Pistachio Press

Check out these beautiful letterpress invitations by {Pistachio Press}. Pistachio Press was officially launched during the summer of 2007, and informally since 2003 when Rachel Hetzel, a native of upstate New York, drove to Ohio to buy her first letterpress. Since then, she has accumulated several hundreds pounds of type and three more presses. It is her printmaking background that has helped drive her passion for paper and ink. She now prints fine stationary, social invitations, and limited edition prints. Pistachio Press is an environmentally conscious studio, using rubber-based inks and biodegradable citrus-based solvents for cleaning. She prints on 100% tree-free cotton papers or recycled papers that are 30% post-consumer waste.

~ Heavy Metal Letterpress ~

Last month, {Miguel Castro's} beautiful letterpress baby shower invitation design made it on {Oh So Beautiful Paper}, one of my favorite blogs! I am so proud of all the amazing work he has been producing and even more proud to see him published there! I love the added touch of stitching the two pages together at the top. Check out more of his work at {Heavy Metal Letterpress}and be prepared to be very impressed!

While looking around on {Oh So Beautiful Paper}, I came across this wonderful {letterpress book} that I have ordered and can't wait to look through it!

LOST Poster Giveaway Winners!

So...I wasn't able to pick only 2 of the best comments from the ones posted - luckily I was able to get one more from the artist/designer, {Steven Hasegawa} and have picked 3 winners! Congrats and thank you for your comments!

Please send email me your mailing information ASAP!

Screen Printed LOST Poster GIVEAWAY!

As we all mourn the end of the LOST series on TV, a friend of mine, {Steven Hasegawa} paid tribute to both Andy Warhol and JJ Abrams by designing and screen printing 40 limited edition 2-color posters by hand. They are 12"x18" untrimmed, printed on French Paper Smart White, and hand numbered.

Two posters will be given away to those who leave the best comments. Either comment on the poster / about screen printing or share your favorite memory during our time shared with the survivors of Oceanic 815.

Post your comment by May 30th 2010 at 10:00pm PST.

Looking forward to hearing from you :)

Handmade Thank You Cards!

Here is my first project combining print and sewing! I made two versions - one that says "Merci Beaucoup" (Thank you very much) and one that says "Merci Mon Amie" (Thank you my friend ~ female). I am almost ready to open my shop on Etsy...so if you are interested in these...check back soon for updates on that!

Miguel's Letterpress Journey Begins...

Join Miguel, the proud new owner of a Chandler & Price 12×18 Old Style Press, as he takes off on his letterpress journey. After hauling this beauty 5.5 hours down to San Luis Obispo, spending time refinishing the wheel and adding new wood trays, he is ready to get started! I cannot wait to see the beautiful creations he produces - both from his exceptional design skill and well, of course there is nothing more wonderful than the art of letterpress done right. Check out his {blog} and follow along as he reveals his works of art!

Also, here is a great video of a guy creating some custom coasters.

Letterpress Coasters from Quarter Productions on Vimeo.

BirdDog Press

This was a really exciting find for me and I'm sure you will agree. I selected my favorite designs by {BirdDog Press} from their {Flickr} photostream. I particularly like the ones that incorporated more than just the printed designs, the ones with fabric, eyelet and sewn embellishments. My favorite invitation was all put together in a beautiful package. They asked the guests to decorate the piece of fabric provided by a certain date and send it back to the couple. The response card had a dotted circle where the guest would place the response stickers that were included ~ accepting or declining the invitation.

Rubber Design Co. ~ A Flexible Firm

Check out the beautiful portfolio of {Rubber Design Co.}, a flexible firm. I love the execution, the attention to details, and the thought that went into the brands they worked on.

Delphine Press 2010 Letterpress Calendar!

I am so happy to finally have my 2010 {Delphine Press} letterpress calendar! (not to be confused with {Dauphine Press}) Stay tuned and I will share each month's beautifully printed design :)

~ Holiday Cards ~

Here is a selection of some of my favorite holiday cards from all that I have come across lately. As you know, I am obsessed with letterpress...so most of these are letterpress designs, of course! They are from {Oblation Papers}, {Elum Designs}, {Bespoke Letterpress Boutique} and a few others. If you are in the San Luis Obispo area...be sure to check out {Paper Sky} ~ Jessica carries a lot of these cards featured above in her store. I have been telling myself for the past few years that I will start early and design my own Christmas cards, but some how each year flies by and by the time I realize, it is usually to late. I might still try and shoot for at least designing an e-card! Stay tuned...

Linocut Maps!

After spending two months working on this lino cut of Paris, {Mark Andrew Webber} has completed yet another one of his city map carvings. So far he has done London, New York, and Amsterdam (first image). This takes an unbelievable amount of patience and determination and I admire that. The map of Paris is 150cm X 180cm.

A Modern, Traditional Wedding

First off, it made me smile to find a blog post - again on {Style Me Pretty} - that was titled A Modern, Traditional Wedding. This is exactly the style I love - tradition with a modern twist. An of course, the green is an ultimate fave! Again a DIY wedding inspired from many of the posts on SMP. The flower in her hair was purchased from {Nomsa's Etsy Shop} and photography was done by Brian Cummings of {Rob Grimm Photography}.

Some explanation from the bride herself:
I’ve been obsessed with SMP since the moment of my engagement. Admittedly, I haven’t known what to do with myself since the wedding and all my free time which was once spent on wedding blogs. As a graphic designer I saw my wedding as an opportunity to showcase my style and personality, to brand us as a couple, in a sense. I found the best way to let my personality shine was in the tiny details. Everything from the programs to the cake topper I thought about in great length. Also, being on a budget, most of these projects required a DIY execution, which also helped to give my wedding a unique look and feel. Overall, Id say the style outcome was contemporary with an eclectic sprinkling.

As for the fashion…I purchased from J Crew and had a seamstress add the flowers, an overlay, and a train… I had a vision, and she really made it come true. The bridesmaids and groomsmen also wore J Crew.

The simple centerpieces which were DIY, and nature inspired. I letterpressed the coasters myself that said Eat + drink and be married.

The flowers were all DIY put together by the wedding party the night before the ceremony. The W in the rings picture was also the cake topper and was a vintage metal letter I purchased at {Three Potato Four}.

Our guestbook was made of tiny envelopes where the guests were asked to write a wedding wish, message, or funny story. We also made little pins for guests to wear to really continue the look.

Words Hurt Too

This is an excellent typographic piece done by {Loducca}, a campaign associated with Children & Adolescents Reference Center - Words hurt too. Any kind of violence against children is a crime. The bruise and blood is made up of typography - phrases such as "Nobody loves you" or "I hate your voice". Found via {Fubiz}.

I Love You, Blogs and Coffee

Story of my life! I must get one of these :) I am obsessed and get lost in design/wedding blog world and can't live without coffee...Check out this screenprint along with many other great designs by {MadeByGirl}.

Happy Belated Birthday America!

I have come across this {design} on several blogs in the past few days and it keeps standing out to me so I wanted to share it with all of you. It is a pretty creative concept that is well executed. Each print is handmade, signed and numbered in a series of 175. They are xylene transfers on paper - much like screen printing but without a screen and the design is transferred by hand inch by inch. Each piece is original and therefore may be slightly different from each other.

Save the Dates - Raffi & Kohar

Here are the save the date cards that I designed, printed, and put together for a friend of mine. The image is one from their {engagement photoshoot}. Check back for the wedding invitations I designed for them once those are printed. Can't wait for the big day guys!

SEQUENCES 2009

I was blown away by this - a collaboration between Siggi Odds, Sven and Mundi. {Sequence} is a real-time art festival in Reykjavik, Iceland, hosted annually by the Living Arts Museum. The {final project} consisted of an idea of milk captured in time - hinting at the festival's real-time focus. They spent a lot of money, buying liters of milk, but had fun in the process. In the end, they couldn't resist the temptation to pour the milk all over Mundi - captured in the last image. The posters were offset printed with two colors, black and bright PMS 605. They noted that an environmentally friendly printer was used.

Mark Webber - Linocuts

The linoleum block prints done by {Mark Webber} are truly amazing. Having worked on a linoleum carving before, I can say it was quite difficult - and mine was probably one of the simplest designs ever - not a map of Amsterdam! All the images were flipped (they are carved backwards so they print the correct way - much like a stamp) - so that makes it even harder! The amount of detail in the map blew me away. The second image is just because the statement he is making is oh so true...

Wiley Valentine ~ Inspired Paper Delights

Emily and Rachelle grew up inspired by each of their grandmothers' - Mary Wiley and Norma Jean Valentine - artistic and eclectic expressions of life. Their grandmothers inspired them to pursue creative endeavors. After working at the same graphic design firm in California, they both realized that they were going about passionless projects that were too mainstream. They found a common sense of enthusiasm for using their creative aspirations to revamp the paper industry. They left their jobs to found the E & R Design Group, which formed the groundwork for the fashionably classic line of paper products. They called it {Wiley Valentine}. With sustainably being more important now than ever before, they made the commitment to become a 100% sustainable paper company. Today, all of their paper prints are either 100% recycled PSC or 100% cotton, a natural, renewable resource. No trees! In their studio, they reuse all of the 100% recycled fax paper and shred every mock-up and misprint - they reuse all of these in resourceful and colorful packaging material!

Armenian Genocide Commemoration - 33rpm

April 24th is the day that we commemorate the 1.5 million lives lost in the Armenian Genocide committed at the hands of the Ottoman Turks in 1915. To this day, the genocide is not recognized as anything more than a "tragedy" by the United States and Turkey. Hundreds and hundreds of different forms of evidence are ignored in hopes of it being forgotten. This was the first genocide of the 20th century. Adolf Hitler was quoted saying "Who, after all, remembers the Armenians today?" He used the fact that these crimes committed were not punished as ammunition for his own agenda. He thought he too would get away with it. This is solid proof that history does in fact repeat itself and that crimes that go unpunished will come back to haunt us - as we are seeing today in so many parts of the world. Due to extreme geopolitical interest in the region of Turkey, the United States presidents continuously make the promise to recognize the genocide for what it was, but are then threatened into not doing so. It is time that my ancestors and the ancestors of all Armenians are able to rest in peace, to know that their deaths were not in vain, and let this be a lesson to the world. Everything that happened during the Holocaust - everything that sickens people to hear or think about today - happened to the Armenians first. Why then is that no just as sickening to people - not enough for a difference to be made.

So now that I am done with my piece for the day, this wonderful poster was designed and printed by designer Andrio Abero,{33rpm}. It was illustrated for {The New Republic} - calling it "Armenian Coverup" - portraying the shadow of the Ottoman Turk. A graduate from the Art Institute of Seattle, Abero established 33rpm, in 2000. Recognized as a leading designer from the Northwest, Andrio has proudly worked within Seattle's vibrant music scene for almost 10 years. He now lives and works in the creative capitol of Brooklyn, NY.