Lovely Letterpress

I have fallen in love with Letterpress, and the only thing stopping me from picking up and moving somewhere to find a job at a studio is the usual: lack of experience. So if anyone knows of a cool letterpress shop in Phoenix (where I will be for the second half of the year) that will allow me to intern/apprentice, please, do tell. 

The blog Beast Pieces, with a digital letterpress banner to boot, chronicles the creative work of Studio on Fire. The Minneapolis-based studio prints and custom designs an array of letterpress projects including invitations, business cards, promotional pieces, packaging, posters and more. From what I hear they are some of the best in the business. I've never been one to be up to date on the who's who of the who's who, but a few people I've talked to know of them and also rave, and I've run into them elsewhere on the wide world of the web. 

The coolest thing about letterpress is the richness of color and the texture of the finished products. Even dark inks look rich, like the paper just sops them up. The variety of papers for use is also pretty cool. Different thicknesses and textures make patterns and impressions come to life in so many different ways. It's such a versatile medium. 

Studio on fire isn't afraid to deviate from the norm. And their use of colors, patterns, and shapes make their work so much fun to peruse.  

(This is one of my favorite business card examples, mostly because I like the logo... a lot)

It's also a lot of fun to look through their wedding invite packages. They do custom stitching and die cuts, and seeing how different people devise ways to present their information is just fascinating to me. 

On their blog they often give insight into different letterpress processes, which makes me happy because I feel like I'm learning and can appreciate the art even more. 

[Images from Beast Pieces] 

An unfortunate equation

So, I'm back and sad to have been gone so long because of strange circumstances. Have you ever had such a stream of bad luck in one week that it really makes you question what you did to affect your karma enough to cause this many things to happen at once? Well, that was me a few weeks ago. My computer, which I planned to back up upon arriving home, basically died the weekend before finals. Luckily I wasn't working on my design finals on that computer, but I did have to scramble to contact people for copies of some portfolio work. I lost everything on the hard drive. And I was trying to graduate simultaneously, which thankfully did happen. Then I moved out of a house of nine people and was the last person to leave. This means I get to clean more and make sure the house is empty, which invariably takes hours and hours and hours. In between these events were other smaller disruptions such as stepping in dog doo, momentarily losing a flash drive and being convinced it was gone forever, losing three hours of design work and a few other events that would take too long to explain. I guess the point of all of this is that there has been a break in entry making, but note that the break is followed by a solid line. I am back and ready to write. Get excited! I am still moving things around while simultaneously preparing for a garage sale, so we'll see if anything interesting crops up. In the mean time, have a wonderful day! (P.S. - I haven't reinstalled my programs yet, so I am using the family PC with an ancient scanner, so pardon the poor doodle quality)

Peas Please

Here's a legitimate doodle. Get excited. 

It's based on something some cool person said a few days ago. 

I wish I'd had a thinner pen. And remembered to use a question mark.