Like Tears in Rain...

I printed a letterpress broadside with the famous tears in rain quote from the movie Blade Runner. I am now queen of the nerds.

:: like tears in rain ::

The type is handset 8 pt Univers Italic, set in a straight line across the lower half of the print. Every time I pulled a print, I wiped the ink off of the last part of the text, "time to die" so that it would print lighter than the rest.

:: all wood and metal type and forms ::

The rest of the print was composed entirely from wood and metal type and forms (big blocks of wood) that were available where I work, at Common Press of The University of Pennsylvania.

:: type and wood block ::

Each print is cranked through the press one color at a time and one piece of paper at a time, so that's ten layers of color and text on every print. It makes some interesting and unexpected textures and colors when those layers meet.

:: type and wood block ::

The prints will be available soon from an edition of 15.

vivid

I've been having dreams so vivid recently that I'm a little disoriented when I wake up...

:: fred herzog :: vancouver art gallery

:: kousaki hiromu - grandfather's envelopes :: The Douglas Hyde Gallery

:: rokuro taniuchi :: via 50 watts

:: urnatur ::

:: tigers in their natural habitat :: scanned from a vintage encyclopedia

In the shop

All new. All available here in the Huldra Press Etsy shop. Plus much, much more. And if you enter the code "SHIPFOR3" at checkout, shipping is free until January 1st.

:: rock lobster letterpress postcard ::

:: leather pocket notebook ::

:: hello friend letterpress postcard ::

:: warmest wishes letterpress postcard ::

:: leather pocket notebook ::

This is where my head is today...

Craft Fairs galore...

I've been pulling my hair out. In a good way. Why? I am doing three craft fairs this holiday season. A record for Huldra Press...and a stretch. A good stretch!

In all seriousness, I'm very excited to be doing all three of these wonderful craft fairs. And it's been a great push to make new work.

I've been printing away and will have a selection of new cards to debut. Not photographed yet, sorry. And books, stacks of books. Many books.

Here's the line up, from soonest to latest.

:: Art Star Craft Bazaar - In Philly ::

:: The Big Crafty - In Asheville ::

:: Crafty Balboa - in Philly ::

Hope to see you there!

Three Things

:: me and my buddy ::

I had such a wonderful open studio weekend. It was a beautiful weekend here in Philadelphia, and I'm so grateful to everyone who came by to say hello and see the shop, I had the best time and met so many interesting people.

Also on my list of things I'm grateful for...

:: Bear and Snake, by me ::

This week on Cheek Teeth, the blog of the Trachodon, the fascinating biannual magazine literature, art, and artisan culture, there's an interview about my work. I was invited by their super talented Managing Editor, Katey Schultz, to have my work featured in their last issue, thank you Katey!

:: Blade Runner Poster by Godmachine ::

And lastly, Blade Runner. I'm completely obsessed with Blade Runner. I think it might be the most beautiful movie ever made. The reason for this renewed love affair, a friend of mine gave me the soundtrack (by Vangelis) a few months ago, which I've been listening to while I work. Then I rented the documentary Dangerous Days, about the making of the film. I've always been fascinated by this movie and learning more about it's difficult production only made me more appreciative of its beauty. And, I think I want to be special effects designer circa 1984.

OPEN STUDIO!

Next weekend I'm going to be opening up my doors as part of the Philadelphia Open Studio Tour.

My studio is located in Northeast Philadelphia at Globe Dye Works, a beautiful old factory building converted into artist's studios. There will be a half dozen or so other exhibiting artists in the building, painters, boat builders, photographers, and more.

If you're live in or happen to be in Philadelphia next weekend, I really hope you can stop and say hello.

I'll have some new work to show you and you can see the new up and running press, type collection, and other neat things. There will also be refreshments.

See you there!

My sketchbook

Sometimes people tell me they are afraid to use a handmade book. I tell them I make them to be used and that I think they only grow more interesting and beautiful with use.

This is a book I made for myself about six years ago.

The covers are made from an old book. They were already quite worn.

I inset a vintage photograph into the front cover. The owl is original to the old book covers.

:: sketches, left, illustration, right ::

I dyed the pages with black walnut dye and bound six the original illustrations into the new text block. Those are some cat sketches.

This is an autograph from Crispin Hellion Glover. He makes books too. I'm a fan.

A friend gave me this stamp of a fox, which I glued to the back cover.

There's no wrong way to use a handmade book. You can use it for your grocery lists or your diary, your notes for class or your drawings, and if you like, you can put it on a shelf and look at it when it pleases you. Anything you do is right.

Hey, Nice Loafers!

hey, nice loafers

I sort and sort and sort some more. There's been moments when I've wanted to strangle the previous owners of my type collection but now those drawers are looking spick and span. There's more work to be done, but I've finally sorted all the standing type and spacing material that came with the typecases I bought. Progress!

cute-trimmer

I also bought this little beauty on Ebay for peanuts. I used it on Friday to cut the paper for my business cards (coming soon!) and it's the bee's knees. Welcome to the team, Kutrimmer, between you and the board shear, I am unstoppable.

Slow day.

For the last week, we haven't had the internet in our apartment. It's kind of nice. I've been cooking real dinners. The last two nights, Mike and I sat outside on our deck for a couple hours. I've been reading a great deal more than usual too. I'm about half way through "The Left Hand of Darkness" by Ursula LeGuin. My favorite part are the descriptions of the planet Winter, with its "pale-scarlet" conifer trees and the "small secret ceaseless descent of snow."

Today though, I did catch up on my internet reading though and found these treasures

:: queen bees via the golden smith ::

:: three rolls of kaya via sri threads ::

In the studio, I've been mainly sorting and organizing which has been very satisfying and the type cases are looking all the better for it. I guess that's it. Oh well, slow day.

Mysteries

Sorry for the long radio silence. I was traveling and now I'm back in Philadelphia. Unfortunately, while I was away, the internet at the house stopped working (I'm looking at you, starts with V ends with N) and it won't be back until September 1st (I'm giving you the stink eye right now, starts with V ends with N). Therefore I'm forced to broadcast from an unknown location.

Until things are back to normal, enjoy these mysterious images.

:: justin berry ::

:: accidental mysteries ::

:: hamilton wood type catalogue ::

:: mani katz ::

:: kevin appel ::

The Getaway

:: ocean ::

It's 97 degrees here in Philadelphia. Feels like 112 according to the weather report. I don't understand how that's even possible. Summer in the city is pretty rough. Looking forward to leaving every chance I get.

A couple of weeks ago, we went to the beach in New Jersey, a quiet little spot that is part of the state park system. Such a good find!

And last week, I was so lucky to have the chance to spend a few days in the Adirondacks at a beautiful house that belongs to a family friend.

:: in the boat house ::

:: hammock ::

:: lamp and curtains ::

It's like candy!

via inky socks

I am a big fan of my google reader, the nifty program that allows me to subscribe to the blogs & tumblrs I love and read them all together in one place. I use it to find inspiration, shop for equipment, and as a very effective general time waster.
When I want something new to read, I'll look to the links of my favorite blogs, see what they like, which always leads to very interesting and sometimes unexpected results.
Here are some recent finds.

really lovely ceramics by Takuro Kuwata

pencil talk!

This blog is dedicated to "exploring the art and science of pencils since 2005." How cool is that?

via Intelligent Clashing

I've also been reading Manna from Brooklyn, which is a blog centered around thrift store and curb finds and petting cats, two things dear to my soul. It's my favorite right now. Last night, I also ended up spending an hour at cardcow.com, looking at vintage postcards of Wilmington, DE which is where I grew up. You can search for vintage postcards on any topic, I have the feeling I'll be spending many more hours there, looking at pictures of kittens with books.

What are your favorite sources of inspiration?

Custom Journals

Last year I was commissioned by my friend Catherine to make a set of four custom journals as graduation gifts for friends. Catherine supplied me with a list of the recipients likes and interests which I included in each one. This year, I had the pleasure of making two more.

The first one was for someone who loves fashion and textiles, flowers, feathers, and other delicate things.

:: the cover ::

:: a landscape opens to a history of shoes ::

:: graph paper, a page from a vintage autograph book, and a child's exercise book ::

:: a vintage postcard of Marilyn Monroe ::

:: the cover ::

The second book was for someone who loves the forest and the ocean. For the cover I had the perfect vintage illustration from a children's science book.

:: handmade flax paper and the ocean ::

:: fossilized marine life ::

:: vintage graph paper and a map of the Atlantic ::