The Paper Studio Blog

Our Katazome Papers - December Instyle Magazine

2011-11-19T19:22:00.000-08:00

We are very excited to see our Katazome papers featured in InStyle Magazine's December Issue!

We love that the papers they selected were inspired by fashion! The katazome papers really wonderfully graphic and make such an impact. You can click on the link to see more styles of our katazome papers.

What a cool way to step up your gift wrapping and make it totally customized!

Combat Papermaker & Pulp Pedaling

2011-10-12T22:12:00.000-07:00

I met Drew Cameron with the Combat Paper Project at the LA Printer's Fair a couple of weeks ago while he was doing a papermaking demo. I kept missing connecting paths with the Drews (Cameron and Matott) for the past several years. These guys have a really interesting project.

The Combat Paper Project uses papermaking workshops to assist veterans in reconciling and sharing their personal experiences as well as broadening the traditional narrative surrounding service and the military culture. Through papermaking workshops veterans use their uniforms worn in combat to create cathartic works of art. The uniforms are cut up, beaten into a pulp and formed into sheets of paper. Veterans use the transformative process of papermaking to reclaim their uniform as art and begin to embrace their experiences in the military.

Drew was demonstrating basic papermaking for folks at the printer's fair. He had the most amazing set up for beating pulp utilizing bicycle pedal power to beat the fiber.

Could this be a greenest method of energy? And it keeps you fit, how awesome!

Having a portable beater is really fabulous especially for these guys who work with veterans all over the country and travel all over the world.

The Combat Paper Project does lectures, exhibitions and workshops across the country. Check our their tour schedule and go see them in person!

Got a pencil?

2011-09-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

Goodness knows we love all kinds of alphabets and letters and working in letterpress we work with a lot of lead type. Well here's a lead alphabet of a different nature--a graphite nature! How cool is that?

Dalton Ghetti is a talented artist who creates micro sculptures out of pencil leads.

I guess folks have been blogging about him for years but I just recently came across his work.

The level of detail is amazing. I love he incorporates the wooden handled saw into the wood of the pencil.

Google Dalton Ghetti's name to see more of his awesome work! It is all over the web. Now you will think twice about throwing out those old pencils, won't you?

Hamilton Wood Type - Cool Never Fades

2011-08-16T20:11:00.000-07:00

Of course we are all gaga about wood type. I love the way it looks, feels and prints - imperfections, dings and all . I was interested when I heard Target had partnered with the Hamilton Wood Type Museum to design some of their fall clothing. Here's a cool video about the project.

I got Gary a couple of the wood type inspired shirts for his birthday. This ochre one is my favorite. I love the western wood type in blue!

We just listed several sets of wood letterpress type for sale so click here if you want to get some for your letterpress shop!

NOTE: the letterpress wood type sets we listed on August 16th have all SOLD.

We may be listing more type in the future, so check back with our site. Thanks!

Lovely Invites According to Carey

2011-08-15T05:00:00.000-07:00

We got a nice note from Carey with According to Carey about our fabulous Japanese papers.

Carey also shows you an inspiration board that helped her with the Japanese themed decorations for her event.

Check out her site to see the wonderful invites she created. Thanks Carey!

Elliot is NOT a Desert Tortiose!

2011-08-14T16:41:00.000-07:00

Well, we were a bit shocked to learn that Elliot is not a desert tortoise. He's an African Sulcata Tortoise which is the 3rd largest tortoise in the world. Gasp!

Elliot emerging in the morning from his rosemary turtle cave. He warms himself in this pose for about 20 minutes every morning.

I kept reading about desert tortoises and thought that Elliot's legs looked so different than all the images I was seeing. What are those pointy things on his front legs? (they are scales)

Thank goodness for google images. I finally found a site called The Sulcata Station and emailed a photo of Elliot to them. Yep, that is what he is, they confirmed. Once Gary and I got over the shock that this tortoise is going to be over 100lbs and live 80-100 years we've been working on getting things set up for Elliot before he gets too large! He definitely has a voracious appetite. We are working on switching him to Bermuda grass hay--it is a slow process. Because he was raised on mixed greens.

May I help you?

Elliot likes to hang out most of the afternoon snoozing by the front door. It is so funny to see a tortoise at your front door staring in. He mostly likes to watch the kitties. He's a really friendly tortoise and follows you like a dog. My father-in-law thinks it is the funniest thing to watch him come when you call him.

Such cute elephant-type back leggies. Definitely a creature of habit. Retiring to the rosemary bush turtle cave around 4:00 pm.

Amazing Underwater Sculpture

2011-06-30T09:59:00.000-07:00

My dad sent me the link to the most amazing underwater sculpture site by Jason deCaires Taylor. His work is installed all over the world and he is currently founder and Artistic Director of the Museo Subacuático de Arte (MUSA) in Cancun, Mexico. Taylor is a classically trained sculptor and certified scuba diver instructor. He blends his talents amazingly!

Taylor creates artificial reefs from materials that are durable, secure and environmentally sensitive. These reefs appear to have been successful in that they have attracted coral growth which, in turn, can support an entire marine ecosystem.

This installation is called Silent Evolution and is installed in Mexico and this is only a tiny glimpse of the 400 life-size statues in the installation. He has a great slide show on his site.

The installation below is titled the Garden of Hope. It is also installed in Mexico.

Really fascinating to see how the coral grows and the installation evolves.

The short film below that is visually sumptuous! In the second part gives you a glimpse of his process.

Maps, Maps Baby!

2011-05-27T11:25:00.000-07:00

We are crazy about maps even though refolding them can make us crazy! We just added a Map Category to our shopping cart so you can find them easily. We wanted to show you some cool things you can do with maps!

First up are map pendants from two talented designers.

Kimiko of The Green Daisy uses our pendant trays to make gorgeous map pendants. Kimiko lots of really lovely styles and designs so be sure to check our her etsy site at:

http://kimiko611.etsy.com/

Kristy of Daisy Mae Designs also does map pendants in lots of styles, colors and shapes. She also does custom work so check out her website at ww.daisymaedesigns.net

These map pendants make a terrific gift for that special person in your life as a memento of a trip you've take or one that you hope to take or for someone who just loves travel. The pendants would make a fantastic graduation gift! (really fabulous if you include plane tickets!!)

Maps Part II

2011-05-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

Oh the love affair with maps continues! We made some fun map poppies. Visualize a room filled with map bouquets for the the couple who loves to travel!

We used the flower pop up design for these poppies (posted in an earlier blog post)

Then we lined envelopes with maps which were were gaga over! We letterpressed a vintage ornament on sumptuous lettra paper and used hemisphere maps to line moss and gavel envelopes.

For a more colorful pop, we took vintage map pages and line a variety of colored envelopes. We all would be delighted to get mail that looks like this!

To make these handmade journals, we used the Americas, Globes and Hemispheres maps. At 3.25 x 5.5 inches, they are perfect for taking on a trip to record your journey.

While we didn't make these soft sided mini notebooks, we are crazy about them and the set of 3 for 10 bucks is a great deal!

New Addition to the Family - Elliot the Tortoise!

2011-05-10T14:34:00.000-07:00

Nothing to do with paper or letterpress but awfully cute!

Here's the newest addition to our family--Elliot the Desert Tortoise. Desert tortoises are found in in southeastern California, southeastern Nevada, southwestern Utah, western Arizona. We got him from a school and he is 2yrs old. He is about 6-8 inches long and weights a couple of pounds but can get up to 10-12 lbs. He like blueberries--and still has the blueberry stains on his chin--he definitely has a sweet tooth for fruit but can only have it occasionally.

He is acclimatising to the outdoors very well considering he lived in a cage inside a 4th grade classroom since he was a hatchling. He lives in our yard and he cruises around the place like he owns it. He sleeps under the rosemary bush so he now smells like rosemary! Gary built him a burrow/shelter but he seems to prefer the rosemary bush.

I brought him inside last night because it was pretty cold. Desert tortoises start hibernating if the night temps are below 60 for several days and he is definitely sluggish in the am when it is still cold. They can survive heat up to 140 degrees and they cannot swim.

He's a pretty funny tortoise because he comes up right up to the glass where our cats can watch him. Because the kitties never go outside, they are fascinated with him. Elliot the Tortoise makes a beeline to cats if he sees them watching him.

In addition to the Elliot in our yard we also have a dove nest with 2 eggs. The nest sits low in the tree about chest level (didn't even have to stand on anything to take this picture) so the mom dove startles the beegeebers out of us when she suddenly flies out. Doves build the most scattery nests, I hope it doesn't get too windy.

Flower pop ups!

2011-04-20T09:55:00.000-07:00

Oh happy spring!

I made these pop up cards as a result of the current issue of Martha Stewart living. She did hers in pinks (of course!) but I decided to go for a mixed purple bouquet! I used our Lavender Bursting Blooms, Purple Floral Stream and Green Charming Flowers and the leaves are Leaf Green Lokta. The card is A7 Plum.

This card was done with our Natural White Lokta on our A7 Chartreuse Card. The black dots are made with a sharpie marker.

Here's the link to Martha's Card. Most of the time I find MS projects complicated and this was the first time through. Definitely test and prototype with plain paper. I found the assembling of the card more helpful at this site: http://extremecards.blogspot.com/2008/05/seven-flower-pop-up-card.html.

Other words of advice: use pva glue instead of a glue stick--it is stronger and pop ups need strength due to the opening and closing of the card and use strong but flexible paper. The Japanese Chiyogamis/Yuzens work great and so did the lokta. The single flowers that you make before gluing them together are cool as well. I can see other possibilities with them. So get busy flowering; you'll definitely make someone's day with this card!

Decorah Eagles Hatching!

2011-04-06T22:00:00.000-07:00

The Decorah Eagles have gone viral! Millions of people have checked out the live stream so far to see what the first days of life is like for baby bald eagles.

Today, the third of three Eaglets to hatch in an aerie in Decorah, Iowa started poking its way out on Wednesday evening. Gary and I actually saw it via the Internet while it was happening and it was exciting! Mostly I remember to check the site during the evening and the parent eagles are sleeping or preening and I never get to see the eaglets. So I was pretty excited to see the third baby hatching. The first and second Eaglets hatched this past weekend.

Check out the live stream video, as well as a time-lapse of the first hatchling coming into the world!

Spinning Paper!

2011-03-28T17:11:00.000-07:00

My pal Lisa is so creative! She's be itching to try her hand at spinning paper into yarn.

She got some of our lokta wax batik paper and gave it a whirl! She first cut the paper into strips and said it spun pretty easily. Look how wonderful it turned out!

She says it remained pliable and flexible when it dried. So now she can knit a paper garment or hat! Lisa is a fabulous artist and fiber spinner. You can see more at her site: http://www.lisatakata.etsy.com/

New Letterpress Printed Typographical Notebooks

2011-03-15T15:59:00.000-07:00

We have gone bananas letterpress printing these mini-notebooks! I always have several notebooks going at one time--I am a furious idea jotter--I have to write my ideas down or I'll forget them. I found it much easier to keep notebooks organized when there is a design on them so we figured we'd rummage through our old printing plates and Voila!

We are just getting them loaded on to the The Paper Studio's website. We'll have styles and colors listed individually and we are doing FREE SHIPPING! The above set compilation set is one of each of five different styles printed on Kraft chipboard.

The next set is images of the old printing letters that were used for quick signs. I think all the old department stores had a set of these letters!

We thought we'd do a set with some bright colors--raspberry and kiwi! This series includes an italic typeface on the cover.

This set is from an antique plate dated 1928! It shows how you can add type to the stick and print the dates on your invoices. The hand illustrations are great!

This last set has nice examples of Uppercase, lowercase and small caps! The last notebook is a steel gray--a nice tone-on-tone notebook.

New Italian Collage Papers - Gorgeous!

2011-03-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

I love to make my own collages but I also enjoy papers that are already collaged! These new papers from Italy are just fabulous. The first one is musical and this paper just sings!

I love how they combine vintage images and calligraphy. Think of the delightful recital invites this paper would make!

Of course we are nuts about letters, lettering and anything with typography! How cool would a handmade journal look with this paper? Awesome!

I love fashion and the use of gold on this paper is really super. Where is Project Runway?? Think of the fun cards this paper would make.

This travel paper is exotic and dreamy! Great paper for wrapping travel gifts! Our next trip is to....Idaho...not exactly exotic but a gal can dream!

New Letterpress Goods online

2011-03-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

We just added some new letterpress items to our online store and we've included free shipping for our greeting cards to make it easier and more cost effective for folks to purchase paper goods.

Everyone should have a "suck it up" card in your stash--you know that you totally know who to send it to! This 2- color card is 4bar size and comes with a shimmery pink envelope. 3 5/8" x 5 1/8".

All the creative people we know are list makers, brainstormers, idea generators and note takers. We decided to work on a series of portable pocket-size notebooks based on typography. Similar in function to the moleskine but way more interesting looking!

Here is the first test prints in the series. The three journals are letterpress printed with an old copper plate (mounted on really wonky wood). We are selling limited sets of 3 for an amazing price of $10.95 and free shipping!! Wow wee!

We figured that everyone could use some happiness! Post this on your refrigerator, bathroom mirror or work cubicle to remind yourself and everyone else that happiness is available.

This was printed with some banged up gothic wood type and the fabulously groovy & rare "smoke" typeface in celery green and orange. The print is 5.5 x 7.75 and letterpress printed on lovely cream BFK Rives.

Perpetually Yours - Fabric Art!

2011-03-04T03:09:00.000-08:00

I love to blog about paper, printing and pets--my kitties as well as the critters I encounter--like the snake in the fireplace. (not a pet!) But here are some animals of the home decor type that I couldn't wait to profile. These are really fabulous CUSTOM made pieces from Rachael's etsy site Perpetually Yours.

You know how people love their pets, so now you can send Rachael one of your favorite photos of your pet for a completely custom pillow! How cool is that?

Rachael is a 20-something illustrator/graphic designer/fashionista/punk rock chick, who loves to sew and just happens to have a soft spot for furry friends of all kinds--just look at the adorable pillow below! You can tell that she asks questions that get to the heart of your furry friends!

I just love the artistic, retro and whimsical style of her work. Wouldn't this be the best gift for your favorite pet aficionado? I can't think of anything better!

The A's Have It!

2011-03-03T11:33:00.000-08:00

Lots of A's lately! We popped into a.ware for the first time--well actually, we went two weeks in a row because the shop is wonderful! It is a really cute shop featuring handcrafted goods in Phoenix and is located at 4700 N. Central Ave which is just south of Camelback Road.

The shop is the brain child of the very talented artist and writer, Julie Hampton.

The shop features artwork, gorgeous handcrafted purses & scarves, handmade cards and hand-spun yarn and roving. They even teach classes.

My pal Lisa has these yarn cups and knitting needles or sale. They are the coolest thing ever!

More A's back at our shop! Mike is working on a letterpress piece.

The silver ink prints deliciously on black paper!

It was our lovely Anne's birthday so Gary and I did a special card for her featuring wood type, Japanese paper and a cat that looks like her kitty - Kiera.

Valentine's Day

2011-02-15T17:00:00.000-08:00

Ah, Valentine's Day. Love it or hate it. We love it!

Gary and I decided to send some of our pals an assortment of valentine delicacies.

We were always wanting to use the ginormous vintage cupid cut so we made envelopes after we printed it.

Everything was done with handset type both wood and metal.

We found a fun vintage cookbook that worked well with the love of cake quote.

Fa la, la, la and snowmen

2010-12-23T13:24:00.000-08:00

I love holiday music and always have to get new music to listen at the studio. This year, my favorite holiday albums are the Indigo Girls, Holly Happy Days and Annie Lennox, A Christmas Cornucopia. If you like a Capella, the group Straight No Chasers has a nice album titled Holiday Spirits.

Every December we get so busy that we forget to take photos of projects we are working on and we never seem to have time to update the blog in a timely manner. Bummer we didn't take photos of the holiday cookie baking extravaganza! Too busy baking and tasting cookies! But here some quick holiday-ish pics that we did remember to snap.

We love Snowmen! Here are some of our cuts and tags we printed with handset type on handmade snow paper! The paper has mica in it so it looks like glinting snow.

We used the Vintage Snowmen Wrapping paper to decorate gable boxes and the vintage look is also great for cards!

Holiday Cards!

More cards!

Who says Red and Green are the winter holiday colors? How about Orange?

After Cool Fitness colors are orange & blue. Guess what color their Christmas tree light were? Yes. Orange and Blue! Their orange, blue and silver invites were cool!

Next year we need to take the advice on this card--Simplify the Holidays!

Tis' the Season!

2010-12-23T11:42:00.000-08:00

December has gone by in a flurry! Although not the snowy type of flurries here; it was 80 degrees last week! Because the weather was so nice, I made paper outside for a couple days.

Right under our orange tree. That led to another project.

Picking the oranges. They are totally juicy and yummy!

Oh, yes, the cotton and recycled box handmade papers came out yummy as well!

Just in time for the holiday - Gluttony Pants!

2010-11-10T09:44:00.000-08:00

The 7 deadly sins are always fodder for artists' prints, books, performance and even puppetry work. Now the subject has expanded to clothing! Just what we need for the holidays - Gluttony Pants by the San Francisco company Betabrand. The inner lining on the waist and pockets looks like antique letterpress cuts!

These crazy albeit nice-looking pants are the first in limited series themed around the seven deadly sins (those would be: wrath, greed, sloth, pride, lust, envy, and gluttony). The waistband is adjustable so you don't have to wear elastic banded pants!

At least they didn't make a meat pant ala Lady Gaga's meat dress.

Then after the holidays, you can work off the gluttony and wear Bike-to-Work Pants which are khaki pants with reflective back pocket bags and cuffs.

This practical and smart looking pant is from Betabrand as well. Can't wait to see what they dream up next!

Parking Lot Sale at The Paper Studio - Think Garage Sale!

2010-11-05T11:05:00.000-07:00

Think Garage Sale!

We are clearing out stuff and are having a parking lot sale because we don't have a garage!

We'll be selling some duplicate letterpress items such as composing sticks, type drawers, metal and wood type as well as a bunch of paper goods from our online store.

Some folks have been calling asking if we were having an open house--nope--just a fall-cleaning-out-our stuff-sale! Cash and Carry!

Yay Mike on the poster! We used all handset wood and metal type (10" wood type for the sale!).

Charlie B and Green Valley

2010-11-05T10:50:00.000-07:00

On our way home from the SW Fiber Fest, we stopped in Green Valley AZ. A whole weekend of places I've never been! We popped in to meet Charlie. He is 80 years old and was in the printing industry for over 50 years.

He still prints regularly on his 8x12 c&p but just for pleasure not for work! He is a testament to the longevity of LP printers! We make it our goal to get out there and meet other printers--such great folks and a wealth of knowledge!

Fiber Fest part 2: The Cow Palace and Tubac

2010-11-05T10:44:00.000-07:00

You know that you spend too much time in letterpress when you decide where to eat based on the typeface on the sign! We were trying to figure out where to grab a bite to eat and I was thumbing through various brochures when I spied a menu for this crazy place--The Cow Palace.

This restaurant has been around for 80 years and has seen the like of John Wayne and other actors. It's also been a number of films.

Inside, they were totally decked out for Halloween.

Here's the Longhorn Grill across the street.

I love this doorway in Tubac. Is that the Pope?

Some lovely fall colors.

Tubac was found in the 1700's--way before AZ was even a consideration!

Fiber Fest and the Walking Fiber

2010-11-05T10:21:00.000-07:00

We took a break and went to the SW Fiber Festival in Amado AZ. We'd never been there before--it's about 45 minutes south of Tucson. I love fibers and there is such a nice overlap with paper arts. This is Nancy doing a demo--she raises and spins alpaca fiber.

So based on the rest of the photos, you would think I went to a petting zoo! I was so fascinated with the alpaca. I'd never seen them in person before. They are a bit shy and make a buzzing sound like your phone on vibrate.

These two sweeties were less than a year old and very, very shy.

I loved the spotted Lamas. Lamas are definitely larger than the alpaca.

Angora goats---I think....

Angora bunnies---cute factor is out of this world. There was also a gorgeous sable color bunny too.

My favorite alpaca--two year old guy named Trubador. They spun the softest yarn from him.

Mom sheep and her 3-week old babies.

Sweet lamb who make really loud noises!!

The International Printing Museum Needs Our Help!

2010-10-18T14:16:00.000-07:00

I know everyone has been affected by this tough economy but the International Printing Museum in Carson CA has been hit especially hard. They are facing a $30,000 deficit this year. Not only do they have an amazing facility filled with the history of printing staffed by volunteers, they also take their program on the road to schools where they have an interactive printing lesson for kids! If you love letterpress or book arts but are not a member of the museum, consider joining today! (it's tax deductible) You'll get their mailed newsletter and other goodies throughout the year.

Printing A LOST DOG poster for Ace - vintage sesame street

2010-10-18T14:15:00.000-07:00

I know some of you may have seen this video but I just watched it again recently. I adore this video!

LA Printers Fair - Daniel Gonzalez

2010-10-18T13:28:00.000-07:00

We had the pleasure of meeting artist Daniel Gonzalez printgonzalez.com at the LA Printers Fair. His booth was hopping with people the entire day! He is a does amazing wood carvings. His work is inspired by the folk stories that his parents and grandparents passed down. He creates and shares his narratives and vision through printmaking. He did a wonderful series of "opposite" prints--I loved the Good Artist / Bad Artist. prints and here are two that we acquired--Good Worker and Bad Worker.

You can see more of Daniel's prints and letterpress books at his website: printgonzalez.com

LA Printer's Fair 2010

2010-10-11T22:35:00.000-07:00

It was the 2nd annual LA Printers Fair at the International Printing Museum. It is one of our favorite events. Here are some pics all the fun!

Our booth--we mostly brought wood type to sell--clearing out those duplicates!

I love the color of the patina on this type!

Poster Gothic got a new home!

Our friend Paul had the busiest booth--here's a rare pic of him sitting down.

Paul must have bought over 1000 letterpress cuts. His booth was swarming like a bee hive!

Guys considering the ginormous Vandy.

This was a riot. The guy drove up in this semi and sold both Heidelberg's and most everything else very quickly!

Gary testing a sweet pearl press.

We did not get the pearl even though it was super cute.

I printed on this civil war press they were demo'ing. What a behemoth for a portable press. Prints well though.

Nice little British Parlor Press in the Book Arts Institute.

Some pics of the finished goods vendors that were outside.

We brought the hot weather with us. Was the hottest day they had all summer thus far.

Lots of nice printing going on.

Some nice handmade paper leaves.

Some photos inside the printing museum.

There are some nice photo streams at the Prinitng Museum site. Check it out!

Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art - Visions Program

2010-10-11T21:54:00.000-07:00

Gary and I had a wonderful experience teaching 3D paper sculpture for SMOCA's Visions Program. The Visions program, now in its twelfth year, brings together 40 high-school art students from diverse Phoenix metropolitan-area high schools for a year-long series of activities designed to cultivate artistic skills, collaboration and civic engagement. The program is based on a strong community partnership between the Museum and participating schools, which represent economically, ethnically and culturally diverse communities. Students are chosen for participation by their visual-art teachers at the start of the school year. During the course of the year, participating students, teachers and professional guest artists and speakers work side-by-side in workshops, lectures and discussions. This is such a fantastic program!

At their 2-day retreat in the cool pines of Prescott AZ, we taught the 3D workshop, Kate Timmerman rocked the students with encaustic and Chandon Thorell taught alternative photography--I was so excited to see the student work in these areas that I forgot to take pictures. Not only were the student fabulous, we had the extra bonus of getting out of the Phoenix heat! Gary and I were so impressed with the event. Laura and Michelle with SMOCA do an amazing job of programing for these students--it makes you wish you could go back to high school!

In the paper sculpture workshop, the first thing we did was take a hike in the woods so that the students could observe the shapes, textures and forms in nature (nature does it best!). Armed with found objects and ideas, the students came back to start creating their sculptures. The thing I love about the students in 3D is that they know how to MAKE things with their hands as opposed to those who just create on a computer screen.

Students used wire and branches to create structures and formed wet sheets of abaca and kozo pulp around the armitures. The great thing about kozo and abaca is that they have high shrink rates so they dry tight around the forms. We worked outside and it got a bit windy. Only in AZ do things dry TOO quickly! Here are some pics of work in progress.

See the whale?

It was a fun day and we were so inspired!

Andrew Borloz Books!

2010-09-06T15:24:00.000-07:00

Our friend Andrew Borloz sent us a couple of great photos of his books. The books on the left are are stencil books he made at Penland. How cool! One day I will get to Penland!

The books on the right are a photo of the 20 books he made in one week!! Andrew's work is filled with dazzling color, shape and texture. He lives in northern NJ and is a self-employed as a designer, artist, educator, printer and craftsman. His work is so neat and precise--wonder if his degrees--a BS in industrial design and MA in computer science have anything to do with that that? Andrew learned these structures from Pam Sussman during her Book Arts Coterie last July.

Pam Sussman is a book arts instructor and the author of Fabric Art Journals, published by Rockport/Quarry books in 2005. This is a terrific book on fabric journals - one of my favorites! She teaches book arts across the country. Check out her blog and her book!

Best of the Valley 2010 - Best Paper Store!

2010-08-30T12:49:00.000-07:00

We were thrilled to find out that Phoenix Magazine named The Paper Studio as best Paper Store 2010! Yippee!! Here's part of the write up:

Scrapbookers and stationery junkies what's your paper pleasure? Swirling batik? Intricate Japanese? Unique handmade? No matter the choice, The Paper Studio surely will have it. This online paper shop calls Tempe home...

To celebrate, we are having a sale! SAVE 15% off your order of $35. At checkout in the shopping cart, use coupon code: best2010 (then remember to hit recalculate)

Good through Labor Day. In-stock items only. Does not apply to prior orders or gift certificates.

Colorful Japanese Stab Bound Books

2010-08-26T13:15:00.000-07:00

The very talented Donna Eyring just sent me a photo of some Japanese Stab Bound Books she is making. Love the bright colors! She said that the had the fabric forever and decided to make a bag to house the books. Each of the books has a different sewing pattern for the binding. So fun and lovely, what a great gift they will make! Thanks Donna!

We love wood type!

2010-08-14T11:54:00.000-07:00

We love wood type and got a crazy mixed load of it. Back in the day, someone was trying to sell it by the letter and sticker priced every letter--even the 6 line type AND its punctuation right down to the periods and commas. Yikes! You think it would be so quick to sort but there are so many nuances!! So many variations of Gothic wood type, it will make your head spin! Of course we are trying to font it so that we can print with it but we are not sure how complete the sets will be...

We love the new Japanese Papers!

2010-08-12T01:20:00.000-07:00

The new designs are exquisite!

We love our new Japanese Papers! The designs are exquisite!!

Here are a couple of photos where we used it on books as well and as envelope liners.

Masters of Collage - New Book!

2010-07-14T14:23:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to have my work included in the new book entitled Masters Collage.

Masters: Collage: Major Works by Leading Artists (Masters: Major Works by Leading Artists)

The book was just released in June and features contemporary collage work from approximately 40 artists from all over the world. The book was curated by Randel Plowman. Some of you may know his fabulous work through his Collage A Day Blog.

Randel Plowman

The thing I really like about this book is the diversity of artists and artwork. It is not a techniques book--it is just sumptuous visual buffet of collages! I found it interesting to see a number of guys in the book. I am totally making a sweeping generalization but I find it interesting that most of the guy collages are very "active". I don't know 99% of the other artists in the book but it was wonderful to be included. Here are some pics I really liked in the book.

Matthew Rose

Launa Romoff

Marty Gordon

In conjunction with the book, an exhibition "Lost and Found: The Art of Collage" will be at Northern Kentucky University Galleries in the Main Galley from August 23 to September 24th. It should be a fabulous exhibition!

The Boys of Summer--our type of guys!

2010-07-14T13:48:00.000-07:00

It's been all hands on deck in terms of reorganizing our letterpress studio. I think we can see the light at the end of the tunnel!

Chandon has been the go-to guy on driving the whole process.

Mike R has become a super fast, metal-type-distributing-guy and is great at fonting our duplicate typefaces. There is something to be said about 20-something year old eyes looking at 10 pt type!

Jay has great natural ability as a papermaker and has been terrific at jumping in the type foray!

Of course, Mike O is definitely the LP guru and is developing the type list.

Gary can set even the craziest schemes I come up with!

Thanks to Toxic Coyote Frank for coming over from CA to give us a hand. We had a great day with him!

We'll show some of the work we've been printing in a future blog post. We've been doing a lot of custom work lately, invites, stationery as well as fun things like posters. We sometimes forget to photograph printing jobs because we are too busy printing--don't want to get the camera too inky!

Tis' the Season - Flora & Fauna moment

2010-07-10T14:29:00.000-07:00

It's hotter than blazes this summer and the only creatures that are active outside in the SW are the Round Tail Ground Squirrels. They provide endless fascination for our kitties because they come close to the windows to sit and eat in the shade. Obviously they are smart enough to know the cats cannot get them.

This guy is eating a mesquite pod--oh the joy! Did you know that Mesquite pods have served as critical food for indigenous people. The pod has a thin skin, within which lies a mealy pulp (containing the seeds), which is quite sweet (about 20% sugars). The seeds are about 35% protein -- a very high proportion, making it a high-quality food. This is where mesquite flour comes from. We tried using the shells for papermaking but it is really difficult to separate the woody shell from the seeds.

Okay, that's the end of my Marlon Perkins moment but there will be more. I forgot to photograph the small snake we found in our air return closet or the coyote that I had to chase out of they yard. It goes part and parcel with living in the desert. I keep trying photograph the 2 covey of quails that have been hanging out in our yard --one set of parents with 9 little offspring and the other set with 5 teenage offspring. (I'm sure that's why the wily coyote was in the yard!) As soon as grab my camera, the quails seem to know and they run out of the yard--even though I'm inside the house.

SMOCA Kids Class

2010-06-13T15:13:00.000-07:00

Here are pics from the SMOCA (Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art) kids class that Chandon and I taught this spring. (Chandon is the big kid in the pic) We did papermaking, printmaking, collage and cyanotype. The final project was making their own artist book and work produced throughout the class really rocked! This is a really small sampling of the work. With 18-20 kids, we could have shot 100's of images!The fun thing about kids is that the are pretty bold. They used everything including collaging and drawing on their negatives. Yes! SMOCA had the final artwork on display at the center and the kids talked about their experiences in the art classes. Attendance at the event was great with kids and parents. It is truly an 'American Idol' generation. You couldn't have paid me to get up and speak to 100 people when I was in middle school and these kids basically jumped at the chance to get up and speak. Wow! I was amazed at how much technical art making info soaked into their brains and it was a kick to hear them talk about the different processes

Happy Mail & Roben-Marie Smith

2010-05-29T09:35:00.000-07:00

There is nothing more fun than getting gorgeous mail! In the our techie world of texting, face book and emails, we seem to get less and less interesting tactile mail. So when a note from Roben-Marie Smith arrive, I couldn't wait to open it. Not only was it gorgeous on the outside but such wonderful color on the inside.

I love that she stitched together paper and fabric for her note card. (upper left)Here's a sample of a couple of the postcards she sent. You can get a series of four of her post cards for under $4.00! Roben-Marie is the proprietor of Paperbag Studios where she blogs, teaches on-line classes and has nice video section on how to make several projects.

Roben-Marie is also doing a year-long collaboration call "Points of Two". The project explores two points of view in creating art. Nice!

New prints from the Tacoma Wayzgoose

2010-05-27T09:57:00.000-07:00

You can never have too much letterpress work! We picked up a couple of prints at the Tacoma Wayzgoose. There was lots to choose from so it was hard to decide!I love this bear print by JR Adler. He was in letterpress at PLU. I love the composition and color. You can get this print on JR's new etsy site.

I put the print on our metal door to photograph it. When I stepped back, the whole scene struck me as funny--because the print says "go inside" on our door that leads outside and the pinhole photography piece to the left is by Chandon Thorell which has a dressed up couple sitting on a couch in their yard. All the juxtapositions made my day, I'm leaving the print on the door!As I mentioned in the last post, the Beautiful Angle letterpress booth was a mob scene at the wayzgoose. If you haven't heard of them, they are graphic designer Lance Kagey and writer Tom Llewelleyn who create and distribute letterpress posters around Tacoma. Their work is wildly sought after and hard to obtain via the seek and find route. Thankfully, they brought prints to sell. Here's the print we got based on the 7 deadly sins.

The printing is lovely and the writing sublime. Again, I love the juxtaposition of image and text.

Check out Beautiful Angle's website. Really cool stuff!

Tacoma Wayzgoose April 2010

2010-05-27T08:43:00.000-07:00

I'm a little late in posting this--it happened at the end of April! But I want to post some photos of the Tacoma Wayzgoose. A very well attended event with lots of activities with the highlight being steamroller printing. The event was held at a local bookstore - Kings Books - so if you see a wayzgoose in your area, definitely attend! It's a great way to see some fine printing, book arts, papermaking and even make some stuff for free!

Steamroller printing was the big deal of the day. (Literally!)
That is a LOT of linoleum to carve!The bird print is so lovely!Screen printing your own tee shirt was wildly popular!These guys brought some very heavy equipment to sell!Nothing says fun like Pie on a Stick! See, I made this print at the Springtide Press booth. Note the bear print hanging on the line in the background. I'll talk more about this in my next post.This is the calm before the storm. The Anagram Press booth was swamped with people from start to finish!

Also more discussion about Beautiful Angle's booth. It was definitely the busiest booth--they had folks making posters on Nolan press! People were lined up all day.

There were also local book arts groups and a book arts display by the PLU students.You can see more photos of the event on our flickr site.

Washi Eggs - The Paper Studio in First Magazine

2010-03-28T12:00:00.001-07:00

The March 26th issue of First Magazine has a nice project doing washi eggs using our papers! The eggs are really beautiful and so light & delicate. Our origami packs work great for this and so so all our beautiful yuzen/washi papers!

So the next time you are whipping up breakfast, baking cookies or getting ready for Easter - save your eggs for this super fun project! Click on the article below to see a larger version.

Vandercook Maintence Class

2010-03-28T11:36:00.000-07:00

Here's some pics of the Vandercook Maintenance Workshop with Paul Moxon. These photos don't do the session justice. There was so much going on--I was too busy taking notes!Nice to meet our fellow vandercookers from Tucson!Testing rollers.

New nyliners.

Oh please go back together correctly!

We had to readjust the carriage which practically took about every tool we had plus a village to get it done.Ian's pals.

For the Love of Letterpress

2010-03-15T19:16:00.001-07:00

I participated in a coaster exchange over valentines day. It was a delight getting this sweet box of coasters!

I love the simplicity of the blue letters and red birds

The little heart beings and the "hey mambo" are such fun!

New Papers plus sale!

2010-02-18T10:48:00.000-08:00

We just loaded over 30 gorgeous new papers online this week! To see the new papers, just click the image.

Also, we are continuing our amazing India Prints Paper sale for one more week. We are making room for all the new styles that will be arriving! Click the image below to see the sale papers.

Happiest of Valentines--letterpress, chocolates & books!

2010-02-18T10:07:00.000-08:00

I love valentine's day because you are practically expected to eat chocolate!

Here's a sampling of letterpress valentines from our card class. So fun!

In the letterpress valentine class, some folks also did some tee shirt printing.

Yay Denise! Her shirt is for valentines, breast cancer and healthy hearts!

This is the other reason I love valentines day! The annual VNSA book sale. Over 600,000 used books on sale at the state fair grounds. This is an all volunteer effort and the money from the book sale goes to local charities.
So many books, not enough arms to carry them!

Every area has a sign for their book categories. This is my favorite sign at the books sale--not sure if you can read it: Book on terrorists, espionage, disasters & sneaky people!

We definitely did our part donating to charity as we left with a cartload of books.

Support your local park district!

2010-02-07T09:35:00.000-08:00

In this day and age where city budget cuts are happening like crazy, we all need to get out and support our local parks department! Lots of their programs help fund their budget and they are incredibly fun, informative and reasonably priced.

Gary and I with our friend Lisa recently went on a dusk hike at the Rio Salado Habitat. It was amazing that you could look to the west and see the sun setting and to the east to see the full moon rising. Of course, I forgot to bring my camera! But the weather was fabulous about 68 degrees and it was great to be outside for 3 hours. We just had a bunch of rain so the river had just receded and washed out a lot of the vegetation. Lisa sent me before photos (above) when she was there in December--so lovely and below is how the habitat looked at the end of January--all washed out.

In the washed out state, you could see the debris that flooded in from all the storm drains. So important not to pollute--it winds up in the river bed! The rangers said that the habitat will revert back to the December pre-flood state in a couple of months. Amazing.

Here's the added bonus on the night--we learned about cooking in dutch ovens and made three dishes before we left on the hike.One of park rangers stayed and oversaw the dutch ovens. When we returned from the hike, we got to eat the yummy food! Three hours of fun, education and food for $9.00. Such a deal!

Grafica Fildalga Letterpress

2010-01-19T20:05:00.000-08:00

Mike emailed me this video about a letterpress shop in Brazil. I watched it at 6:30 in the morning.--what a nice way to start the day. I just love this video! It's wonderful how they love what they do! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kI5RekPMh_c&feature=email

Book Arts Call for Entries

2010-01-19T19:51:00.000-08:00

The Kalamazoo Book Arts Center (KBAC) announces a call to artists for the non-juried exhibition “The Illustrated Accordion,” which will be held in the KBAC Gallery, April 2–30, 2010. Open to all emerging and established artists, this 2nd annual exhibition focuses on books created in the accordion form. All media, variations, and interpretations of this style of book will be accepted and included in the exhibition. There is no charge to participate. For more details click on Call for Entry.

Letterpress Holiday Card Class

2009-12-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

The holiday letterpress class was fun! Thanks to all who participated. Here's a sampling of the cards we printed using vintage holiday cuts. Everyone was printing like maniacs and ended up with 20 letterpress cards that were all ready to be sent to their favorite people. Yay!

Folks had fun even embellishing their envelopes. These are the kinds of envelopes I open first when I get the mail.

We still had all the stuff out for tee shirt printing so here's the shirt I printed. You can definitely go crazy printing tee shirts. So many possibilities!

Making Holiday Paper Ornaments

2009-12-09T15:01:00.000-08:00

Holiday Paper Ornaments Video

I'm re-posting...is that like re-gifting? I'm re-posting a link to our Making Paper Holiday Ornaments Video. We did this video a couple of years ago and I still love making these ornaments! We have two very busy kitties and concrete floors - a complete recipe for ornament disaster. That's why we love the paper ornaments. This is a fun project to do with your kids! It's so funny what goes around comes around--I found these ornaments in a 1970's craft book. The paper was pretty awful back then but the structures and shapes are still fun today and we have way better paper. Yay!

Time for Holiday Cards!

2009-12-03T14:23:00.000-08:00

Tis the season for holiday cards! I did two segments for the local NBC television station on holiday cards--at 5:40 am and 6:40 am. I had to get up at 4:00 o'clock in the morning! I NEVER get up that early unless I have to catch a plane. Bleary eyed and all, Gary and I trotted over to Phoenix. The positive thing was--there was no traffic! Gotta admire the news anchor Tram Mai from channel 12--she is so delightful and nice even that early in the morning.

I love handmade holiday cards. I love to get them in the mail. It's the first thing I open and always the ones I keep. When I was a kid in our local 4-H group, we made piles of them every year for the local nursing homes. I have really fond memories of drawing, gluing glittering & creating the cards and distributing them to the residents. Creating cards is a fun activity to do with your family or friends.

However, some folks get all stressed out about cardmaking. Here are some suggestions to keep in mind to reduce your stress:

1. The cards do not have to be perfect (you'll make yourself crazy). It's great to see the artist's hand in the finished work.

2. You don't have to give everyone on your list a handmade card. Give them to the people who will appreciate them!

3. You don't have to do all unique cards. Create something that resonates with you and make several of the same style.

4. You don't have to create cards from scratch. You could use a kit as a starting point. The cards on the left are from a Basic Grey Cardmaking Class Kit. The fun thing about a kit is that you get loads of materials to work with and instructions. I think of instructions more as guidelines since I always seem to veer off the path of doing it by the book. You can make the cards according to your own style. Plus, you have lots of left over materials to make more stuff!

5. Use fun materials in making holiday cards. Wrapping paper is a great element. There are so many styles and colors and it is readily available. These cards use wrapping paper and ribbon as a decorative element on pocket cards. Cards don't have to be just the traditional folded card so think outside the box!

You can also use the leftover paper to create your own gift tags! I prefer handmade gift tags over the mass-produced tags any day!

6. You could take a class and get all your cards done at once! Our holiday letterpress card class is one of our most popular classes. At The Paper Studio, we forage through our array of vintage images (called cuts) and set them up in our presses so participants can make 20 cards with 4 different motifs. Here's a sample of the cards the class made last year. We have different images selected for this year!

The class includes everything you need to leave with 4 sets of letterpress cards. This year we'll also be inking up some wood type so folks can bring a tee-shirt to print. Think of a word that describes your favorite person, print the shirt and give them the shirt as a present.

Happy Creating!

The Paper Studio Papers in Better Homes & Garden Magazine!

2009-12-02T21:14:00.000-08:00

We love the conifers papers. Obviously so did Better Homes and Gardens! It's so funny, magazines buy holiday papers during the summer for their holiday layouts. We were delighted to see The Paper Studio credited for the source of this conifers paper. Creative ideas on ways to use the paper are featured in the December 2009 issue of Better Homes and Garden Magazine.

We knew something was up when we sold out of this berries paper in just a few days! (No worries, it is back in stock!) Love the layering and how the blue pops with the berries.

Here's a fun red and green combo using the lovely scarlett paper.

Collage Calenders by Randel Plowman

2009-11-25T10:41:00.000-08:00

I love the work of Randel Plowman a Kentucky Artist who's Collage a Day Blog is read worldwide!

Randel has done a limited edition of two calendars--one featuring his bird collages and the other featuring an assortment of collages. I couldn't decide which one to get so I got both of them!

The calendars are printed on premium matte finish 61 lb photo paper using 8 color archival pigmented inks. Each image is suitable for framing. There is a total of 13 pages that make up each calendar including a page that provides information about each image and is hand signed with edition number and assembled by Randel.You can get these calendars at the Collage A Day Blog.

THE CURIE CURE Original letterpress poster

2009-11-20T10:39:00.000-08:00

"You cannot hope to build a better world without improving the individuals." Marie Curie

Jessica Spring, Springtide Press and Chandler O'Leary, Anagram Press just released their latest print. Get it while you can, they always sell out!! You can purchase the poster on etsy.

It is hot off the press! This BRAND NEW, hand-pulled letterpress print is printed from hand-lettered original typography and hand-drawn illustrations and patterns (in fact, everything was done by hand, the hard way!). This piece is a collaboration between Chandler O'Leary of Anagram Press and Jessica Spring of Springtide Press, inspired by efforts nationwide to obtain equal, affordable health care for all.

The illustration is inspired by laboratory equipment, molecule diagrams and the Periodic Table of the Elements. To symbolize Curie's revolutionary work with radioactivity, "The Curie Cure" is printed in glowing, atomic colors.

The poster was printed on an antique Vandercook Universal One press. Each piece is printed on archival, 100% rag, recycled paper, and signed by both artists.

Edition size: 138

Paper size: 10 x 18 inches

Artist Kate Timmerman at Modified Arts

2009-11-19T10:16:00.000-08:00

The very talented Kate Timmerman has a solo exhibition titled Then and Now (1998-2009) that opens at Modified Arts in Phoenix on Friday November 20th, 2009 at 6 p.m. Kate is a mixed media artist who has created an impressive body of work over the years. I cannot wait to see this show! The closing reception Friday December 4, 2009 at 6 p.m.

Here' the amazing thing--you can win a painting! Visitors to the exhibition who make a donation of pet food will be entered into a lottery to win a painting. All food collected will be donated to Poverty's Pets a downtown Phoenix group that rescues, neuters and places animals.

Modified Arts Phoenix

407 E. Roosevelt St.

Phoenix, AZ 85004

602-462-5516

Wayzgoose Fun!

2009-11-15T23:02:00.000-08:00

photo by Rhonda Lewis

We were thrilled with the turn out of the first AZ Wayzgoose! The fun thing is that it seemed like everyone did a little bit of everything! Lisa described it as a 7-ring circus and she was right! It was so much fun, that none of us even remembered to eat lunch.

We started off with magnetic poetry. Jeryl and Lisa did a great job helping folks lock up words in the little proofing press. The favorite line of the day was: She said go loosey goosey be silly cheese and Be a dingbat slug letterpress printer.

Photo by Rhonda Lewis

Letterpress was buzzing with coaster and bookmark printing.Mike was on the go most of the day.

Photographer Rhonda Lewis made my favorite bookmark of the day and she also took this fab photo of the press!

Donna kept things humming in the papermaking studio where everyone made handmade recycled paper.

Gary led the making your own envelope session. Notice the festive Halloween Hat!

The hit of the day was the tee shirt printing. (see Gary's shirt above) Below, Lisa helps the Labyrinth guy with his design.

We concluded the day's activities with a little pochoir on letterpress.

It was really a fun filled day! A great chance to connect with old friends and meet new ones as well.

We'll definitely do the Wayzgoose next year so stay tuned!photo by Rhonda Lewis

You can see more photos of the wayzgoose on our flickr sites: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lisatakata/sets/72157622581803607/ and

http://www.flickr.com/photos/thepaperstudio/

STREB: BRAVE

2009-11-15T21:46:00.000-08:00

If STREB tours in your area, go and see their show! They were in Phoenix last week and we decided to catch their show on the spur of the moment. Thank goodness we made it to the Friday show because with all the tweets and texts about the event, it sold out on Saturday. I didn't think we'd be able to take photos but we were allowed to. The photos are blurry but the show was an amazing combination of performance, sound and video.

STREB is a little hard to put into words. It is a company based in NY that is a combination of dance, gymnastics and sheer athletisicm. Elizabeth Streb, the Action Architect and Choreographer received a MacArthur Genius Award so that gives you an idea of what an innovator she is. In the falling piece, the dancers litterally fell off beam that went all the way up to the top of the horizontal structures. It was heart stopping!

In this piece, the video projection is the moon and the dancers (those blurry orange spots) are suspended horizontally. It was breathtaking!

Botanicals & Butterflies

2009-11-15T21:20:00.000-08:00

We are finally out of our record heat so it was lovely to stroll around the Desert Botanical Gardens in Phoenix. We don't see many butterflies in AZ so I wanted to post photos of the Monarch butterflies and other botanicals at the garden.

Cactus in bloom.

Wildflower garden.

Lovely lantana.

Dia De Los Muertos Exhibtion

2009-11-15T20:06:00.000-08:00

Here are some photos of our alter in the Dia De Los Muertos exhibition.This was a collaborative effort with Lisa T, Marshall S, Gary and me to create the intial piece. The community was invited to contribute thier own memorial cubes.

Marhsall did lovely pieces with patterns, cards and photos. This one honors his dad and his grandmother.

This one is a tribute to Eartha Kit, oh that origninal Cat Woman!

Ode to the most recent building imploded in Phoenix.

This year All Saints Day was especially meaningful because we attended a funeral that day for a friend of ours who was full of life and he died way too soon.

PHX Design Week & Handset Type

2009-10-24T10:37:00.000-07:00

This week kicked off the inaugural Phoenix Design Week. The designers we talked with are so excited to have this event in the valley. We had fun letterpressing hundreds of envelopes and coasters for the event.

We wanted to use some of the banged up wood type we acquired to print the envelope. I'm not sure what I was thinking because using all the different faces that had slight variations in heights made the make-ready on 600+ envelopes really insane. We love wood type and typically use the faces that are in great condition. But it was fun to cobble together a bunch of different faces, shapes and sizes. Of course it would have been easier to make a polymer plate and get the layout and kerning perfect but we figure there is enough perfection out there--bring on the banged-up, wood type! The flower is a wood type ornament (in pristine condition) and then we handset the envelope flap with gorgeous metal type.

Here's a photo of one of our boxes of mixed wood type. Look at the "t" that is at the middle top of the photo. I think someone bit in to it! Ouch!

For the coasters, we found a really old cut of a bird and metal cut of leaves. If you come to the wayzgoose, you can print your own coaster. It will most likely be a different design.

Gary handset the metal type on the back of the coaster. The one nice thing about using old metal type is that lots of the fonts are not digitized--the only way you can use them is if you have the actual typeface. Plus the old foundry type is really hard metal that can withstand the test of time and most types of paper. Printing these two pieces alone were over 3500 passes on our press that we hand-fed. Gotta love our C and P press from the 1890's-- it is a workhorse.

Wayzgoose - Oct 31, 2009!

2009-10-23T15:04:00.000-07:00

The first annual Arizona Wayzgoose - a celebration of letterpress! We've been working like mad getting ready for this very fun event. Come and join us!

The term Wayzgoose originally referred to a late summer feast hosted by master printers for their apprentices. Since Oct 31st should be near the end of our Arizona summer (we hope!), we decided to have the first ever (that we know of) Arizona wayzgoose! The day will be chock full of fun!

If you have letterpress equipment that you would like to sell at the event from 11 am-1 pm, contact us letterpress@paperstudio.com so we can reserve a spot for you.

October 31, 2009--11 am - 4 pm
The Paper Studio 520 E. Southern Ave., Tempe

11 - 1--Letterpress Equipment Swap Meet--Chat with Letterpress Printers and buy some printing type & equipment!

11 - 1--Ginormous Letterpress Magnetic Poetry--we are making a huge magnetic poetry board with letterpress words--come join us!

12 - 2--Coaster Printing--we're inking up a couple of presses so you can see what it is like to print your own swanky and functional coaster!

1 - 2--Papermaking--we are always up to our elbows in pulp, now you too can experience wet pulp with without making a mess in your kitchen!

1 - 2--Envelope Making--experience one the most popular YouTube videos we ever made and make your own envelope with your very own hands!

1 - 2--Bookmark That--we are setting plates for a bookmark so that you will have the joy or printing it yourself as well as have fond memories of this event every time you are reading your favorite book!

2 - 4--Tee Shirt Printing--This isn't topless event so please be sure to wear a shirt and bring one on which to print. Make your own statement by printing your shirt with some wood type!

3.- 4--Pochoir on Letterpress--bet you wonder what that is. Well come, see and do this fabulous French technique! (ooh la,la, the intrigue!)

Fun Posters

2009-10-23T15:02:00.000-07:00

My friend Steve told me there were some cool vintage-looking posters in the window a forthcoming restaurant in Tempe. He was right, these are fun posters! New restaurant coming called Suckerpunch Sally's. The funniest one is the vintage contraption advertising free WIFI. It was hard to get good photos since windows are very dusty window and the sun was glaring right behind me!

Snake in the Fireplace!

2009-10-23T14:05:00.000-07:00

Living next to a desert wash brings the most interesting critters our way. Unfortunately, sometimes they make it into the house.

Sounds that roust you out of a sound sleep in the middle of the night are never a good thing. Our two cats were clattering about on the rocks in our fireplace around 2:00 am--something they never do since they hate walking on the rocks. I thought maybe they found a pesky scorpion. I never would have thought in a million years it would be a snake. Gary got them to drop it and then the snake slithered back into the rocks. Two half-asleep people trying to get a very fast snake out of the fireplace with an assortment of tongs, oven mits, jars and sticks I'm sure looked quite amusing.

It was a baby snake--looked like a long worm.( I think the type point size in the orange is 24 pt to give you size perspective.) We were able to wrangle it into the special little animal habitat that I have just this type of occasion. I always have to have a good look at whatever comes our way. I looked online and it appears to be a desert night snake. Only slightly venomous--SLIGHTLY? Not supposed to be dangerous to humans at all. I read you should release animals where you find them but I decided to release it down the a few blocks down in the desert rather than back in the fireplace

Here's the dynamic duo on the lookout for their next catch.

Wood Type Letterpress

2009-09-28T11:29:00.000-07:00

Lately, it's all about the wood type.
I was actually a little nervous using this very large "W" as a background piece given how widely it was used during the past presidential administration...if you know what I mean! ;) With revamping our letterpress studio, we are finally been getting all our wood type out of their boxes an into cases. My in laws have been amazing in helping me clean some very dusty wood type. Old wood type gets an almost charcoal like dust on it--probably from sitting in somebody's old barn or warehouse for 50 years! Here's our most recent poster in process. We are used 3 different wood typefaces.
Gotta love the vandercook! I just got new paper guides--sweet! Nothing like new shiny guides to make your life happy!

Class Pics

2009-09-28T11:20:00.000-07:00

Meandering books class Heres some pics from recent classes. We are so bad at taking photos during classes--mostly becasue we are teaching! It feels good to get back into the teaching groove!

Here's a couple of photos from Star's pendant class. She is really a terrific artist and instructor!

Collage A Day - Artist Randel Plowman

2009-09-09T11:50:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite mediums to work in is collage. I've got at least 20 different collages on canvas in process and I just need to sit down and finish them! So let's talk about someone who does finish their collages.

For the longest time, I've been meaning to blog about a fabulous collage artist, Randel Plowman. Randel is an artist living and working in Northern Kentucky. A Collage a Day is an ongoing project that involves creating and posting a new 4" x 4" collage to this site every day. Each collage is offered for sale and cost $25.00, which includes: 8" x 8" archival gallery matting, documentation and free shipping.

He's gotten quite the following for his Collage A Day Blog. Go and buy his very reasonably priced original artwork! Goodness knows The Paper Studio could have an exhibition just of his work that we have purchased. These are some of his new images that are available at the time of this post. Randel was featured in the June issue of Artists Magazine. I love reading about other artists and how they work. This is a nice article where he talks about his process and creating daily collages.

You can even have his daily collages sent to your mailbox. What a visual treat to get in your inbox! Subscribe on his site today.

Circus Poster at LA Printers Fair

2009-09-08T15:34:00.000-07:00

Okay, here's my last post on the printer's fair. I had to post this because I love circus posters! This was the view from our booth and must have looked at this 100 times over the weekend. I'm not sure of the actual size of this because it was mounted way up high on a very tall wall. It was circus-sized X-LARGE. I love that they have all the wood cuts mounted right there besides the finished poster.

One ferocious tiger. ROAR!

LA Printer's Fair--People

2009-09-03T10:37:00.000-07:00

Here's a pic of Mark Barbour announcing the raffle winners. The raffle was quite the anticipated event with lots of prizes! That's Rachelle Chuang, Book Arts Institute Director, on the right who was the powerhouse coordinator of this event. I don't know anyone who has as much positive energy as that gal!Mark deserves heaps and heaps of credit for his vision and perseverance on this museum. The museum has been going for over 20 years. 20 years!! Just think, letterpress has had a major resurgence in the past 5 years as evidenced by the number of beginning printers at the fair. He had to be one of the very few to passionately believe in preserving letterpress 20 years ago. Thank goodness he did.

You just never know who you will run into at these events. Gary and I were delighted to see Kelly Kilmer (right) and her friend Kara. Normally we see Kelly when she travels to AZ to teach classes. She's a California gal--an incredibly popular collage artist & instructor who is also a prolific blogger. Check out Kelly's blog and teaching schedule--she might be in your area soon. Get your creative on and take her classes!
Out with the old--this is some of the type we took to the fair in addition to gorgeous decorative Japanese papers of course! Note, there is no photo of the wood type that we took--all of it was sold within the first 10 minutes!

In with the old! New, old dusty type that came home with us. I think that printers really just trade their stuff around and around and eventually we'll end up with the same stuff what we started with!

Here's the best part of the printer's fair for me. I got this lovely little print is from one of my favorite artist friends, Kelly Rider from grad school. She moved from the east coast to CA last year. I hadn't seen her for 5 years and a few weeks ago, I emailed her about the event thinking that she lived close by. I forget that CA is like AZ and that everything is an hour and a half away! It was so wonderful to see her, reconnect and catch up. It does your heart good to see friends that you've missed! Now, we just have to think of way to get her to come for a papermaking/letterpressing/bookbinding weekend at The Paper Studio!

A&G Engravings--Letterpress Source

2009-09-02T21:29:00.001-07:00

We met the folks at A&G engraving (super nice!) at the printer's fair because they were right by us. They do a whole plethora of things including magnesium and copper blocks. The letterpress pieces they had in their booth that were done with their plates were fabulous. We still use magnesium plates (in addition to polymer) so it is nice to find a west coast source! Here's a scan of a typical price set.

LA Printer's Fair--Letterpress Swapmeet

2009-09-02T20:19:00.000-07:00

So now you've seen the facilities, here are pics of the letterpress swap meet held on Saturday. They printed a bazillion of these letterpress flags. So festive and fun!
Danger Will Robinson! I almost fainted on Friday when we arrived and I saw all the presses and other stuff for sale! I had to make myself focus on setting up--mostly I just wanted to wander around and drool over everything.
Now that is one ginormous nipping press for books! The one behind the lady above is also huge! Just think you could press all the books in you make in your lifetime in one fell swoop!

More and more stuff came for the sale on Saturday! People were on their cell phones calling their friends to get out of bed and get down here!

Why yes, that is a baby blue vandercook with a royal blue cover. Wonder if the former owner liked blue? It was sold pronto. So was the sans-blue vandy in front of it.

More blue, this time it's the tents for the vendors. There were lot o' vendors selling their wares. The downside of being a vendor is that it is so hard to have a chance to look at all the stuff and chat with other vendors when you are running your own booth. Gary and I took turns briefly buzzing around.

I met Marjorie at the event, I recognized her name from APA. She was delightful and had really cool cuts for sale. I'm kicking myself for not getting some of the type she was selling...

The work being sold at the event was really lovely!

LA Printer's Fair--Museum cont.

2009-09-02T19:28:00.000-07:00

The previous post showed a small part of the equipment in the museum. There is another set of buildings across the parking lot that are connected with the museum. Here's their nice and bright bookbinding classroom. They just started a book arts institute where they now teach bookbinding classes. Yay!This is their letterpress teaching studio. Lots of type, but I had so little time to look since I was supposed to be setting up our booth. This is their portable printing museum. The first time I met Mark Barbour, the founder and director of the museum, was about 4 years ago when they came to AZ on their printers tour for the schools. My pal Colin worked them right out of grad school and they stopped by The Paper Studio. I was completely amazed the first time I saw this museum on wheels and and it still intrigues me today. Such a wonderful live history program for kids!

Wow, those are really, really heavy presses up there on the 2nd level! I thought moving presses and cabinets around our studio was exhausting. I cannot even imagine the work and coordination to get those presses up there!

LA Printer's Fair--International Printing Museum

2009-09-02T15:14:00.001-07:00

The 1st Printer's Fair was held last weekend at the International Printing Museum. We'd never been there so we were not sure what to expect. Boy howdy, there was so much to look at we just couldn't take it all in. They house so much letterpress history, it makes your head spin!! The Museum did a great job of demos throughout the day.
Linotype machine in action. Such a behemoth of a machine!

They were actually printing a job on the Heidelberg Windmill. An absolutely amazing machine!

It is really wonderful that the museum exists to show letterpress printing throughout the years, provide educational seminars to schools as well as teach letterpress and book arts to the community. The museum is a non-profit organization mostly staffed with volunteers and the fair is one of their fund raisers. You can show your support for them and get their fun newsletter by joining the museum.

Road Trip!

2009-09-02T15:02:00.000-07:00

Gary and I drove over to the printer's fair in LA this past weekend. Hoping for a break from the Phoenix hot weather....alas not so much--they were having record heat! I'm going to do several posts on the Printer's Fair but I just had to post this. I have never driven to LA from Phoenix--it's over 6 hours each way and mostly looks like this.
And this. And this. I think you get the picture! Although the above photo is The Badlands which is a little more interesting. I can see how the fires are spreading in LA. Everything was sooooooooooo dry--it is frightening. Let's all hope for relief for them SOON!

Print on this box!

2009-08-27T17:33:00.001-07:00

Oh the joy of handmade box paper! We've been into making recycled paper from cardboard boxes during the past year. Donna just made this lovely stack of box paper that we are taking to the printer's fair.

Jessica from Springtide Press just sent us this gorgeous print that is on our box paper. Oh so yummy! We plan to have our box papers available for sale online in the near future.

Cobbler's New Shoes

2009-08-25T20:02:00.001-07:00

You know the story about the Cobbler's kids never having new shoes....well that is kinda like us. When we had the shop open to the public, we went through business cards by the bazillions. Seriously, we would order them 1000's at time--people constantly picked them up even though we are not sure what they did with them. Anyhoo, this weekend when Gary and I were in the midst of transferring 48 cases of type from a double wide cabinet to two single cabinets (talk about a marital bonding experience--ha, ha! I'll do a separate post about that and how much work it was!) we agreed that we should finally letterpress cards for us.

So when Mike popped in today, he asked how he could help us prepare for the printer's fair. I told him I needed to get some business cards done--all I had decided so far was that I wanted to use handmade paper, Packard type and we needed a background. Mike suggested this lovely old ATF ornament and I started mixing ink like a crazy gal.
My scan of the card is not doing it justice. It is printed on a lovely pale blue handmade paper with the ornament in a summer green ink and the lettering in deep blue ink. While we love photo polymer plates, we've been trying to use stuff we have in the studio. Kinda like cooking with stuff in your cupboard! Gary was surprised when he saw the cards tonight and really liked the way the they turned out unlike the last time I surprised him by painting the outside door lime green. (sometimes you have to get those crazy ideas out before you can get a better color--the door is now a lovely grey-green)

2009-08-24T10:41:00.000-07:00

Kathryn Hunter of Blackbird Letterpress organized an Old Maid letterpress card exchange. The deck has a new twist on the Old Maid concept since we all know that there is no such thing as an old maid.

For the exchange, each participant created a pair of cards of one character. The pair of cards vary slightly--opposites or compliments to each other. The work is great and the Biker Babs card by Skybound Press rocks!

Kathryn plans to show the deck in it's entirety online and it may also be coming to an exhibition space near you! There are some really fun cards so keep checking her site as she is posting new cards daily.

Feminist Broadsides

2009-08-21T07:40:00.000-07:00

Jessica Spring and Chandler O'Leary are at it again! These talented folks have done an amazing broadside series over the past several months. Now you can get the first set of four as postcards! This is great since the first three prints are totally sold out!

Check out Jessica's etsy site for this set and other wonderful items. Be sure to check out her amazing, amazing Springtide Press site as well!
Now you can get the 5th broadside in their series which features Harriet Tubman. Get it quick, because their series sell out so fast! The prints are wonderful hand-drawn illustrations that are letterpress printed on handmade paper. It just doesn't get better than this! I just ordered mine. Check out Chandler's etsy site for the new print. Also, take a peek at Chandler's website and blog--Anagram Press. Delightful!

Book Arts Exhibition - Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport

2009-08-20T15:48:00.000-07:00

The ASU group known as A-Buncha-Book-Artists is comprised of undergraduate, graduate, faculty, alumni and guest artists. Their work is on exhibition at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport in Terminal 3 Level 2 cases. I almost fainted when I saw my book Metamorphose, on the postcard! Actually, I was really confused since I thought I was opening the water bill. The airport and the water department have the same city emblem on the envelope. Nice surprise--way better than the water bill!

I highly recommend you go and see the exhibition. We know a lot of the artists in the show and their work is amazing! This is exhibition especially near and dear to my heart because it was maybe 13-14 years ago I had just finished my first bookbinding class when I was flying out of Sky Harbor Airport and saw an ASU bookarts exhibition while I was waiting for my plane. I was totally fascinated with the work. I called ASU when I got back because I knew after seeing the work that I wanted to make artist books. Gary Martelli, the museum person who curated the show just sent over photos of the installation. Now I've gotta get over there to see the show!

Rennovation photos

2009-08-19T17:45:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in an earlier post, we have been renovating since May. We turned our former retail space into a gigantic classroom which we love! No worries, we still have our fabulous papers available for sale online. We moved a lot of product off site and boxed and organized everything else by number. It's not as visually interesting as when we had the paper racks but makes our lives 1000 times easier for pulling orders. We'll include more renovation shots in the next few posts.
We can easily seat 30-36 people for classes in our main classroom.
Note on the tables and chairs. Loading this amount of very heavy tables and 40 chairs during July and 110 degree weather was no picnic. I was absolutely drenched on both ends the loading at the pick up and unloading at the studio. I had to rent a humongous truck from Home Depot just to haul everything. One thing about papermaking and letterpress--you build up muscles because everything is heavy!! Next time we renovate, it will be in the WINTER!

Star De Luna Paper Artist

2009-08-19T15:32:00.000-07:00

I just loaded our fall classes online. Yippee! Take a peek!

We are excited that Star DeLuna will be teaching pendant and cardmaking classes with us this fall. Star has been creating art locally for many years. She dabbles in many different art mediums from photography to handmade paper art. Star hand makes delicate and ornate paper art pendants that are absolutely amazing!! She creates highly detailed miniature scenes with owls, flowers and cupcakes, among other whimsical designs. Making greeting cards for all occasions is also one of her passions. Each creation has hand drawn and cut designs. An array of different textured papers and punches are used.

You can find her original HoshiPaperArt pendants for purchase at Conspire and at hoshipaperart.etsy.com.

We're Back!

2009-08-18T18:19:00.001-07:00

Well hello there!

We didn't really go anywhere but as lots of you know, we've been renovating and reorganizing our space. It always takes way longer than you think it will. We are starting to put down the paint brushes and pick up the the type and pulp!

Mike and I thought it would be fun to do a poster and sent it out to the local folks. Whenever Mike and I work together, there is LOTS of negotiating and compromising!! :) Gary usually tries to steer clear of our collaborations but he helped print the last layer. We think it turned out fun. (we found that it is actually hard to print backwards on purpose!)

Next on my to do list is getting the fall classes online. Coming soon!!

Here's some photos!

Here's Mike in our newly painted and renovated type space. This area was previously used for storage with ginormous racking where the type cabinets are now.

I love this new-to-us, old wood type. So fun!
I love this old cut of this gal singer. I'm sure she's singing with joy that we are back!

1000 Journals Movie

2009-02-22T19:04:00.000-08:00

We went to see the 1000 Journals movie at the Phoenix Art Museum today. While I was familiar with the project and we even carried the book at the shop, I wasn't sure how it would come across in a film. Some info for those who may not know the background on this project.

In the year 2000, Brian (aka. Someguy) inspired by bathroom graffiti, created a project to get 1000 journals out in the world by placing them in cafes, restaurants, parks, bookstores, on streets, and in many other places where random people would be likely to find them. The covers were decorated and he invited people to contribute some content, then pass them on, and asked that the filled journals be returned. His message to those who found the journals said: "This is an experiment and you are part of it." It took him a couple of years to finance 1000 journals. Can you imagine going to the bookstore--"I'll take 1000 of those blank journals"...

The film shows how Brian conceived and orchestrated the project and then it looks at how many, after the full 1,000 journals went out into the world, came back? How long did it take before he began receiving any completed journals at all? This film documents a few of the journals and the people who received them. Some people kept them for a year. Some kept them longer. The majority of journals have not returned at all.

The film is well done--it's interesting & entertaining, populated with memorable characters, fascinating scenes and fabulous music. But is not all happy and upbeat (I had to dig in my purse for Kleenex). It shows a microcosm of society's personalities from normal, funny, bizarre to heartwrenching & poignant while weaving in the events happening in the world from 911 to hurricanes in Florida.

At the end of the showing, the filmmaker, Andrea Krueghage answered audience questions as well as spoke about her experience with the project. She was so committed to making the film, she sold her house to finance it. Wow.

Currently, an exhibit of the journals that have been returned are at MOMA in San Francisco until April 2009.

If this film is showing in your area, do NOT miss this extraordinary work! Or, go out get the DVD--it has lots more interesting footage and info that are in addition to the film.

Book Arts Portfolio in Demo Magazine

2008-12-17T08:53:00.000-08:00

I'm way late but I just had to post the photos from Columbia College's Demo Magazine because they featured book arts! It's just such a visual treat!
Jessica Spring--http://www.springtidepress.com/
Ben Blount

Miriam Centeno

Aimee Lee--http://aimeelee.net/

Jen Thomas--http://artistbooknews.com/thomas.htm

Mardi Sears

Shawn Sheehy--http://shawnsheehy.com/Shawn_Sheehy/Shawn_Sheehy.html

You can read the DEMO article online: http://cms.colum.edu/demo/2008/09/portfolio_book_paper_arts.php

Fran Rees in Nov/Dec Somerset Studios Magazine

2008-10-19T15:50:00.001-07:00

The Paper Studio congratulates Fran Rees for publication of her artwork and article in the current copy of Somerset Studio Magazine! Bravo!! Not only is Fran an extremely talented artist, she is a terrific person as well. It is wonderful to her work in print.
We were lucky and got to see the original work--the colors are sumptuous!

Wonderful images to inspire your holiday creativity!

Odd Journaling Class with Teesha & Tracy

2008-10-17T13:57:00.001-07:00

Teesha and Tracy Moore were recently at The Paper Studio teaching their Odd Journaler's Class. We had people everywhere--from the classroom to the papermaking studio to the gallery and letterpress! Teesha and Tracy are such talented artists and so generous with their knowledge and materials. Folks were delirious with creative delight.
So many techniques, so little time!

So much fun, like being a kid in the candy store!
Airbrushing rocks!
Work in progress!
Everyone had a super time and we can't wait to see Teesha and Tracy again soon!
Learn more about Teesha and Tracy and their other fun going-ons at http://www.teeshamoore.com/

Yay...the exhibition is up!

2008-09-24T22:25:00.000-07:00

The Power of the Press is an exhibit on of prints and collaborative media at the Chandler Center for the Arts. The artist reception is Friday 9/26 at 7:00 pm so if you are in the area, stop by and say hello. There will also be an artists' lecture on 9/30 at 7:00 pm.
A few months ago Lisa Takata and I set off on a creative adventure at The Paper Studio to use the Power of the Press in every imaginable dimension. We collected piles of colorful recyclable materials including bubble wrap, candy wrappers, mesh vegetable bags, plastic shopping bags, used sewing patterns, tissue paper and overhead transparencies. Using a heat press, we morphed the structure, texture and form of these materials by melting them together at high temperatures to create translucent, multi-layered surfaces for printmaking. We letterpress printed everything--from the tissue patterns to the melted plastic all of which were hand-cut or die-cut into a series of repeating forms. Each component piece was hand printed, varnished, pressed, melted, folded, ironed, and heat pressed numerous times. Although the resulting work incorporates familiar shapes, colors and text, the ingredients we started with are hardly recognizable. Here's some quick pics of the collaborative pieces--Swarm Pattern and Daily Candy. Also, Lisa and I each did two pieces in response to this work. I'll post them and more details later! Swarm Pattern
(detail) Daily Candy
(detail)
(detail)

The Paper Studio in the September Issue of The Artist's Magazine

2008-09-19T22:12:00.000-07:00

Okay, now back to art making!

We were thrilled to learn from one of our fellow artists - Danelle, that The Paper Studio is in the September 2008 issue of The Artist's Magazine. The Paper Studio was one of four artists/art spaces interviewed several months ago by Betsey Dillard Stroud about printmaking without a press. We are the "stomp" part of the article where you step on the inked up plate to make the print. When Danelle gave us her copy of the issue, we were tickled pink that several images of our samples were featured in the article!

The image on the front of the article are plates I made with lace and a dryer sheet--mostly for background texture.

The images featured below show a sampling of simple plates and prints. They even posted an online article with one of samples of "hammer printing" where you can make simple nature prints with out using ink and just a few bangs with a hammer. You can see this online technique at: http://www.artistsnetwork.com/article/hammer-printsWhile we wouldn't trade our letterpresses for the world, inking up everyday objects and stepping on them has lots of potential! You'll see more examples of printing without a press when I get a chance to post the work that Lisa T and I just finished for the Chandler Center for the Arts "Power of the Press" exhibition. We used every press we could think of from letterpress, to heat press to printing without a press!

Along came a spider or a solifugea

2008-09-19T21:08:00.000-07:00

20 years in AZ, I have never seen anything like this so I just had to show you the latest creature we found...
We live next to desert wash which is a great place to find dead fibery plants papermaking. However, living in the desert can involve interesting creatures occasionally wandering into our house. Gary called me over and asked me what kind of bug I thought this was. I counted the legs (8) and decided it was a spider. It looked rather dead so I told him to put it in a jar so I could get better look at it. He slid a card under it and then I saw a leg move....EEK!
After it was in the jar it started moving around like crazy! (thus the blurry photo) But yikes, I thought...it could have jumped on Gary's hand.

This creature has the same coloring as a scorpion so I looked it up online. Per wikipedia, this is a camel spider or wind scorpion. Solifugae is an order of Arachnida, containing more than 1,000 described species in about 140 genera. The name derives from Latin, and means those that flee from the sun. The order is also known by the names Solpugida, Solpugides, Solpugae, Galeodea and Mycetophorae. Solifugae are not true spiders, which are from a different order, Araneae. Like scorpions and harvestmen, they belong to a distinct arachnid order.Notice the suction cups under its body--helps him climb! It is a really interesting creature and it eats a lot of annoying things like termites and scorpions.

I released it in the desert wash--back to the wild (albeit--much farther away from our house). I read that they actually avoid the sun and that seemed to be true because it traversed over lots of rocks and sticks for quite a ways before heading into a shady thicket of brush and disappearing.

The Power of the Press

2008-08-28T13:45:00.001-07:00

The Power of the Press:Shared Visions
Chandler Center for the Arts
An Exhibition of Prints and Collaborative Media
September 19th thru October 31st

Come and see what Lisa and I have been melting and printing on!

Tempe Arts Center Paper Biennial

2008-08-28T13:00:00.000-07:00

Tempe Arts Center Biennial: Paper
Sept. 6 - Jan. 10

This exhibition celebrates the one-year anniversary of the opening of the TCA and features works on paper, art made of paper and artists inspired by paper, a tradition for first anniversaries

Top Chef in Phoenix

2008-08-25T08:33:00.000-07:00

I'm not much of a fan of TV in generally--especially reality shows but there are 2 shows that I like: Project Runway and Top Chef. I love that they have to think on their feet and create the craziest things. We started watching Top Chef because it runs after the PR season concludes.

Top Chef is doing a nation-wide sweep and breezed into the Phoenix Downtown Market a few Saturdays ago. (Get out and support your local farmers markets!!)

There were thousands of people at the downtown market shopping and waiting to participate in the culinary event, hosted by Top Chef contestants Richard Blais and Betty Fraser.The duo presented cooking demonstrations featuring local ingredients from the farmer's market. We got to see our fave from last season--Richard. Cooking with liquid nitrogen and a blow torch--who could ask for more? It was fun hearing the scoop about how the show runs. Plus, they made a delicious food for us!

Kings Books

2008-08-23T17:05:00.000-07:00

I mentioned Kings Books store in Tacoma who had all the Beautiful Angle Letterpress posters but I also needed to mention that it is just a fabulous indie bookstore! It is huge and has a wonderful selection of books. I found some great books on printing, bookbinding and art.

Now, this is my kind of bookstore--one with cats in residence. Nikko, the really big kitty.

Harriet the little 12 year old kitty. So nice! Check out Kings Books online.

Julie Chen & Flying Fish Press

2008-08-23T16:51:00.000-07:00

If you don't know Julie Chen's work, go to Flying Fish Press right now! Gary and I got a chance to get of out the AZ heat and take a 2-day workshop with Julie in Eugene OR. It was mostly on content generation which was nice break and a fun workshop.

Julie's work is quite amazing and is collected all over the world. (Julie with workshop participants)

Beautiful Angle Letterpress

2008-08-23T16:41:00.000-07:00

My friend Jessica told me about this letterpress group Beautiful Angle that runs around the city and puts up posters in Tacoma every month. The posters have become so popular they get taken down almost as fast as they go up. While visiting her recently, I got to see lots of their work at Kings Books in Tacoma since they have most of the posters. I'm sure the residents anticipate the next sighting. What a cool deal.

Check out their site to learn about them and see their work!

Esopus--go and get this today!

2008-07-26T16:40:00.000-07:00

This magazine totally caught my attention at the bookstore the other day. Something about handwritten notes...but then I went crazy looking at this fabulous publication! Esopus is a NON-PROFIT (no advertising), twice-yearly arts magazine featuring a fresh perspectives on contemporary culture from a wide range of creative professionals. It includes artists’ projects, critical writing, fiction, poetry, visual essays, interviews, and, in each issue, a themed CD of new music. The different types of paper in the magazine are amazing and so unusual these days. You can even apply to have your work in the magazine!

I love this cover piece titled DAILY REMINDERS Letters by Robert Guest. Robert Guest has been getting up at dawn every school day for the past 15 years to write a note to each of his two children, Joanna and Theo. The issues profiles a sampling of the the thousands of lunch box notes.

This piece is beautiful and the paper it is printed on is translucent so it creates an interesting visual dialog. Business analyst—and former biology teacher—Doug McNamara combines form and function in his exquisite line drawings of invented organisms.

The ARTIST’S PROJECT: DULCE PINZÓN "The Real Story of the Superheroes" is terrific. Dulce Pinzón’s photographs pay homage to the unsung—and often unseen—Mexican immigrants in New York City. The fun just never ends in this magazine! The front inside cover had a fold-y thing and the back inside cover has a thematic music CD--this month it's Good News. I got a kick out of hearing all the selections.

You can learn more about Esopus at their website http://www.esopusmag.com/

Oh what a luau!

2008-07-19T13:16:00.000-07:00

You would think we had one heck of a luau here with the hoards of pineapple tops we have drying out on our patio! The next papermaking project on deck for Donna and me is making pineapple paper. I tried to get Donna to festoon a pineapple top hat ~ala~ Carmen Miranda for a blog photo but she politely declined. We need to let them dry out before we let them rhet. Normally not a problem in AZ but this year we have been getting lots of rain from the monsoons.Hmmm...I just noticed all the pineapple tops are in boxes marked bell peppers! Regardless, we got heaps o' pineapple tops!

Pineapple tops make the most lovely golden and somewhat translucent paper. I can't wait!

Melty Things

2008-07-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Lisa and I and are working together on our next art project and we found that we have an common interest and talent in recyling and melting things! It's the on purpose type of melting not the "oops I left it in my AZ car and it's 115 degrees outside!" We are still in the conceptual stage but we are wild about the color and textures that result!

Here's our assistant, Miki-the-puppet, giving us a hand. Stay tuned to see the results!