Letterpress Party

Just distributed a bunch of these flyers all around Portland, and I didn't even mind doing it because I think this is actually going to be a great party. Also these flyers are hand-letterpressed and look super sweet.

Anyhow - I doubt this blog post is actually going to function as any kind of advertisement, but, you know, anyone who's in Portland and free on Saturday night should definitely come and check this out. As an Emspace member, I am going to be there, enjoying myself and doing a bad job of networking.

Grr. Argh.

Some new sketches from my usual carry-around sketchbook. I've been having fun with colours lately, which is good for me since sometimes I end up working only in black and white (both valid lifestyle choices, of course). Some pattern stuff, too, or at least little non-representational designs.

I have also been drawing a lot of these crazy little manic faces. I can't stop myself. It's like a compulsion. I just love drawing spiky teeth and weird expressions. It is also important that they be floating in the sky like UFOs, or hiding in trees or whatever. They are definitely always looking at you.

Venezia

So I am in Europe for a while, mainly in the UK, but last week I got lucky enough to spend five days in Venice. It was beautiful! I kept a travel journal while I was there, keeping track of what we got up to, and making a few sketches when I had time. (I also took squillions of pictures.) Here are a few pretty rubbish sketches, ah well.

Weddings!!

I've been asked to make the save-the-date cards and invitations for the wedding of two very good friends of mine, so I've been doing a bit of research on what kind of wedding stuff is out there. After spending hours and hours looking through invitations and so on produced by all kinds of fancy letterpress and design places, I have come to this conclusion: most of it is rubbish. I saw too many unimaginative scroll designs, too much terrible calligraphy, and a lot of pretentious cutesy little details.

I think I had better just come up with something true to what I can print well and what I'd like to make, and something that would suit the lovely couple. Having said that I found a few things that I liked the look of, or used a design element that I would quite like to employ. I'm going to post some of those here.

This is Foreshadow Press. I sort of like the the curved corners of the cards, the bright colours, and the white text and design on the white background.

This is Foreshadow Press also. That pale orange on cream is not bad.

This is Wk Studio. Not a wedding invite, obviously.

Ha! Also not a wedding invite. Give this to a friend on their birthday if you want them to feel vaguely icky. WK Studio. I like the strong text over the paler but still legible image printed under.

This was the most hipsterish wedding ever, but I kind of love the invite. I am not too keen on san serif fonts for this purpose, though. This is Wiley Valentine, featured on Once Wed.

I agree, silkscreen and letterpress would be great together! Or a linocut and letterpress, alternatively. The slightly less regimented line of the hand-drawn/cut image vs. letterpress for a cleaner feel, retaining some personality. Special = a promising new thing starting up in Portland.

I can't really remember why I put this one in. I guess because he was from New York and she was from Toronto and they lived in London, or something, so the design included a famous building from each. Kind of cute. This is just too much stuff they are sending out, though. Pantry Press.

I include this one because I like the torn edges. I think it would be quite neat to hand-tear all the edges, although that would preclude using cardstock - probably a cream Rives BFK would look nice, and of course be great for a linocut image. Oblation Press, a shop based in Portland.

Put a bird on it! But this has three colours, which I think would be quite nice; I'd like to do two colours on the design, and a different coloured envelope. Oh, this also has a tree - an awful lot of invitations have a tree on them. By Kyle Van Horn.

This has the paler blue under the text and another image, which is quite nice. Plus a nice serif font, and something a bit personal to the couple (rather than a tree or some squiggles). Keegan Meegan, based in Portland. These guys are awesome, I have one of their prints.

I love the two colours here. This is Julia Rothman for her own wedding, she's a pretty cool illustrator and pattern designer.

Kinda cute. I guess the couple met in elementary school, so it's a school theme. Hammerpress, Remington design.

This is Hammerpress too. Usually I wouldn't be keen on this sort of thing, but being Hammerpress it's very well done.

This one's from Dutch Door Press. Kinda love those colours - the pale gold and the teal. Another thing I like: when there's a two colour design, and the names are picked out in a different colour from the rest of the text. Subtle, but underlines the important bit of the invite.

I am a sucker for that colourful butcher's twine stuff. I know it is very fashionable crafty right now, but it still looks cool. Printing on brown card is another thing I like to do - a screenprint of a lighter colour on brown can be pretty sweet. This is Little Miss Press, from a feature on Design Sponge.

Kinda cute, thinking outside the box a little bit. A wedding in a greenhouse, via Design Sponge again.

Not sure what I put this one in for. Caitlin Harris.

Yellow Owl. Very nice woodcut stuff, and nice use of white.

Yellow Owl. This one is hand-coloured, which is something I could do. I know it might seem like hand-colouring 100 cards is a daft thing to do, but that's the kind of thing I enjoy as an artist.

Yellow Owl. This one has a hand-printed look to it, which again is an option for me. That might be an even dafter thing to do, though.

It folds out! So fancy. Brown envelopes are an idea, too. Yellow Owl.

A good job with hand-lettering, here. And yeah, a good use of the two colours, with white effectively acting as their third colour. I guess this couple really like their dog. Yellow Owl.

This invite was printed on vintage hankies, so each one is unique! Pretty fun idea. Bird and Banner.

Nice use of hand lettering, but imagine it not on blue - it might look a bit rubbish. So a good use of colour. Bird and Banner.

Nice idea, with the sewing. Bird and Banner.

See here's what I mean about the names being picked out in a colour from the accompanying design. Not really so keen on fuchsia and grass green together, but there you go. This is by 9 Spot Monk.

I like this one because it's a simple, nice, straight to the point save-the-date card. Nothing pretentious. 9 Spot Monk.

One last thing: the place I intern at sometimes, EMprint Press, has a really nice portfolio of wedding invites.

Cities and Signs

I'm calling this one Continuous Cities. Four-colour screenprint, 2011.

The image size is about 10 by 13", the paper size is 15 by 22". The title is, of course, yet another reference to Italo Calvino's Invisible Cities. (My fave!) I am pretty damn happy with how it turned out. I think it helped that I gave myself plenty of time to think about the colours I used - colour is not my strong suit, so I wanted to take some care and try to follow through with exactly the feel I wanted for the piece.



I nicked some paint sample cards from the hardware store to give me an idea of the colour scheme I wanted. In case anyone is curious, what we have here is Mellow Bouquet, Raven's Rage and Faded Jeans.


Then I worked up some samples using the screenprinting inks, which can be a bit tricky to work with. Producing some small amounts gave me an idea of the colours and ratios I needed to use, before I produced the larger amounts I'd need to print with - otherwise I might bugger it up and waste a lot of ink. Colour-mixing is not a strength of mine; I tend to get impatient, add too much of a colour and end up with some unpleasant vomity brown. Or pink. I hate pink, I always accidentally end up with pink.


Here is the print with the three block colours all done, missing only the final key colour with the line work. I actually rather liked it just like this. If I had more of the Arches 88 printmaking paper I was working on, I may have left a couple unfinished like this. Instead I took a picture.

The registration was a little tricky, but I'd given myself some minute leeway with the lines and block colours where they overlapped, so working from light colours to dark it all lined up pretty well.


Another one with just the dark red, grey and gold-yellow. A little dark.

Oh, so I didn't include a key colour- for the lines and details of the buildings - in my original colour scheme. I was going to be lazy and just use black, but that wouldn't have worked. Instead I used a dark grey which used the blue grey above as a base. I kept it pretty warm so it would go with the red/grey/gold.


And here is the final product again. I think it looks a little better in real life, since this scan turned out a bit drab. The colours really pop, which I feel like is a nice property of screenprints.

Oregon Trail Shenanigans

A poster for this new movie Meek's Cutoff, a Western kind of thing starring Michelle Williams.



I don't know if I'd like the film but I flippin' love this poster.

Mountaineeress

Another vintage postcard from Daddy-O.


She's pretty hardy-looking, ha? Even though those are fake mountains. All dressed up, and nowhere to go but some 2D mountains. Dad has been clued into the fact that he is Susie's-blog-famous, as you can see.



It sez:

K...a models the latest Gor-tex hiking range in preparation for her next ascent of Mt. Shasta. (Thinks: 'Will this get me into Susie's blog?')

Yes Dad, it will.

So Long, Frank Lloyd Wright

A few photos of Gordon House, which is just outside Silver Falls, Oregon. (Is it Silver Falls, or Silver something else? This was a few weeks ago now, it's difficult for me to remember.) Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, it's one of his 'Usonian' houses, (as in US-onian, all-American) which are supposed to be affordable, versatile houses for middle-class everypeople. (Of course, Gordon House turned out to be massively expensive.) This is the only Frank Lloyd Wright-designed house in Oregon, so I really wanted to see it; my delightful gf was kind enough to drive us there.

I thought it was very interesting to look around; lots of thoughtful details and eccentric touches. Some of Wright's ideas didn't turn out to be that practical. Overall I really liked it, though. Looks delightfully retro futuristic, and pleasing to behold from every angle.






Above: the detailing in the woodwork, a recurring pattern. The slanted angles are 15 degrees, so that same 15 degree angle turns up all over the house. (For example, the edges of the in-built shelves and tables.) I liked those little unifying details.



Some warning tape under that one balcony - apparently someone put the cantilever beams in sideways? Which seems almost to ridiculous to be true, but anyway you are not allowed to walk on it or under it.



Guest bedroom.


So the lines of the beams continue across here, in an effort to create continuity between interior and exterior.



Woodpeckers have been at the panelling.



The main hall, which is laid out on square units of 7 by 7 feet. The hearth is very important in Wright's domestic interiors, as it is also in Arts and Crafts designs.




The laundry chute! Just perfect for sending your young siblings down in a youthful prank.



Gordon House was neato. I had fun. Maybe too much fun. Now I really want to go on more weekend excursions for the purposes of architectural tourism. I am a giant nerd.