Music Mondays | Comet’s Tail
By my memory, I've only been in the recording studio twice. Once was to play on Andrew Allen's Secret Identity (I hope to be able to share it with you one day). The other was as a lackey during the recording of an incredible Michael Brecker tribute album called The...
Keeping the Kids Happy
I recently had the pleasure of taking my family to the incredible estate of John Ringling - yep, the circus guy. On it, there's a circus museum (or two), an opulent mansion called Ca' d' Zan (House of John), Florida's oldest rose garden, and an incredible art museum....
The Best Results for 2-sided Letterpress
One of my favorite shop techniques happens to be one of the most labor intensive. It's duplexing: When we glue two or more substrates together to make a sandwich of printed goodness. We typically duplex a project for one of a few reasons: To obtain a paper thickness...
It Is a Tree of Life To All Who Grasp It
Sometimes you get clients that are a dream to work with. Not to brag (ok, totally to brag), but I get them quite often. Working on Jonah's bar mitzvah invitations with his family was definitely one of those experiences. We started with the gatefold - a representation...
Hands-on with Your Wedding Invitations
I shaved this morning. It might not seem like a big deal, but the details make it a big deal to me. It's because, for the last few months, every razor I own has been dull and chipped and tuggy. The kind of shaves you get when you see that the cartridge on your Mach3...
Curves in All the Right Places
For graphic designers, nothing simultaneously holds more power and intrigue than the pen tool. Pressing its keyboard shortcut, the "p" key give some the keys to the kingdom and makes others break out in a cold sweat. Mastery of the pen tool and its bézier (pronounced...
A Design Lesson From Reality TV
In my mind, the core of design lies at the intersection of form, function and money. It needs to solve problems. It needs to look good. It needs to work. And someone’s got to be willing to pay for it (design for a cause still involves some manner of value exchange)....
Can Some Things Be More Handmade Than Others?
Some things are wholly handmade: A carved wooden spoon. A hand-sewn leather wallet. A dreamcatcher. An Amish barn. And some can be wholly machine made: The tube of toothpaste in your medicine cabinet, quite a few electronics, and possibly your car. But in...
Music Mondays | Seaboard
Music Mondays: because life’s better with a soundtrack. The other day, Sean McCabe hipped me to Bill Laurance. He’s an original member of Snarky Puppy (If you haven’t seen this yet, watch it now) and he carries the torch into his so work with aplomb. I was watching...
Kraft Paper
Nope, it's not craft paper. It's Kraft Paper. Technically, kraft paper is any paper produced by the "Kraft" pulping method (treating wood chips with sodium hydroxide and sodium sulfide to break them down). What most of us recognize kraft paper by is its medium-brown...
Jiyong Lee’s Glass Sculptures
One of my favorite questions is "what happens when...?" It's about exploring the possibilities that lie outside the status quo. Sometimes it's doing things they way they used to be done (before they were done they way they currently are) and sometimes it's about...
Substrates
Not every inviting experience starts with paper. Sometimes wood or acrylic or fabric is the order of the day. Because "paper" isn't always the best term to use when discussing a project, sometimes we'll use the word substrate. That's just printer speak for the...
How To Be A More Efficient Graphic Designer
A large part of the world of stationery is graphic design. I spend a large portion of my day in Adobe Illustrator. I know my tools fairly well. Then I watch people like Aaron Draplin work and am floored by the efficiency of some designers. I know the key to that...
Bone Calligraphy Business Cards
Sometimes you just have to stretch yourself. These knockout letterpress business cards were just such an endeavour. Not every letterpress press is designed for flood printing and not every one that can do it is set up to. This was an exercise in testing those...
Do You Have What It Takes?
Hey! Things are getting pretty busy around here and we could use an extra pair of hands! We've got a business/marketing intern opportunity available. Check it out here.
This is Cool | 54×40 Laser-Cut State Maps
It's no secret that I love almost anything shaped by a laser - cut it, etch it, just make something cool. The folks at 54x40 are making something very cool. They're laser-cut topographic maps of each state. It's kind of a bummer that the two states I've called home...
A Letterpress Introduction
If you browse my instagram of late, you may notice that we've been printing a lot of business cards and personal/business stationery. The truth is, we have been printing business cards like crazy. We've been focusing on growing the letterpress printing side of A Fine...
Hillary Bold – A Political Typeface
Last week, Designer Rick Wolff tweeted an image of Hillary Bold (#Hillvetica), his riff on the infamous Hillary '16 logo. Hillary Bold. Because, America. You're welcome. pic.twitter.com/Y2HRzM4tMn — Rick Wolff (@RickWolff) April 13, 2015 Now, The Washington Post has...
Combining Full-color Images With Letterpress and Foil Stamping
I'm absolutely loving the trend of combining full-color (and greyscale) images with spot-color printing like letterpress, foil stamping and screenprinting. It can create serious drama in an invitation or even business stationery. This is especially true when the...
A Busy Week of Business Cards
Not long after I started promoting Wild 166# paper as an excellent choice for business cards and the Humble Beginnings collection, my primary supplier completely ran out. Ain't that a kick in the head? I finally found another supplier and got Elise is a talented...
Beauty and the Ginger Letterpress Invitations
I love couples with a sense of humor. My friends Brian (he insists with an "i" is the only correct spelling of the name) and Kelly have it in spades. After a recent shop move, I unearthed this beautiful letterpress invitation I helped them create. Brian runs his own...