Cassettes!!

This project was great! I got together again with Paul from Tor Johnson Records and he told me about this killer project. He was releasing a 3 song cassette for one of their bands, Alpha Owl, and he wanted the tapes to have letterpress inserts. I jumped on this!

I designed the front cover image in pen and ink along with the lettering and ink splatter elements. I used Boxcar Press again to have a polymer plate made of the art and design. The design and plates were in and ready by mid-December, but our son was born and I wasn't able to print until February! Excuses excuses...

The inserts were printed in black ink on 100% cotton Domestic Etching paper using our etching press. I was able to achieve a very deep impression in the paper. The red ink was added by hand as was the gold leaf detail on the front design. The end result was sharp!

Paul had the physical cassettes made in red with black lettering and he then hand-typed a small insert for all 100 tapes using an old manual typewriter. The tapes were a huge hit and I am look forward to another project with Paul and everyone at TJR. Here is a link to the cassette!

I made a few variant covers as well for Paul. There is a black on black one as well as a red and gold one.

**Paul provided new tunes for the printing marathon. So killer.**

**The final inserts trimmed and scored.**

**The finished insert with red ink and gold leaf details. That snake was shiny! Pictures do no justice for the gold.**

**Finished cassette for Tor Johnson Records.**

CHRISTMAS IN OCTOBER!

This year being our 1st Christmas at Spofford Press we made Holiday Cards. We went with 3 different designs that all started as drawings. Once the drawings and the lettering were complete we had plates made to print the cards off of. We used Boxcar Press, a company that takes your drawings and designs and processes then into polymer plates. These plates are inked and printed in relief, the same as our engraving blocks and linocuts. Using plates instead of hand-carving blocks also allows for a deep impression in the paper: that heavy letterpress look we all love!

For the first card, we mixed a custom red ink. The traditional MERRY CHRISTMAS ornament design was printed using our etching press. The dark green branch was printed second, and then the radiating lines were blind debossed last. Each card went through the press 3 times, using 3 plates, one for each color.

Our second design was the snowflake card. We mixed a custom Silver oil-based ink with some fine mica, giving it a glittery shine! The silver design was printed 1st. We then printed all of the small snowflakes as a blind debossing. It added a fun element to the cards!

Our third design was the most fun! The Christmas lights cord was printed in the same custom dark green as the branch from the ornament card. This design trails onto the back of the card, where the strand of lights is plugged into a wall socket! The next color printed was the yellow for the light bulbs. We then printed a message inside of the card, which reads "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" in bright red.

Once all of the cards were dry and happy, the paper was scored and folded, corners were rounded out on the Snowflake card, and they were all packaged up with beautiful envelopes from French Paper Mill.