Author Archives: tinypine

Little Letterpress Pillows

An art book publisher has requested some photography of my work! yay!

I think the photography turned out great. They make the letterpress look the most cozy. like a daybed on a Sunday afternoon.

3715466684_670891a7d0_b

Sillapere Events Holiday card – Handmade card by Dirty Byrd Papers

Julia & Eli Wedding Invitation

3714637737_38a5425e29_bAshley and Jeffrey Save the Date – hand calligraphy for letterpress

3714649031_bd32397974_bGone West Moving Announcement- handmade card by Dirty Byrd Papers

3715452706_6f608cf1e1_b

Lily the Dancing Bear Birthday Party

Ready for My Close Up

Dirty Byrd paper CU

Dirty Byrd paper CU

Not too long ago I got a request from an art book writer to potentially have some of my work published. That was pretty exciting to me because… well, you know… My main concern was the photos that I would show. I had to take the initial photos on my own with awful lighting to give Charlotte Rivers an idea of some printed pieces…

I wanted to post these ultra almost scary close ups because I think it makes the letterpress look scientific and kind of alive. The paper is cotton on all of these. The Dirty Byrd paper on the grey one looks crazy hairy and is probably my favorite of these ultra crisp…. they are kind of scary. I hope it doesn’t frighten people away from elegant letterpress!2009_07_11_20_53_540_1

New business idea… Rodent ICE CREAM!

Yesterday not a lot of work got done. Well, maybe brainstorming for a new business should count as work!
possumplate
I share studio space with Anne Muller – Card Tricks Designs – and it was the last day of school for her kids… And so we decided to make Possum ice cream. 

I should clarify. In the past few months, whenever these teenagers, Ruby and Wilson, may complain about something like cell phones or computers then I go into a hillbilly rant about how I grew up miles and miles from anything and how we didn’t have a home phhone growing up and blah blah blah walking to school up hill in the snow both ways type stuff. (Anne can’t really  do those rants because she grew up in the city in Southern California, so I do it for her.)
roadkill
Basically, it was kind of a joke that we would have some “Hillbilly Ice Cream Social” (I am ALWAYS game for an ice cream social) “School’s OUT!” Party.  Then Anne went to the store and we surprised them with this lovely creation. 

I think it’s sooooo funny! i had a leg. We were civilized and ate it on plates though my Hillbilly instinct was to just dig in! Oh well, When in Rome……

Super Recycled

The truth about recycled paper is that normally it’s not so great. Usually it only comes in light weights and smooth finish and, well, not the super duper best recipient of letterpress…

So when I caught wind (no pun intended – you’ll see) of this fairly new product, I had my doubts.  This paper is not only 100% recycled, it super soft and comes in some great colors. 

It also is comprised of 75% or so Elephant Poop. monkey on poop paper

YUP. 

I printed on it recently. The color is a super awesome bright green. I used it for a birth announcement (appropriate, right?) for my friend Nikki Flores (who has logged some hours as a letterpress printer but gave that all up to go to Harvard Law and raise a child at the same time…..) and printed this monkey on it. 

It took pressing really nicely. It’s super airy, giving the print a pillowy feel that all us letterpress lovers seek.

As I was printing it, I kept wondering if it was weird that I was touching this processed poop, but at the end of the day, touching elephant pooh paper doesn’t weird me out…. but I would second guess licking any envelopes!!

Lavender scented wedding invitations…..!!!

Jeri & ChristopheI have been slammed. I will be honest. It was as if everyone was getting married on the same day this summer thus sending out their invitations on the same day! Now, that isn’t at all true, but that’s how it felt over at the Tiny Pine Press studio.

In the hub-ub of the past month, I had many notable moments which I hope to share in the next couple of weeks. One notable experience was with this Lavender invitation. It was inspired by an invitation I did a couple of years back for Jeri Ryan & Christophe Émé’s wedding in the French countryside. (Though starred on Star Trek : Voyager, these are the most opposite of outer space invitations ever! Cotton, hand-made and old world as it gets with the hand letterpress!)

(Though actually, they were completely 100% tree free… and THAT is sort of like outer space, but I digress….)

This new client was very detail oriented and wanted two lavenders attached to this beautiful cotton handmade paper. I searched for the perfect lavender plants and found a really wonderful local farm who supplied a bounty of lavender stems to choose from. They smelled great. and when we glued them on, and stacked all the invitations, the lavender scent emanated from the papers to fill the room…. yum!

Sharon gluing Hidecote Lavender

(I hope the guests got a whiff of the lavender when it came in the mail. I have worked with dried lavender many times and this was the most fragrant batch. OH, the variety is called Hidecote.)

It was a fun afternoon of gluing. I had my good friend Sharon Lowe (who is a floral designer – smart right?) help me glue the lavenders. Sharon understands how the plants want to go… and even which ones. We chatted with the lavender stems all afternoon. And then a week later chatted them into the envelopes and off to the guests.. You know that plants have feelings too! I think these lavenders were happy in their more permanent home, glued on these elegant invitations. I hope!!

I think I am a pretty good communicator but if the lavenders aren’t happy, I fear they will get revenge on me by getting lost in the mail! or revolting and busting out of their envelopes or something. It happens (More on that subject later)!

See… I AM delirious! Personification of Plants. Not a good sign……..

Letterpress Name Stars

What does that title even mean??  

Today I printed a birthday part invitation – it was in two runs with clean justified type for Henry’s 40th birthday. 

The client asked for Red ink. Now, what you may or may not know is that RED ink is the most difficult ink to pin down in the pantone book. As I was printing this last bit of the invitation today, I told my office-mate that Red is my Achilles Heel. I had to pick the red, which I put off til the last minute. Why is that? why do I have such a hard time with red… Well, let’s look deeper for an answer……

Anne of Card Tricks Designs, my office-mate, was talking about color combinations one day. She had a client who wanted to use Orange and Blue. An oceany blue or kind of turquoise one. She instantly complained that she didn’t really like that combo, and wanted to shift the blue to navy or something. I actually like the original combo though it does remind me of the Miami Dolphins…. 

But then she revealed that Orange and that same kind of blue were her junior high colors. and that she always hated that color combo for that reason. 

henrys40thtestIt was at that moment when I figured it out. RED and white were the colors of the Marion Senior High School Hurricanes…. it is very clear. I don’t like straight red for the same reason Anne doesn’t. 

Incidentally, I also don’t particularly care for Kelly Green and white, the colors of Sugar Grove Combined School. Though I don’t really have a problem with Purple and white, the colors of Northwestern University. HMMMM???

I only can wonder if every graphic designer has the same feeling about their school colors. Maybe those formative years are just very color sensitive?

In any case, here is a little starburst of sillyness I printed today…. testing out the red and white for Henry’s invitations….

hanging out to dry…

I have this very favorite paper/fabric cotton organdi…. It’s the perfect fabric for wedding invitations because it is white, starchy, sturdy, natasha wagner invitationtranslucent, and has just the perfect feeling… a little like tulle and a little bit like canvas… I  have been using it for years… (here is my first wedding invitation for Natasha Gregson Wagner using a cotton organdi belly band).

It comes in a few different colors but white always seems to be the best. However, sometimes white is toooooo WHITE. Blaring white is no good for organic handmade looking pieces.

What to do? What to do?!

dieandvatWell, DYE IT!! That’s the answer.

The last two times I used this fabric, I tea stained it with Lipton. Those turned out lovely but probably a little dark for my current client. She wanted something more in a “cream”… a little less orangey than tea stain…

So today, a super sunny Sunday afternoon in California, I mixed up the RIT – a little taupe and a little yellow – in a big vat and dyed all these sheets…. Now they just need to be pressed out flat again and they will be ready to go cut and wrap up a pretty warm white wedding invitation…

 

fabricWhat a nice way to get back to my country girl roots, hanging out clothes on the line for the sunshine to dry. It’s kind of zen, creates a perfect embellishment, and allows the sun to do the rest of the work… oh, it’s kind of green, actually!