So now that the press is up and working, I need some project ideas! I spent snippets of this week mulling over ideas and creating little thumbnails.
The hard part about not knowing all the supplies (fonts, ink, paper) at the shop is that I can’t plan things out too specifically. I don’t want to take this design into the digital world and get totally attached to a font or an image and then not have it when I get up there.
I’m not sure how to plan a project for bleed either. I do have a good paper cutter and the press owner suggested making the size of the paper that I actually print larger than the final size and just trim them with the cutter. Do you have any experience? What do you suggest?
And what about phrases? What kinds of pithy things to do like cards to say? Famous quotes? Jokes?
Or maybe just an image? I’ve seen a lot of cards that just have images. But for a specific image, that requires a plate to be made!
Some Inspiration from Etsy
I absolutely adore the cards from Lizardpress. The typography is beautiful and so are the phrases she/he (actually it doesn’t say, so I shouldn’t assume…) chooses to print. And that clear ink! Cool!
I like the style that Letterary Press has developed. It’s simple, with cute Victorianesque line illustrations. They are usually accompanied by a good quote.
Yee Haw Industrial Letterpress takes you back to the time when broadsides had 20 different fonts, none of the same size and lots of nifty ornamentation. Cards, farmable art, calendars, and more!
Sycamore Street Press has a few unique cards, some are even fill in the blank (in a witty sense)!
My Sketches and Ideas
Now here’s what I’ve thought of…
What do you think? Any ideas? Are there any funny or crazy phrases you’d love to see on a greeting card? If you have a really good idea and it’s something I can work with, I’ll send you 10 free cards of that run!
I really love the ‘tanks’ one. Cute, simple and clever. It reminds me of something a child would say…maybe that’s another idea…simple, common words/phrases written as a child would say it.
I also love the Lizardpress card. That clear ink IS cool! :)
Melanie,
Oh that’s a cute idea! Not having a little one of my own, do you have any ideas? Anyone else have kids that say funny, surprising or cute things that would go on a card?
wikiquote and wikisource might help you out
I like poems and short anecdotes
Esben,
It didn’t even occur to me to use WikiQuote! Excellent! Thanks
The wiki-master naturally suggests the wikis
How exciting to anticipate (possibly) seeing some of my favorite quotes on your beautiful cards (I love the paper):
1. “Being defeated is only a temporary condition, giving up is what makes it permanent.” ~Marilyn vosSavant (This might be an encouragement card.)
2. “Try not to become a person of success, but rather try to become a person of value.” ~Albert Einstein (This might be a congrats card.)
3. “When someone is searching, then it might easily happen that the only thing his eyes still see is that what he searches for, that he is unable to find anything, to let anything enter his mind, because he always thinks of nothing but the object of his search …” -Siddhartha (This might be an ‘atta boy/you go girl card.)
I really like the checkbox idea. I’d even add many more choices, just for fun
I’ll see if I can come up with any decent ideas at home tonight.
RaShell’s last blog post..Global Design @ Tinymeat
I’ve been thinking about this lately too.. you and I have spoken about Beatles Lyrics, which is where I’m going to go first, just to get an idea of how the press works.. I’m also thinking about setting large junks of text, just to get familiar with how to handle good ink coverage/pressure and getting use to setting type quickly.. so maybe a passage from a favorite book or scene from a movie? Not super exciting, but a good way to learn..
as for practical suggestions — bookmarks to give to people for free at work/friends/reader? To-do lists, small books of quotes/sayings, or posters (again of quotes?) using some wood type if you have access to it? coasters, name tags for books (which might sound odd, but I take a lot of books to work that I hate the idea of losing one because my name isn’t it), and you could practice stationery and invites, so that maybe you could do jobs like that in the future?
and maybe you could email some established letterpress printers and ask them if they have any suggestions for practical yet fun things to do while learning to use your press?
Alex Charchar’s last blog post..The Creative Blogger ~ Jacob Cass
Mom,
hehe, hi! I think that Siddhartha could also be a cute wedding card. And I definitely like the Einstein quote.
Rashell,
I wanted to add more, but I couldn’t think of anything! What would you add?
Alex,
Superb! I love the bookmark idea! And quotes from books would be so perfect for that! I do have at least one set of wood type, mostly unused, too. Not sure what the font it (it’s not labeled). I set a two sentence quote from Oscar Wilde in my letterpress class. It really helps you learn the job case (we used California).
I was also thinking of setting up a specimen sheet for all the fonts so I could get a better feel for face and size when thinking about projects and for the practice. I want to come up with a mark for my work, too, so I can get a plate made and put it on the back of my work.
Coasters can present a problem; you need to use photopolymer plates because of how thick the stock is; you need to smash the plate into it pretty good to get a decent impression (at least that’s what I’ve been told!).
I don’t think the nameplate for books is odd at all! It would make an exquisite addition to a gift book to put a letterpress printed “This book belongs to…” or “This book presented to… by… on this date…” I just thought of that this morning too!
Alex, you are always so good at getting me excited to start printing again!! I can’t wait until you actually get to print!
Alec found a poem from Boris Kocho I really like: http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Four_poems_for_Boris_Kochno
I have a great deal of sources for danish poems, if you like to play around with ligatures :p
Then we’re even! Your last couple of posts have gotten me excited about letterpress all over again..
i finally ran a windmill press! I had done it a while ago to do some business cards for myself, but this time it was from start to finish.. sooo much fun playing with the pressures and packing to get stuff just right.. was using poly, which isn’t awful stuff to work with, but i want the real metal type
Alex Charchar’s last blog post..50 Movie Poster Remakes (H-L)
Esben,
Wow, those are quite romantic! They would make for good fine press work (more artistic).
Alex,
Yay!!! How cool! See, the tweaking was the part that depressed me a little; having to fix the press even though I didn’t really even know enough to know when it was working right in the first place. My mentor, if you will, said that’s the hard part about about starting out printing; you don’t know if the problem is you or the press!
That first pic from Etsy is beautiful, and I love those Sycamore ones too… “that thing you did”, very cool
My favourites of your ideas are the checkbox one, little bird and tanks. I’m sure the ones with the repeating ornaments would come out beautifully as well.
I’ve been thinking lately of having some cards printed that have my website on them. A couple of times I’ve gotten into conversations with people when I’ve thought “Gee, I wish I hard a card to give them the address of my website.” Because I’ve had a list or article very relevant to the conversation. Letterpressed cards would suit you and your site very well!
Kris,
Of course! Now why didn’t I think of printing myself some business/calling cards? For “Tanks,” I would probably have to get a tank plate made, but I have some wood type that would work for the word. I need some more items to check off for the check box one!
Hi Lauren,
How about the word “great” for one more checkbox on the top? I also thought it might be fun to do “connect the two” kind of thing with a bunch of “occasions” on one side and “congratulations” on the other. For example: marry, happy, wonderful, lucky, great, Mazel, fun, healthy on one side and Christmas, New Year, Valentines, day, birthday, Tov, holiday, wedding, trip, etc. on the other. You can mix and match them and maybe like make dotted lines in between the wrong couples.
I was thinking about all the words that you could put on these cards and then immediately got distracted and started drawing bottles and jars with words on labels. I think might show them off on Doodlage
RaShell’s last blog post..Boogie-Woogie-Doodles
RaShell,
And I still love looking at my rock!
Oh yes! Good ideas!! I wish I could get distracted and start doodling. I was looking at Von Glitschka’s Doodle Dog exercise yesterday. I love all the styles he can produce! And that’s just from playing! I hope you do show off your doodles. I like the way you doodle
Lauren, this illustrator guy is awesome!!! Tutorials are so much fun. I asked him if I can put one up on doodlage
p.s. I’m still hoping you’ll have a minute to put your “creativity” post over there too. Your account is all set, I checked.
RaShell’s last blog post..Boogie-Woogie-Doodles
RaShell,
Yes, Von is very cool. I’m surprised you haven’t seen his work yet! He’s the one that does the squiggle exercise that I want to write about for doodlage. I haven’t forgotten about that, and I did receive a confirmation from LeO about my acct. I just have to sit down and write! Check out vonster.com, too, especially the Designer Kick Me signs (can’t link to it cuz it’s Flash based). And Von has a blog, too, where he shares a lot of his current work.
Hey, I have an excellent equipment suggestion! Get these: http://typolade.de/
I have my doubts about their longevity though… wouldn’t last long at my house, that’s for sure ;)
RaShell,
Ooo, yum! They look so much like metal type, but they are facing the right way! LOL, it won’t matter once it gets in my tummy though!
Hi Lauren, just to let you know that there’s a ‘letterpress’ program on BBC iPlayer—“Stephen Fry and the Gutenberg Press”
Thanks Jonathan!