Category Archives: Uncategorized

Spikey/Soft

Posted on April 3rd, 2009

I know, I know…. it’s been awhile since the last post…. I have been very busy busy on lots of projects for the past three weeks!

The other day I had a good reason to have a bunch of photos taken of my apartment… It was fun, mostly because I had a professional photographer, Joshua Targownik, snapping the pictures. He did an amazing job and took this particular one… (more are forthcoming, I promise)….

I wanted to talk about this understated set though it it probably understated compare to the rest of my colorful surroundings full of phones and flowers. I took a copper etching class a couple of years ago and found it completely delightful even though I am a letterpress printer for a living. It was a chance to play and make art completely without a computer (usually I do the artwork & typesetting on the computer and then print… you know…).

Anyways, I got into the idea of juxtaposing two similarly shaped things which had the same lines but completely different meanings. Now, I am not sure if my idea comes across totally, but I etched out a dandelion puff and a spider web. Mind you, they were scrapped freehand completely in copper using a sharpish needle… I didn’t exercise a lot of control over my lines but I liked the look. was trying to use the same kinds of lines in both images but in different directions… sort of.. they both have the same base structure but the small lines either connect to one another or puff out… I think maybe the dandelion puff is the feminine and the spiderweb is the masculine. the same, but different…

Then using a very simple but wonderful process & press, I printed these on handmade paper. This is so yummy because the copper plate completely mushes the texture out of the paper, leaving the area around it smoooooooth. I love that part! yum!

I mounted them on pale yellow handmade paper with a natural deckle and taped some string to the back and then I had two new pieces of art for my walls. Lovely!

Is it post-modern to blog about a blog about Tiny Pine?

Posted on February 18th, 2009

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My friend and one of my favoritest picture-makers Gia Canali has a blog and she just interviewed me a couple of days ago for it. I thought it would be fun to link to the blog because that would maybe become a blog vortex of clicking and no one would ever leave! yay!

It was actually really fun to do the interview. I did fell a little funny that my answers would be on the internet but I then i realized that I am already talking on the internet…. so I must be a little bit entertaining if YOU are reading this right now? right? Hopefully I can come across sort of knowledgeable too! (Don’t tell me any differently, please!)

I was a little surprised when I read back over my answers in some spots… particularly the Ugly Betty comments – you will have to read her blog to know what I am referring to – because I had just seen an episode a couple of days before and I felt maybe that I was misinformed about soy inks, or that the writers didn’t research very well… I think it was the latter.

Here's the card I made for Gia's Business

I loved talking about Verdie, my press, and I think I come off a little more chatty than I am on this blog about myself…. if you can imagine that. It’s easier sometimes to answer questions than to just make up what you want to say……..

But enough about me and Tiny Pine, let’s talk about GIA! She is a great photographer. We have both been apart of a couple of weddings as the vendors. She is super organic in her style and aesthetic. She uses both film and digital photography (kind of like how I use letterpress and laser or inkjet) and she does a variety of printing processes and treats her photos in lovely ways. I think we are sort of fraternal twins, maybe. We come from the same place but we do different things. (We were just talking on the phone about how we both are from the country and mountains and if that comes across in our work…)

Anyways…. I am so glad she decided to feature me in her blog…. I will do the same for my fraternal twin… Gia Canali is great. take a look at her site!

happy heart day!

Posted on February 13th, 2009

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Love letters are probably why I am in this business. I am sentimental and romantic and when someone puts love into a scrap of paper, whether it is only friendly or something more, I cherish it. Words, images, craftiness. I have a little box where I keep these little things… paper pieces from old romances – letters, postcards and notes. I think I have a piece of paper where an old flame had mailed something to me…. I cut my address out of the box, like when you have to send in the UPC seal of a product. I have that little memory of a thought.

So, it’s Valentines Day tomorrow, and all the little romantic bits of me are getting drummed up… That paragraph above is a perfect example! And all I can think about is writing love letters. It’s almost worth it to be far away from the person you love so you could send and receive love by post…. What’s so nice is that the words are very permanent and tangible. And then you can put them in a little box and one day someone will find them and isn’t that just romantic?

When I was working at soolip as a designer, we created a product with the perfect, I mean PERFECT love letter materials. I helped design it. It really has everything you need except a pen and nice thoughts. It has onionskin paper – which is not being made anymore – a handmade and printed shimmery and soft Dirty Byrd envelope (one of my bestest friends) AND one of my favorite things of all times…. Vintage Stamps.

I swear, if someone gave me one of these, I would shower them with kisses. And I designed this thing. So. that should give a clue about how much I love the love letter kit…

You can order them from soolip.com, but really, you don’t need this kit to tell someone how much you care… so in lieu of time, get out a sticky note, a legal pad or the back of a bill and let them know!

If you haven’t posted your letter by the time you are reading this, you may be late and there may be an slightly sad or annoyed valentine on the other end…. so you better give that person some chocolates too… along with your love letter!

xoxo,

jennifer

Little Verdie in her New Home

Posted on February 3rd, 2009

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In the past couple of weeks there has been LOTS of change at Tiny Pine Press because I moved my studio across town, from a becoming over-crowded space to a shared studio with lots more privacy, without shutting down production and even squeezing in jury duty throwing a baby shower for one of my best friends (who had her baby today!! and I got to be in the room for the birth shooting video and photos).

In that time, I moved Verdie, my Chandler & Price Pilot Press. I was so nervous about shifting her weight that I had my friend drive her separately, very very slowly in his ultra large SUV and daring him make any dramatic stops…. begging him to drive with ease and quiet through Friday afternoon traffic in Los Angeles, changing freeways 4 times…

She faired just fine, and I placed Verdie into her new home. I tested her out sans ink to make sure nothing shifted somehow – she IS held together by bolts. OLD bolts – and then I left her.

She has a room with a view out the window in this new place. She has her own room. It’s sort of small but she is small (only 200 lbs.) She sits on her tiny table made of pine and just waits for me.

Tomorrow I am making the final move…. Putting all the computery things in the big office space section of the studio, and I am going to print 3 runs on Verdie and see how she likes her new space. I think she does… there is a little window that lets in a good amount of light and it is quite cozy in there with everything in reachable distance.

Here’s a picture of my little press, in her new space… Doesn’t she look so happy??

A Crow and a Swan

Posted on January 27th, 2009

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soy crow

These days I feel inclined to write a lot about ways to reuse or recycle things we sometimes think of as waste. Let’s talk trash!

I have always used soy-based inks for letterpress printing, except for the metallics which don’t come in soy. When I mix an ink color for a job, I try to only mix the right amount… you only use a teensy bit really to print. But sometimes it just happens that the ink blob gets bigger and bigger as you try to get the right shade of whatever. It just happens….

When I was working at soolip in west hollywood as the designer, the printer at the time, Joel Larson, would make crazy paintings with his leftover ink. They were beautiful abstract works that he would layer on to whatever scraps of paper he had lying around.

I took that as inspiration when I had extra ink to get rid of. So even though I tried only to mix as much as I need, there is always some leftovers and so I started making paintings of my own.

soy swan

These two birds are my favorites so far. Soy has a much faster drying time than most oil or rubber based inks for some reason. And what is cool and sort of unique is the way it dries when layered on the paper thick. It takes a sort of brainy texture giving the ink pile depth, almost sculptural.

Just a side note, the cardboard pieces are the packaging from the letterpress plate shipment. Making art from trash….my favorite thing!

The Parsons Family gets more press….

Posted on January 19th, 2009

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If you saw where I was raised in the tiny community of Sugar Grove, Virginia, where our nearest neighbor is about 1/2 of a mile away, then you would be really surprised at all the attention us Parsons’ seem to get in the media these days…

http://radioproject.org/archive/2009/0209.html

This story isn’t really about my family completely, but it does include an interview with my Mom, Virginia Parsons. The story is about Wayne C. Henderson, a pretty important guitar builder who is just over the mountain from where I was raised. He’s a friend of the family and so when a friend of mine, Ben Hubbard, wanted to journey back to the old home place to do a story for his graduate school project, well, Momma put him up and pretty much vouched for him – which you really need when you are an outsider coming around with your semi-imposing recording equipment…

Ben actually had visited Sugar Grove before. When we were freshman in college at Northwestern University, Ben decided, at the drop of a hat mind you, to ride along with my family and me during the holiday break for 13 hours from Chicago to Virginia to see what it was like. I suppose he was checking to see if I was telling the truth about being a hillbilly! He got along just fine and so when he wanted to come back to do this story, my Momma welcomed him. Now Ben is roaming around somewhere near the Gaza Strip for the Associated Press…. a far cry from southwestern Virginia!

What I love about this radio documentary is that Ben managed to compose it in a way to give justice to all the people participating. I cry every single time I hear my mom talk. And when my dad’s recording fades in towards the end, I can’t take it. I am mentioned and so is my younger brother, Oscar. And it is just nice to have this little snippet of family history available for everyone!

jennifer parsons and wayne c henderson

It is also an extraordinary story about Wayne’s way of life… his passion and simplicity. He has really a good model of business. He’s old fashioned and does things in a way that makes him happy… the most important thing?

Take a listen and you will see what I mean…

And here’s a picture of me with Wayne when I received my Henderson for Christmas a couple of years ago..

More homemade envelopes, please

Posted on January 17th, 2009

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One day, a month or so ago, I got this little prize in the mail. It was so sweet and thoughtful to for once receive a piece of paper art from friend Adam Myers, working as a business called Black Feather out of Maine or where ever he happens to be vagabonding around.

He can make just about anything. He seems to be focused on making useful things like this envelope…. he probably created it because he needed an envelope to send me a check for his business cards. He didn’t mess around. Naturally I took a closer look because I felt a little outdone for a moment and discovered that he had a couple of layers of a wood catalogue of some sort that he pasted together. The frame around my address is pure genius, I think. It is quite petite in size… always right up my alley (TINY pine?).

I have to admit that of all people, I am experienced with testing the postal service by placing stamps and addresses in rule breaking places. But I have never done a complete reversal of sides. Adam is adventurous and clearly thinks he is above the law, but it got here! I mean, I probably wouldn’t stamp my credit card bill on the wrong side, but here’s proof that it WILL get there…. eventually, anyway.

Now, I know everyone is going to want to start sending me cute pieces of mail to write about… feel free, but go to my website and send it to my office address, will ya?

Oh, here is the business card / logo I designed for him.

Stop motion paper cut animation does exist!

Posted on January 14th, 2009

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I am no expert on the possibilities of the computer. Let’s get that straight first…

But I do know paper and I have animated paper before as a music video, so when I got a little message from my friend Dan (Into the Green blog) about this fusion of the computer and stop motion as a music video for Blitzen Trapper, I was intrigued. They used traditional animation combined with flash and got this. Take a look.

[vodpod id=Groupvideo.1964391&w=425&h=350&fv=file%3Dhttp%3A%2F%2Fpitchfork.tv%2Fnode%2F2710%2Fembed.xml]

The song is called ‘Furr’ and it has all the wildlife you could have ever wanted or expected. It’s truly inspirational to me because it is paper+film, which is my exact background. I especially love how they treat photographs of people…. and there is this one shot of leaves going on to the deer antlers that just made me smile. and there are waves made out of cut up maps.

Gimme a break! I can’t handle it… Too much sweetness.

[It really brings up memories of the stop-motion cut-out animation I shot on 16mm a few years ago. I don’t have it on the dvd or dv or anything so I can’t post it yet…. It is called ‘Transformational’ and set to a song by Sarah Newberry. More on that later when I can post it but so much of this video took me down ye ole memory lane.]

Have mercy what a good piece of entertainment, especially during a time when music videos are becoming internet only situations. Not to mention the song is quite nice to listen to. I guess this one seems more like a film set to music more than a music video… which is just blissful to me. Thank you Jade Harris and Blitzen Trapper!

more about “I’m a rattlesnake, babe.“, posted with vodpod