Spring 2014 Stationery Line

Cards & Swear Words!

We released our Spring line this past week! It is a colorful mix of note cards and a small print that are getting a great response so far! Both presses were used for the actual printing, which went quickly and surprisingly without any issues!

This is our "Ship In a Bottle" note card. It is an A2 size card printed in Navy Blue ink on 110lb Cranes Lettra paper.

This guy is also an A2 sized card. The Turquoise ink is printed on 110lb Cranes Letttra, whereas the Charcoal Grey is printed on 100lb Kraft Cover stock. The "You Got This" was hand drawn lettering we had made into a plate for printing.

This is our first small full color print we've made. The lettering for "Quit Slackin & Make Shit Happen" was taken from old type block designs and made into a printing plate.

And then we made these guys. A very simple concept, these are cream colored note cards that so subtly have "Go Fuck Yourself" pressed into them! The lettering was hand drawn and made into a printing plate, which we printed using our etching press for an intensely deep impression. Like 3-D deep! They are on a classic cream stationary paper and come in a set of 5 with matching envelopes!

 Printing the "You Got This" cards on the Kelsey press. This turquoise we mixed up is my new favorite color.

 The "Ship in a Bottle" plate locked up on the Kelsey press. 

This is a picture of the Ship cards drying in our "Slinky Drying rack"! I swear I did not invent this idea. A Slinky is stretched along a piece of 2x4 and stapled into place, creating a drying rack that holds 70 pieces of paper or cards. 

This image comes from a drawing I created and had made into a polymer plate for printing. Each of these guys come with a dark charcoal envelope from French Paper Mill.

We printed these using a process called "Split Fountain", in which the ink is bright green on one end of the brayer and dark teal on the other. They naturally blend in the middle to make a gradation. Each print has a slightly different color blend because they were each inked by hand one at a time!  

Inking up the plate. 

Drying Time

We achieved a nice deep impression on these using the etching press! 

All of these new cards and our new print are available in our Etsy store.  Check them out! We are already cooking up some new ideas for Summer! 

Whales & Bird Skull Prints

Two New Prints!

I have been pretty productive this past month! We have 2 new prints editioned and ready to go!  

The 1st is a new Resingrave engraving of 2 whales titled "Mother and Calf". The block size is only 3x6 inches. Here are the process steps of engraving the block along with printing the final image! 

Drawing of the whales on the block. 

The 1st engraved lines. They are very faint and help layout where all of the shadows and details will be. 

Here I'm using a diamond shaped engraving burin. Lines don't get much finer then these. 

Coming Along...

Here is the block right before adding highlights to the small calf. 

Here is the calf with the highlights engraved. 

The block sans background.

Close Up!

The final block ready to print! 

Oh there's nothing more satisfying then pulling that 1st beautiful print! 

Mother and Calf - printed in an edition of 50 on Zerkall paper. 

.   .   .  

Once "Mother and Calf" was editioned,  I purchased a set of linocut tools from Flexcut called the Micro Palm Tool Set. I had to try them out, so I prepped a 12x12 inch linoleum block with an older design I had and started carving. The tools are amazing when it comes to fine line detail work! Here are some process pictures. The print is titled "Pretending To". It was printed on Domestic Etching Paper in a very small edition of 20. 

The Tool Set.

Transferring the image onto the linoleum.

Carving Begins.

Coming Along

The final block ready for the press.

Inking station getting set up.

The Block On Press.

Inking up the block. I had to come up with a rail system to ink this guy evenly. I used longer pieces of mat board covered in blue tape, which raised them to the exact height of the printing surface of the linoleum. The brayer rolls over the block and over these rails instead of getting ink all over the press bed. The rails are then removed and the block is printed.  Nice little trick.

Hanging Up Drying

Pretending To - linocut printed on an 11x12 inch sheet of Domestic Etching paper in an edition of 20 prints. 

Both of these editioned prints are available in our shop!!