed Orangemen attempt at beating UConn in OT in the Big East and a darts showdown to end all showdowns. Bowl on!
Elizabeth and Matthew were professional dancers in New York when good ol’ letterpress twirled into their lives. These days, after numerous hours in their Boulder, Colorado studio Sweet Letter Press, they do find time to dance together in their kitchen. We’ve got a lot of love for husband and wife teams. A lot of love surrounds this duo – to each other and to their work.
How did you two first get into letterpress?
Matthew and I got into the stationery business when we decided to make our own invitations for our wedding in October 2006. Since I was a designer and he was an illustrator, we ï¬gured we could do a good job ourselves. When it came time to decide how the invitations should be printed, we fell in love with letterpress printing while looking at samples at Village Invites in Midtown NYC. It was a little out of our budget, but we remained very attracted to this form of printing long after the wedding. When we moved to Colorado, we decided to learn about letterpress and found a couple of generous older printers who offered to share their knowledge. On one of their presses, we printed our ï¬rst professional wedding job for a very satisï¬ed client in February 2008, and then we acquired our own studio and press in the summer of 2008.
What was your very first press?
Our very first press was a table top Craftsman. It only took 1 or 2 uses before we decided it was by no means enough and we promptly got it on Briarpress. Our first “real” press, which is still our current workhorse, is a C&P Old Style, 10×15.
What medium do you usually print (lead/wood type, photopolymer, lino, etc.)?
Photopolymer with the Boxcar base system.
What’s your process from sketch to press?
Usually new ideas come to us over morning coffee. We discuss a concept and then Matthew gets to work drawing ideas. Once we have all the original pieces we need, I scan his pencil drawings, convert them to vector art and put together the completed design in Illustrator. We then send the files off to Boxcar where they are magically converted into plates.
What other print shops do you admire?
We admire the work of Bella Figura* for their beautifully classic designs and impeccable printing. On the more whimsical side, we love Old School Stationers and Maginating Letterpress and Design. And of course, Studio on Fire for always pushing the envelope with printing techniques and styles. Their blog is always a great source of inspiration.
Who or what inspires you the most?
We find a lot of inspiration in nature – Colorado is full of amazing wild flowers, trees, mountains etc. Also vintage poster art, textiles and photography. Fabulous design in any medium.
What are your favorite things/items from Boxcar Press?
Love that they recycle plates!
Any neat tricks you can share?
Using the Boxcar system, many a typo can be fixed with a scalpel and a loop.
What are you looking forward to?
We are working to premiere a new line this May which should be fun. Also, we’ve taken on our biggest project yet that has us pretty ecstatic – a baby due this summer! Can’t wait to design the birth announcements!
What was the experience like for you at NSS last year?
NSS is a lot of work. 2010 was no exception, but we met a lot of great people and picked up some new stores.
For more from Sweet Letter Press, visit their etsy shop and check out more photos on flickr. Congratulations on the little one, Elizabeth and Matthew! No doubt the baby announcements will be fantastic.
{Photos by Sullivan Studios.}
*Bella Figura is a part of Boxcar Press.
Last week, we were honored to have famed letterpress printer Amos Kennedy pay us a visit. In town for Amos Kennedy Prints, a special exhibition at the Community Folk Art Center at Syracuse University, Amos shared with us his love for old wood type and snapped lots of photos of our newly expanded print shop. (Also, it should be noted that Amos is one of the funniest guys we’ve ever met and had us cracking up the whole time he was here.)
(Umm…we may or may not have been really excited to have Amos drop by for a while.)
Of course, it was only fitting for a Boxcar contingency to go visit Amos in action on the opening day of the exhibit where his passion for wood type, bold color and political innuendo took center stage. As a sponsor of the exhibition, one of our old Vandercooks stands proud and at the ready now through April 4. More details can be found at the Community Folk Art Center’s website. If you’re in the Syracuse area, don’t miss the chance to take part in this special event. Thanks for stopping by, Amos!
Title: PMS 190U
Photographer: Cyd, letterpress marketer
Medium: iPhone
@ Boxcar since: 2009
Long live letterpress, Kim Namjoon, and learning. -RAM
Can we use the word impressed without the pun? Because the woman behind Satsuma Press impresses us to no end. Lynn Russell is not only a self-taught designer, but runs her letterpress shop full time all the while being a wife and mother to Liam, a child with neuromuscular disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 2. This lady has her hands full but was kind enough to let us dip into her life and learn more about her one-woman operation.
WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BECOME AN ARTIST? HOW DID YOU FIRST GET INTO LETTERPRESS?
I took my first letterpress class nine years ago and it was love at first sight. I didn’t set out to become an artist; in fact, I hadn’t taken any sort of art class at all since high school. For me, letterpress was simply the right fit. Letterpress printing is hands on work that requires an eye for detail and design.
WHAT WAS YOUR VERY FIRST PRESS?
A Vandercook SP-15, which I still have, in addition to a Heidelberg Windmill. The Vandercook is my trusty, slow paced machine; the Heidelberg is a tempermental beast (but when it’s happy, it is amazing.)
WHAT MEDIUM DO YOU USUALLY PRINT?
Photopolymer (from Boxcar)
WHAT’S YOUR PROCESS FROM SKETCH TO PRESS?
I find inspiration from so many things – botanical drawings and vintage textiles in particular. I sketch everything in Illustrator now, but it often takes several rounds of revisions before I feel that a drawing is ready for press. With Illustrator, it’s fairly easy to make small adjustments to lines and shapes (although probably not as easy as it could be as I have no formal training in graphic design or any of the computer programs that go with that!) It’s also easy to play around with color choices – though sometimes I change my mind about this right when I go to press.
WHAT OTHER PRINT SHOPS DO YOU ADMIRE?
In no particular order –
I love Julie’s work – beautiful drawings, lush paper, rich colors. Studio Olivine
I am consistently blown away by the registration and attention to detail over at Studio on Fire.
I love the simple, peaceful work Rebecca does at Moontree.
Not letterpress but xylene transfers…stunning graphics, amazing prints. Beauchamping
WHO OR WHAT INSPIRES YOU THE MOST?
I’m inspired most by people who do what they love – the very best way they can, with integrity. There are several people/studios that embody this philosophy with all sort of mediums. I admire them all immensely.
Heath Ceramics
Moop
Herriott Grace
Modaspia
Skinny laMinx
Bookhou
EmersonMade
HOW HAS LIAM INFLUENCED YOUR WORK?
Soon after I bought my first press, I found I was pregnant with my son, Liam. I worked only sporadically then – and even less so from the time Liam was diagnosed with a neuromuscular disorder called Spinal Muscular Atrophy (SMA) Type 2 at 14 months until he was two and a half. (Read more at Liam’s blog.) After that, though, I slowly returned to my small studio. In that space, I found both solace and inspiration. I learned as I went along – making mistakes often, yet loving the process. Years later, I still make mistakes, learn from them and love printing. While my work has evolved over the years, I have stayed true to my original aesthetic – good, simple design that is pleasing to the eye and mind; refreshing color and lush paper; plenty of open space and quiet, graceful beauty.
Satsuma Press is still just me (and my 2 printing presses) – and I like it this way. I still design and print everything by myself, although I collaborate with other artists around the world on occasion. I still answer every email and pack every order. My husband helps out from time to time, but mostly I spend my days in the studio alone. Some days I work just a few hours, some days I work fourteen hours. I keep my schedule somewhat flexible for all the things that may come up for my family. Through it all, my intent remains the same – small-scale, honest work done well.
WHAT DO YOU LIKE ABOUT WORKING WITH BOXCAR?
Well, not a thing or an item, but Cathy at Boxcar has provided endless amounts of help to me, from the time when I was just getting started and even now. It’s really nice to have a small company to work with over the years. Also, the Boxcar Base is pretty nifty and I have one for each of my presses.
ANY NEAT TRICKS YOU CAN SHARE?
No, not really a tricks kind of person…but two things I can share, that I’ve learned over the years – and which I need to be reminded of more often than I’d like to admit are these:
Don’t print late at night. This seems unavoidable sometimes (for me this is usually in early fall when I’m trying to get my calendar printed), but more often than not, I make mistakes that I’m too tired to catch at the time. Do I still print at night? Yes, on occasion, but I try to make it something simple, like printing my logo on the back of each card.
If a client doesn’t seem like a good fit at the start, s/he probably isn’t. It’s better to face this up front and at the beginning, rather than further down the line when it causes more difficulty for everyone.
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO?
I do have new projects that I’m excited about! I actually just did my first jewelry collaboration on a lovely little necklace.
Be sure to check out Satsuma Press’s shop. It’s never too late to order some 2011 calendars! (Especially when they’ve been designed and printed with love.)
We recently contributed pro bono printing to a really great cause supporting the nearby Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary. Designed by our good friend Tara Hogan of Ink + Wit, we were honored to be a part of this great collaboration.
Tara shares, “I first met Jenny Brown, founder of Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary in 2008 at the Bust Holiday Craftacular in Manhattan. Anyone that knows Jenny will tell you she loves herself some craft fairs! Jenny stopped by my booth not knowing that I was devoted to yoga nor did I know she was a yogi herself and animal lover. But, we quickly clicked and found out we share the same interests. I had been thinking about working with a farm sanctuary for a while to help raise money for the animals. At that time, Jenny and the farm had a goal to build a separate medical facility to operate and treat the animals. They had been working in very small quarters for some time.
I came up with an idea to design a limited edition letterpress print for them. Printed by Pistachio Press, 50 prints were given to the farm for full profit and the rest sold by INK+WIT with 5% donated to the farm. WFAS also made the design into an organic cotton t-shirt with 100% profit donated.
WFAS has since built their medical facility made possible by the donations of many giving people. They continue to support the animals and hold various event with artists like Moby, Chrissie Hynd, and many more. They hold jamborees and wonderful opportunities to visit and help out on the farm. They have my heart and then some. Recently, I was asked by Jenny to take the existing print and shirt design and create a letterpress folded note card they could mail to their donors. Boxcar Press generously donated their time and energy to print the card and they turned out beautiful. Thank you Boxcar for helping a very great cause so close to my heart!”
Thank you, Tara, for allowing us to be a part of this great project. We admire everything Woodstock Farm Animal Sanctuary is doing and are happy to do our part to help out!
As we planned our recent open studio event we commissioned a piece of original artwork from the Boxcar Toddler to be printed on letterpress coasters for our visitors. The result? Pure brilliance. But don’t take our word for it, take a look for yourself – the floor plan of our new print shop according to the Boxcar Toddler:
