Thursday, December 23, 2010

Fa la, la, la and snowmen

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!

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!

Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Just in time for the holiday - Gluttony Pants!


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!

Friday, November 05, 2010

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

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

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

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

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!!

Monday, October 18, 2010

The International Printing Museum Needs Our Help!

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

 
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

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

Monday, October 11, 2010

LA Printer's Fair 2010

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!