National Stationery Show with Ladies of Letterpress

Just got back a few days ago from the National Stationery Show, and slowly becoming re-combobulated. It was a whirlwind of paper, prints, cards, 'glad-handing' (as my friend Kseniya puts it), with some ribbons and balloon animals thrown in the mix. I made some wonderful new friends, though I need to apologize if I remember your prints more than I do your face or name.

I didn't exhibit this year, and instead focused on helping out my fellow Ladies of Letterpress to set up and, um, man the booth. There were eleven printers sharing the extra-large booth display, each one displaying their unique skills and creativity. Their names, and links to each of their websites, can be found here.

It was my first time visiting NSS, and even though the first day was overwhelming (had to find a quiet corner at one point to read for a while), I left feeling exhilarated. Not quite enough for me to jump into the stationery business, but enough for me to go back for another round one day.

L.A. Printers Fair

Well it took a bit of coaxing from Rachelle Chuang, the tireless volunteer extraordinaire at the International Printing Museum, but I packed up and headed out to the L.A. Printers Fair last week. I met my friend Kseniya Thomas there, where we set up a Ladies of Letterpress table right next to my Heroes & Criminals Press table. The trip was mostly for work, but we made sure to fit in a little bit of sight-seeing, shopping, and sampling the local cuisine in some swanky (and some not-so-swanky) restaurants.

The fair itself was overwhelming, not just for me but also for the 1200+ visitors walking around like deer in headlights. And I mean overwhelming in the best of ways: such an amazing gathering of talented people, printed goods, presses, type, and anything else you can think of that's letterpress-related. As it turns out, the museum in itself would've been worth the trip, and the fair was just icing (gobs of icing). If you haven't been yet, I highly recommend that you put this event on your calendar for next year. Here are some highlights:

How many?

How many blogs can one girl have? Well, in my case, two. And to tell you the truth, I'm not even sure why. I'm particularly attached to this Blogger blog, where you are now, because it was my very first foray into the world of the internets. It existed before Heroes and Criminals Press, Ladies of Letterpress, and even before my current gmail account! So I guess we have long-term relationship, and we're sticking it out for now.

But I also have a fancy-schmancy website, which came included with a blog of its own, cleverly called "News". But really folks - it's just another blog, right? Anyways, my point is that I updated that blog this morning about a recent trip I took to San Francisco to represent Ladies of Letterpress, and I just don't feel like repeating myself here. So for now, go to that blog to read all about it, and I'll let you know if we end up saying goodbye to one of these blogs down the road...

 

Chocolate type, yum!

Greetings From...

I got the most beautiful set of postcards in the mail yesterday, all hand-printed by members of the Ladies of Letterpress! This is a print exchange inspired by mid-century postcards we remember, with the friendly phrases "Greetings from..." or "Hello from...", received each summer from vacationing friends and family. For the summer of 2010, we greet each other from our hometowns and our presses, creating a unique collection of personalized letterpress printed cards. This is just a small sampling of the talent and good cheer that makes up the Ladies of Letterpress.

 

One of the members, Camille Robin of Fish Lake Press instigated this project, organized it, and spent an extraordinary amount of time typesetting and printing the colophon, collating, packaging, and shipping out the finished cards. I loved going through these cards, and felt like I was on a whirlwind roadtrip as I flipped through them, each one a wonderful new surprise. (This photo only shows a small smattering of the whole collection.) We also have a few extra sets to sell, and the proceeds will go into the LofL Scholarship Fund, yippee!

To see all of the postcards in this collection, check out the LoL Postcard Swap 2010 Album here.

Have I mentioned that the Ladies of Letterpress rock? Yes, they do.

Ladies of Letterpress at Pyramid Atlantic

Spent the weekend at the The Book (R)evolution, the Pyramid Atlantic Book Arts Fair, and had a blast. Instead of setting up a table for H&C Press, I decided to set up a Ladies of Letterpress table with Kseniya Thomas to promote LofL and our first LofL conference, to be held next August in Asheville, NC. We were asked by the planning committee to participate in the fair by giving letterpress demonstrations, so we set up a printing area and promptly dubbed it the "Letterpress Party Room". We set up our two Kelsey 5x8 presses, one set with type and the other with photopolymer plates, and let visitors print their own takeaway cards. It was fun to see their faces light up as many of them printed for the very first time! It was also great to see dear old friends and make a few new ones as well, and to see the fantastic bookworks being made by a group of talented and inspiring artists.