WHOA Book Release Reception & Readings

 A fun time was had by all at the WHOA book release party. Author Becky Byrkit and poet Cynthia Hogue did poetry readings and attendees got to letterpess print an excerpt from one of Becky's poems.

It was a full house at the readings!

Jerry Riopelle rocks!

AmeriCamera band was terrific!

Becky's dog Kamali is adorable and exhausted.

Poetry & Music and Letterpress Printing

Join us for a fabulous reception of Becky Byrkit's newest poetry book! Readings by Becky Brykit & Cynthia Hogue. Musical performances by Jerry Riopelle and AmeriCamera.


Becky will sign copies of her new book and letterpress broadside. You will also be able to letterpress a keepsake of the event!

Doors open at 4:00 pm on Sunday the 23rd. Free!

Letterpress Central to host National Printing Conference!

We are hosting the APA letterpress printing conference in 2013. Yippee!

Nothing says Arizona like pointy Tuscan Gothic wood type by WM Page as well as highlighting the fact that we do have AIR CONDITIONING and indoor restrooms!

Dive in to letterpress, Phoenix!

When you live in a warm climate, it helps to think cool thoughts! Plus, I love how letterpress is going along swimmingly in the Phoenix area!

A Strange Kind of Sympathy

Anthony Velasquez is a local artist who creates amazing paintings. We worked with him to make a piece to go with his show at the Lisa Sette Gallery in Scottsdale. He was fun to work with because he wanted hand set type to go with the vintage images he paints. The show - A Strange Kind of Sympathy - was amazing!

Half Off Bacon - Mad Men Letterpress Class

After the Madmen inspired letterpress class, Lisa took her coasters with her to show friends at dinner. She said the wait staff were very intrigued but not intrigued enough to give them 50% off bacon!

Images from the class. Such a fun day!

Letterpress Central Open House

We are having an open house at Letterpress Central on April 21 from 10 - 2 pm. 

Come join us--you can make a print and have a snack!

Mike decided to make some signs using our enormous sign press. Great chance to use some super large wood type. The sheets he printed are 22 x 30 and the 3 signs almost cover an 8 foot table! 

Gary and I worked on the invites that would be mailed. We could have done a polymer plate but decided to do all hand-set metal type and ornaments. Then of course, I forgot to photograph the lock up. Hand-set type lock ups are almost a work of art by themselves. So much more interesting than polymer plates. We have such an amazing collection of old typefaces and ornaments that it can be hard to choose! We ended up with a reverse Gill, Trylon shaded, Brody, Packard and a french typeface - Le Moreau where the nick is upside down and it totally confused us!

 Wonder if the color of the clothes influence the ink color? Hmmm.....

We printed envelopes in three fun colors, chartreuse, aqua and kraft. I think I like printing envelopes as much as the invites because it is such fun to get surprising mail!

Maps Part II

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 Letterpress Goods online

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.

The A's Have It!

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

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.

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!