Creating Value :: Paper

Paper choice. It's an important part of what pushes your work towards sophistication and something your client can value. Some of the considerations when choosing paper are its weight, color and texture, or/and taking it a step further by understanding the paper manufacturer's history and culture.

Letterpress Insert Covers :: Traveler Notebooks

NOTEBOOK INSERTS FOR TRAVELER NOTEBOOKS
LETTERPRESS COVER

I’ve been delving and developing notebook inserts. It all started with a bullet journal article I read. Like many of us we have a note book or ten floating around us at any given moment. They are promisers of taking a load off our brains, getting things better organized and the added bonus of sitting pretty on a table, but after a few pages filled they can be like an old toy left alone.

Kismet, Fabrica Notebooks

THE BIG AND SMALL NOTEBOOK BY FABRICA
PHOTOS VIA CATARINA CARREIRAS WEBSITE

The other day I eyed some notebooks from across the counter at Benetton. The sales girl asked which one I wanted hurriedly but politely, after all the store was full. I asked for the black and white one with the simple motif, so she handed it over.  That style only came in the smaller format, The Small Notebook it was literally called. My second choice was a colorful lime green chevron motif in a larger A5 format, The Big Notebook. The sales person took it for me to further inspect; it had a lovely hot pink elastic enclosure and an emerald green book mark. There were plenty of others to admire, but my husband gave me a sign that the customers behind me were becoming disgruntled and I should move it along.  I couldn’t help but bring The Big Notebook home and I was happy at the chance to start a new bullet journal as my explorations deepen. 

Letterpress Planner and Methods

Paper, thinking and writing come hand in hand in planners, notebooks, calendars, journals...  I wrote in an earlier post of the newest wave, the bullet journal, bringing note taking all together. It’s a creative and tidy method to put all your projects, to do lists, sketches, calendar of events into one place rather than having sheets of paper, numerous notebooks or even bookmarked links all over the place. What’s is more, you have more control over what goes into it.

i.e. ABOVE ALL, ME
CUSTOMIZED LETTERPRESS COVER - PLANNER

Turntable Tuesday :: Letterpress Seed Packages

This post is long overdue, but hey really relevant come next spring! I organized a letterpress seed project with other European letterpress gals, except for two ladies who came from California and Mexico City. There is a brief description of the concept and list of participants here. It was fun collaborating with these talented people. I even managed to eat some of the fruits of our labor and have seen some of the plants come back to flourish again in 2015!

EUROPEAN LADY LETTERPRESS PRINTERS 
FROM GERMANY, ICELAND, BELGIUM, ITALY, NETHERLANDS, CALIFORNIA AND MEXICO

Turntable Tuesday :: DIY Kraft Wrapping Paper Tips

There’s a flood of cool wrapping paper on the market today. A simple home printer and ordinary kraft packing paper can be all you need...well almost. Kraft paper is a good choice for home printers, because it already has a rustic lack-luster look to it. Often times with home printers, color prints aren’t as vibrant as one would hope. After you’ve created or found artwork, you need to use graphic design software, in particular layout software to print the way you want on your home printer.  An alternative are the tons of savvy blogs or sites (heard of pinterest) today with free pdfs that you can print directly from!

DIY KRAFT WRAPPING PAPER 

Baptism Letterpress Invites :: Inviti di Battesimo

Battesimi (baptisms) are a pretty big deal here in Italy. A Sunday lunch out in a nice restaurant is customary to celebrate after mass. I printed up our little one’s invites for the special occasion. It had been a while since I’d used my metal type/decoration opting many times to use cliches.

INVITI BATTESIMO | BAPTISM INVITE LETTERPRESS SUITE
METAL TYPE COMPOSITION | TWO COLOR PERIWINKLE & HOT HAUS ROSE

Letterpress Bomboniere

These letterpress “bomboniere” (fancy sweet box) were made for a baby who was born about a month after Maya. In Italy, it’s common to give back a little treat to those who gave you and your baby a gift. Here in Italy that gift is typically given after the baby is born...baby showers are a newish thing here.

I’d really like to add more of these wooden vintage toys to a collection soon!

LETTERPRESS BOMBONIERE | TWO COLORS BLOSSOM PINK & STEEL GREY
PRINTED ON CLASSIC CREST 110 LB PAPER | BESPOKE DESIGN

Baby Shower Invitation

New Year upon us and if you are like me, you’ve got plenty of design inspiration and desperately seeking for time to do it all. Like mentioned on a previous post, being a creative means enjoying just about all acts of creating, which can be daunting but very satisfying!

Illustration and Design Pirouette Press | Screen printing Sire Press |
Gold Ink on French Paper Whip Cream

Lately it’s been pretty baby centric here. Before we welcomed Maya, a baby shower was given to her back in Texas. Needless to say, stationery is my specialty and I wanted to design her cards. This time round, I decided to focus on the design and leave the printing to Sire Press who did a great job screen printing! I absolutely love the gold ink on French Paper's Whip Cream!

The design is available for letterpress or flat printing.
Send inquiries at pirouettepress@gmail.com

Letterpress Kraft Envelopes :: All You Need Is Love and Postcards

All you need is love and postcards, especially vintage flea market ones or rock promotional postcards. These rummaged treasures have always been something I can’t resist. There’s permanence in the way Perry Farrell screams into his microphone with fluorescent dipped braids early on with Janes Addiction. I picked up that one on Congress Ave. Austin Texas when that infamous first album came out. These impressions are tainted in a way mail in the inbox has never been-they are stuck in time and bring me back to a physical place, full of smells and colors that plainspokenly give sense of direction.

LETTERPRESS TWO COLOR KRAFT ENVELOPES "ALL YOU NEED IS LOVE “ 
HANDPRESSED-WOODEN LETTERS

Letterpress Basics: Time to Print

This is the fourth in a series of posts speaking about the basics of letterpress. I started off with how to use a composure stick, next working with metal type and then on to moving your composition from galley to chase ready for print. There are a lot of visuals taken from my own hands-on experience learning the basics of letterpress in Paris with Thomas Gravemaker some years back. This is an overview and would suggest anyone interested in the craft to take on a workshop for more in-depth knowledge. So without further ado, it’s time to print!

CUTTING PAPER DOWN TO SIZE

Buon Auspicio Letterpress Notecards

Buon Auspicio! Good Luck! This is the first of a series of notecards dedicated to arrows. They symbolized many things for the American Indians and they are still used today to show us direction. 

Small format letterpress notecard - hand pressed - kraft envelope - printed on cotton paper - pms black  

Mini DIY: Jazz It Up Envelope Liners

Versione inglese e italiano

A printer closed shop in a nearby village and gave away tons of plain white mini envelopes and cards. One way to jazz up a simple envelope is to make some liners. I experimented with different weight and textured paper.  For paper lovers, surely you’ve collected gift wrap or other types of snazzy ephemera. You’ll be able to create envelopes you’d find hard to get. I had some light weight floral wrapping paper I decided to up-cycle tucked away. The colors popped and coordinated with my letterpress baby notecard card design.

IT: Un tipografico ha chiuso il negozio nelle vicinanze così ha dato via un sacco di buste e bigliettini. Un modo per abbellire una semplice busta è fare una fodera. Ho sperimentato con diverse grammature e tipi di carta. Per gli amanti della carta, sicuramente collezionare carta non più utile al momento (carta da impagliatura, depliant, reviste, etc...) aiuta nel processo. Ho trovato carta da impagliatura floreale con colori che si coordinavano con il mio design di auguri per bambini fatto in letterpress. 

Two color letterpress BABY Notecards designed for Cuore di Mamma baby concept store- handset with wood and metal type - white cardstock with envelope and floral liner

Say it in Italian: mini letterpress notecards

You don’t have to be Italian to say something in Italian! Italian mini letterpress notecards. Tanti Auguri & tante belle cose, roughly translates to congratulations & many beautiful things. Notes printed on text weight Italian Magnani ivory paper | Neenah Classic Crest text weight handmade envelopes in a variety of textures/colors  - hand printed in one color | eggplant. 

Christmas Puppy Love Affair :: Letterpress Cards

Had a busy week last week printing up some Christmas cards. My illustrative animal doodle was realized into a three color print. The initial idea was “COSAS BONITAS” -- pretty things. Instead of flowers, I thought of puppies. Friends have them and I can see how much joy they bring to their homes.

 

I put a christmas hat and scarf on him and he’s all dressed up for the holidays! I digitally printed out a copy for myself as visual and color reference. My digital printer was running low on magenta and turned out a cool palish oatmeal yellow on the hat trim. I went with it.

The challenge and excitement of printing really gets going once it’s time for registration and shape takes form--one color at a time. Falling in love with this puppy!

I made flat and folded cards and circular coasters meant for hanging christmas decorations. I think he’ll bring some joy into someones home too!

Letterpress Stickers :: Stay Calm Drink Wine

Individual letterpress stickers with message tag in Italian: Ricordati Salute (Remember Health) | mounted on cardboard.

iphone you Valentine Card

iphone you 

Here is 'Il Mio San Valentino-iphone you" Valentine’s card I printed up this last weekend. The inspiration came from our fascination and attachment to our telephones which nowadays we can barely live without. This was my first time printing on Magnani Revere paper-Silk. It proved to be wonderful paper to print on and I thought it easier to crease than other paper.

SMILE Memo Pads

So, what makes me smile is work and play basically, like most creatives I imagine. A while back I did a limited print experimental poster with design group Novepunti for an expo at Sesto San Giovanni’s Industry Museum in Milan. The theme for the event was work. My concept played off of Bruegel’s paintings “Children’s Games” and the seriousness of play as work.

The remainder prints have been recycled into memo pads. The covers are letterpress while the band around the pads were produced with graphic software.

Pinguino “Be Cool” Christmas Card

What would a Penguin say? Would it be in Italian or English and why not both?
Hand pressed on 110# Lettra with silver envelope.

Letterpress First Communion :: Prima Comunione

CUSTOM DESIGN LETTERPRESS PRINTED IN TWO COLORS FOX GREY AND BLOOD ORANGE

Letterpress invitations for Juliette’s first communion (prima comunione). This was a project for a rather spunky girl, and with her mother I worked on this custom design to set the tone. The prints were printed on a combination of fine Italian and French cotton papers in two colors.