Thirty-Three Pounds of Epic-Win.

From a recent phone conversation I had with one of my favorite paper-makers, Samantha, at Porridge Papers:

Me: So, you remember that huge box of custom seeded paper you made for us that you wrote "33 lbs. of Awesome" on the outside of?

Samantha: Yeah.

Me: Well, I've finally finished the project that we needed thirty-three pounds of paper for. Let me tell you, it's pretty much awesome. I mean, the paper it's printed on is, in and of itself, thirty-three pounds of awesome...

Samantha: So, now that it's printed, it's like, Thirty-Three Pounds of Epic-Win, right?!?

Me: Yeah. Exactly.

So, why am I sharing this all with you? I had posted about the awesome box of paper we received from Porridge Papers a few weeks ago here, and I'm totally excited to say, that the project the paper was for (which was the largest, most complex, project I've ever taken on, to date) is finished! And it is, truly, 33 lbs. of epic-win. This project is the reason I've been so absent from blogging the past several days, but trust me folks, it was worth it! Below are some sneak-peak photos of the booklets that were created for this project (220 of them in all). They are truly wonderful, I'm totally proud, and the lovely bride that they were created for in upstate New York, was pretty ecstatic as well! I'm going to be sharing more with you on this project in a day or two, but I just had to give you a teaser for tonight. Cheers!

Thirty-Three Pounds of Awesome.

Hi all! I must apologize again for my lengthy absence from the blog world. I returned from my trip to Minnesota last Monday (I'll have some awesome things to share about my trip here soon) , and it's been pretty much non-stop ever since I got back. I'm working on some truly awesome stuff though, so keep your eyes peeled over the next few weeks if you want to see some of the awesomeness I've been working on. And, speaking of awesome things, I received, literally, 33 lbs. of awesome in the form of handmade, wildflower seeded paper from Porridge Papers last week shortly after my return. The awesome paper maker out there that I've been working with, Samantha, even dubbed it so on the outside of the UPS box. She doesn't lie. The paper we received and the project we are in the midst of printing with it, is indeed, 33 lbs. of pure awesome. More on that soon!

Letterpress on Sesame Street

A friend of mine sent me this clip from a 1970's episode of Sesame Street. I remember watching Sesame Street as a little kid. I mean, who doesn't remember watching at least a little Sesame Street as a kid? I don't remember this episode though. I also don't remember it being quite so strange, and I don't know, maybe it's just me, but not having seen it for a good twenty+ years and watching just this clip now, I have to say I find it a little odd. But that aside, it's pretty darn awesome that these 1970's youngsters take a drawing of their lost dog to a letterpress printer to have a sign made. Although it's pretty brief, the demonstration of the letterpress process, isn't bad either. The press they're using is even a Chandler & Price, which is the same kind of press as one of the presses at Twin Ravens Press. Anyway, it's entertaining, nonetheless. Check it out!

450

Sometimes it's the little things in life that really make your day. You know, like getting to drink a nice glass of red wine and eat tasty fisherman's stew while sitting next to a lovely wood stove on a cold day in December at your favorite restaurant. Or, stomping through puddles like a child on a spring day while wearing big rubber boots with little cherries all over them. Or, having 450 (!) people call you a favorite on etsy! Yeah, I may be gloating just a bit, but we reached 450 fans today in our etsy shop, which is pretty rad. Thank you to everyone out there, who has helped to make this possible. You are the best...

The OMG-WTF Spectrum

I can't believe it's already the last day in August! Seriously, where has the last month/year/summer gone?!? This week is going to be a really busy week between printing an awesome set of promotional greeting cards for a wedding planner in California to keeping up with the design work for some upcoming winter wedding clients before I leave for Seattle on Thursday afternoon. I'm hoping to have a new blog post up later today too to show off some more awesome things we've been working on this summer, but in the meantime, I found this online this morning and thought it more than appropriate. If any fellow designers out there are reading this blog, I know that you can appreciate this too. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you the OMG-WTF Spectrum:

(via Neatorama)

In my opinion this is very applicable to design work, be it letterpress related or otherwise (way before I opened Twin Ravens Press I worked in marketing for a university bookstore and this was applicable there too). Also sometimes applicable for personal relationships, traffic, and tech support...

There will be more awesome letterpress-related stuff later! In the meantime, have a Happy Monday!

Internet Love

Happy Friday everyone! Twin Ravens Press has received quite a bit of love this week from different corners of the internet. It all started earlier this week when our Magenta Dahlia Cards were featured in an etsy treasury that I blogged about on Monday here. Also on Monday, my "This is How We Roll" Sushi cards were featured on another blog, which you can find here. It's so cool to find out that folks are digging our card designs so much that they want to feature and write about them! With that said, keep an eye on our etsy shop over the next few weeks, there's going to be some new stuff up very soon, including small gift cards and new coaster designs! More about those soon.

Lastly, this may be one of the neatest things I've seen on the internet, EVER. It takes a few minutes to load, and it is in Spanish. However, even if you don't speak Spanish, it's totally worth the wait because it's awesome. Go check it out!

Nikki McClure

Image copyright Nikki McClure, via www.nikkimcclure.com

Happy Friday everyone!  I just found this interview online of one of my favorite artists, Nikki McClure.  Nikki lives and works in Olympia, Washington and is best know for her painstakingly intricate paper-cuts.  Nikki uses an exacto knife and a single sheet of paper to cut out complex images that speak to ideas of motherhood, nature and activism.  I know she's also done some mixed media work with letterpress as well.  The video interview below totally speaks to many of the reasons why I enjoy being an artist myself and to why I love living in the Pacific Northwest.  Anyway, if you aren't already familiar with her work, you ought to check out the video below, as well as her website.  Have a fantastic weekend!

Nikki McClure by Dicky Dahl from PatCastaldo on Vimeo.

How Letterpress Works

When I first begin working with clients and often when I'm just talking to potential clients about a potential letterpress project, I am often asked "how does letterpress work?" or "how does working with your studio work?".  These are fair questions, and ones that I've been meaning to address here (as well as the more formal website for Twin Ravens that I've been working on) for quite some time.  I still plan to eventually put this out, in my own words, in the near future, however, I came across this video this morning and thought that it would be a great basis for explaining what it's like to work with a letterpress studio.  At Twin Ravens Press, I print from both antique lead type and from photopolymer plates. My studio does a few things different from Starshaped Press, like we always offer several rounds of digital proofs of our designs, prior to printing, etc.  All in all, though, I think that their video is a great, short, demonstration of how working with a letterpress studio works.  If you are a potential client and are curious about the process of creating your future letterpress printed piece, or if you are just curious, watch this video.  It's pretty cute too! 

Fonts + Geeky = Awesome

Happy Friday everyone!  For those who need a little bit of semi-work-related humor after a very busy week, like I do, I found this awesome video.  It's got fonts, superheroes, personifications and more!  What could be better?!?  

Very Cool Bike Design!

This week seems to be shaping up to a week where I'm not only blogging about awesome things that we're doing, I'm also blogging about awesome things that other people are doing and things that I love as well.  Living in lovely, eco-friendly, Eugene, you see a lot of awesome-ly designed, random, different, or customized bikes around.  Many of these bike owners have built or customized their bikes themselves, but nonetheless, it makes for awesome people-watching, as well as awesome alternative transportation for a city that's keen on protecting the environment.  I have a pretty awesome bike, that I ride all over the place when the weather is decent to nice, but I always thought it would be great to have a bike trailer to haul stuff around with.  Well, what if your bike and bike trailer were an all-in-one, awesomely designed package?  Check out the Madsen.  It may be one of the coolest ideas I've seen this week.  

Letterpress of the Past: North Beach, California

In case you haven't noticed, I love old things.  I drive an old car, have a shop full of old printing equipment, love vintage cameras and analog photography and think that old t-shirts that are almost on the verge of falling apart are way better than brand new ones.  My love of old things and old processes is probably one of the main reasons that I became interested in letterpress and old-fashioned printing in college, years ago, in the first place.  So I was pretty delighted when my mom e-mailed me this photo that she took while visiting North Beach, California last week.  

From the looks of it, this shop has probably been closed down for quite some time, however, I love that the old sign, advertising both letterpress and offset printing is still featured prominently above.  When seeing images like this, I think anyone in this industry (letterpress printing) should stop and tip their hat to the history that our craft is a part of.  

It's pretty cool to think that we're a part of something that has been happening, pretty much the same way, for over 100 years.  

F is for Fail (A Short Film About the Creative Process)

F is for FAIL from Brent Barson on Vimeo.

If, like me, you work in some kind of design or creative field full-time, you're sure to appreciate this video.  You'll also like it if you are just a fan of really awesome uses of typography.  

From Vimeo:

F is for Fail is a short film about the creative process, and the failure we always encounter, but usually overcome.  Told using the alphabet, each letter informs us of the state of the protagonist's creativity/state of mind.  Each letter has two words associated with it (except A and Z); sometimes the positive word overpowers the negative word, and vice-versa. 

Creative direction, design, and animation by Brent Barson.   

I thought it was really cool!  Check it out!  

My Cousin Rocks!

I hope everyone's tax day went smoothly.  So once again things are quite busy here and I don't have any totally awesome photos of new work ready to show off to you at this moment, however, my mom sent me this awesome video today of one of my younger cousins skydiving in Arizona, and I must say, I don't know that I would ever have the guts to do this, but it's pretty kick ass, nonetheless.  Check it out: