Letterpress Basics: Composing with Metal Type

This post might be past due but here it is nevertheless! Certainly, I’ve had time to practice composing with metal type, and once I learned the basics and dove in, this process was relatively easier that it first  looked.

At the top you see the composing rules with ears mentioned in Letterpress Basics: Composure On A Stick. It helps compose lines of type built on top of each other. Lines of type are mirror reflecting letters, words or lines of words you compose on your stick. These lines of type will be set backwards (and facing upwards) since the final print will re-reflect itself correctly. 

Letterpress Seed Exchange: DIY Mini Envelopes

I made some mini envelopes for a letterpress seed exchange project I did with gals from mostly Europe. I’ll post more on that project later. Here’s a simple illustrative how-to make your own.

TRANSPARENT MINI ENVELOPES WITH LETTERPRESS STICKER

Collisioni Festival: Pure Monkey Business

Collisioni Festival, Italian literature and music jubilee on the hills gets going 18th July in Barolo. This pretty and tiny place is perfectly nuzzled in the wine and truffle region of Piedmont in north Italy. There’s an impressive “old school” music line-up, with the father of grunge himself, Neil Young and the sweet Suzanne Vega set to appear. At the other spectrum, Italian indie musicians new to the genre should be a treat.

There are a host of detailed driven activities for just about everyone this year too. Wine/food enthusiasts (especially those on a budget) this year get fashionable food trucks serving up gourmet Italian food. Also encounters with chefs, wine producers and experts in the industry will engage with the public over a glass of top notch wine.

Interviews with authors, artists, poets and rappers will feed the brainy types, and mommas and poppas toting kids also have a space dedicated solely for bambini, Collisioni Kids. A host of demonstrations and laboratories are planned, which Pirouette Press will be at to participate! It’ll be pure monkey business Sunday...

EXPERIMENTAL LETTERPRESS ON CLOTH-handset wood type

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

Happy Maker Station :: Secret to Happiness Revealed

Along with a host of original Italian craft, art and design, Happy Maker Station introduced a couple of dedicated products at the second annual event this year. Pirouette Press along with graphic designer Paola Paoletti created fleece wood type letterpress “Be Happy” pillows and printed cotton shopping bags. 

Here’s a mini diy: Vintage Milk Bottle Packaging
Use re-purposed tomato sauce bottles. Spray paint the lids, use cotton tape (or other decorative tape) and sticker (in our case, we used the HMS logo) to create a vintage type seal.

The bottles could be fun to re-use again in other imaginative ways. The pillows included a secret to happiness tag which read, “ La felicita sta in una bollincina - Happiness is in a bubble" (roughly translated) and bubble wrap overlay. Who doesn’t love the simple funny pleasures of popping bubble wrap?

A parallel prints on cloth laboratory was also conducted. The public could bring in a t-shirt or similar cloth for us to print on. Some of the stylists brought cloth to be eventually turned into their own creations. I can’t wait to see them!

A re-cap of Happy Maker Station 2014 / Italian creatives works here
photo credits: Lisa Di Sabato, Maker at HMS 2014

Happy Maker Station: A Maker’s Market, Takes a Second Look

Asleep at the wheel, not quite. Happy Maker Station takes a second look with a host of new creatives. I’m really excited to be collaborating with such talented people, and perhaps more than that, I love the chance at offering the public an alternative experience (true to my Austin, Texas spirit) in the bucolic north of Italy.

There’s textile, fine art, print & ecological design to be found. In addition, I’ve tried to introduce more home decor, demonstration and workshops.  Small brands and plenty of heart go into the products and making of the event. Local shops even lent a hand and allowed makers to give an anteprima (pre-show) in their shop windows. 

top left to right: Caterinette laboratorio/bottega, Korai - textile, Cobo lighting, Marcoantonio sculptor, Rama illustrator, ElimondHandMade eco design

24-25 maggio Mondovì, Italia

Publicity Foto Credit: Matteo Barberis

Creative Direction: Pirouette Press