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!
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EUROPEAN LADY LETTERPRESS PRINTERS
FROM GERMANY, ICELAND, BELGIUM, ITALY, NETHERLANDS, CALIFORNIA AND MEXICO |
I decided on packaging Italian basil, but it was sure a toss up between it and parsley. In the end I chose basil because it’s a bit more common to people. The project asked for us to consider how to grow it and include a recipe.
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| ITALIAN BASIL :: Printed on Neenah kraft paper, in three colors |
My own project had a several steps: projecting the cover (how I wanted it to open up and hold the package), seed package (to contain a few pinches of basil) and enclosure sticker for the seed packet. I included a pesto recipe inside the cover with a brief history of its origin.
For the cover, I used kraft Neenah paper to give it an earthy appeal, and then used a block wood to print a layer of white over the cover for extra texture, like a freshly painted white picket fence.
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| HOMEMADE VASES BY Alejandra Portilla Tirado & Beatrice Bless |
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| SEEDS IN AMSTERDAM BY Tiny Risselada |
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| RED BASIL BY Armina Ghazaryan & my garden |
Everyone had a great time contributing, seeding and watching their plants grow! I got lettuce varieties from Berlin and California, so neat! You can imagine the difficulty, or perhaps differences in growth rate, taste and choices in recipes considering location! Unluckily we all couldn’t record these particularities, but what an awesome science project that could be for kids too, don’t you think?
