Letting the dust settle down.

Even though it's been quiet here, it's been the complete opposite for me outside of the internet. I'm busy trying to finish up a few last letterpress projects before my life has a complete make-over.

For starters, in a little under a month, Justin and I will be moving into our first real house! Over the last 6 years, we've jumped around from apartment to apartment, moving cities, and jobs and shifting careers... and now it finally feels like the dust just might settle down a little. Not before one last hurrah of all sorts of big life changes. As you may have read in the past, my studio has been basically in our living room in this really industrial (and slightly unsafe and uncomfortable) loft. It was great. I'd wake up on many occasions and still be surprised to see the giant letterpress standing comfortably just a few feet from our couch. It sounds like a dream, right?! And it worked for us.

Until it didn't.

I think it hit both Justin and I around the same time. All of sudden we both had this urge to keep moving and that this leaky loft wasn't the right place to settle in for good. So we started looking for a home. A real home. One where we could see spending many years in... and to be able to grow a family in. Our hunt started over a year ago, and there was NOTHING! Nothing we liked, nothing that worked well for both us and nothing that had both space for a car/workspace for Justin and a separate studio space for the presses. Toronto is pretty ruthless when it comes to real estate. The good places are snatched before they're even on the market, and the only way to get in on those is to be at the right place at the right time. It was totally discouraging and we gave up quite a few times. Until we found out that our family of 2 was soon going to be a family of 3. That really lit the fire and we were looking like crazy. We found an amazing agent (through a letterpress client actually! Hi Jenny!). Maybe he was just a good luck charm, but somehow in the span of about a week we found IT! A lovely little town house in the east end of Toronto with a workspace/garage for Justin and a storefront/studio space for me! Yup! I said storefront! It's like this letterpress thing that has been an "on-the-side-gig" is getting a whole lot more serious! It's perfect. And we're beyond thrilled that this will be our new home!

Here's a sneak peak of the front of the house and soon-to-be new home of Silverplate Press. We're expecting our little bundle of joy about 3-4 weeks after we move in. So I may be a little light on the posting for a few more months yet. I am hoping to have a fun grand opening near the end of the summer/early fall though. (If all goes as planned) I'll try to keep you posted of any fun letterpress shenanigans! Ciao for now!

A road trip & a new addition (or 2)

It's been a little while since I've been around this blog, but I want you to know it's totally not you, it's me... I went through a few months there where I was focusing on tasks at hand and just working through the days. Lots of projects and exciting workshops have come through the Silverplate studio over the last couple of months and I plan on sharing as much as I can with you over the next little while.

Firstly! A couple of months ago Justin and I took an impromptu road trip to Chicago. We borrowed a truck and trailer with the hopes of returning with something great. We left early on a Saturday morning, back when there was still leaves on the trees, and drove 8 hours straight (with a few breaks) and ended up in the coolest city!

The architecture was so incredible. We only ended up spending a couple of hours touring the city, but it was enough for me to fall in love with it. We'll have to come back and spend a bit more time there.

Our first stop in Chicago was this old warehouse, where we met with a letterpress printer. I seriously can't go to a new city without meeting one.

He was selling his lovely 1880's Challenge-Gorden press. It had been with him for about 30 or 40 years and it was time to find a new home for it.  I can't believe that no one in Chicago wanted this lovely press!  Anyway, I'm not complaining! I gladly brought it home to Canada.

We strapped it in, good and tight, and we were on our way. We drove around Chicago with this amazing piece of history. We stayed at the Hilton downtown, and of course they couldn't accommodate allll thiiiss.... so we had to find a parking lot somewhere that had 3 car lengths of space for us to fit in. I was SO nervous leaving this press outside over night in a city that I didn't know. We put a tarp over it to protect it from any rain (and it's a good thing we did!). I could hardly sleep that night. I kept wanting to go out and check on it to make sure someone hadn't driven off with it. The next morning we woke up good and early (because we needed to put more money in the meter), and set out to see the sights. It was like 7 am! We walked around and just marveled at the architecture. Of course we saw the bean, and a Frank Gehry building. We also took a walk down by the river which was nice... went into a Target (first time ever!), saw the world's first sky-scraper! The whole 8 stories! It was amazing. We chilled for a little while in a starbucks with some americanos and bagels. It was nice and relaxing... until about 9:30, when we realized that this was the first day that the Chicago Bears were playing a home game! We walked to the parking lot where the press was, and tailgating was already well on it's way! Serious boozing was going on... at 9:30 in the morning!!! We knew we had to get out of there quick before the streets got any busier. So we left Chicago – on Sunday morning. Only about 24 hours after we had left Canada. 

It was a nice trip. And it got even better on our drive home. It's a bit of a crazy story, but anyway, as it turns out at the side of the road in Kalamazoo, we found out that the press wasn't our only new addition. We're having a baby!!!

So I'm 16 weeks along now and totally have the energy to print again, and to write on this blog... :) 

Thanks for stopping by! More to come soon! 

Letterpress in Amsterdam

Hello! I'm back on home soil after an adventurous week in Paris & Amsterdam! Still feeling a little jet-lagged, but getting back into the swing of regular life once more. My mind keeps wondering back to all the beautiful sights and creative visual overload that I experienced while travelling. One major highlight (amoung many) was visiting Typique in Amsterdam – a beautiful letterpress shop run by pressman; René Treumann. Have you ever been to the Netherlands? I'm sure the friendliest people on the planet live there. René showed me around his entire shop, (even the parts that weren't part of his store). We chatted about his lovely prints, his immense collection of woodblocks and type, and his hand craved pieces. Letterpress seems to be more of an artform in Amsterdam than it is here in Toronto. I didn't see a computer or any traces of polymer plates anywhere in his shop, which is really heart-warming actually. It's still possible to do things completely the old fashioned way... by hand. It was so lovely meeting René and getting a glimpse into letterpress in Amsterdam. Before I left the store he told me that if I was interested in seeing more that there just happened to be a letterpress show/gathering happening the next day! What are the odds, right? I'll write more about that incredible experience next time. Ciao for now! 

Announcing Dylan

I am ridiculously in love with this little bundle of pure joy. I'm probably going to be that crazy aunt that will try to teach letterpress to an infant, and the alphabet with woodtype. But for now I will just print my little heart out for him... because he can't say to me yet that it's so not cool. 

I designed and printed this announcement for my sister-in-law & her husband, (Hey Dani & Jay!) – the coolest parents on the block for sure! I used 10pt classic Bodoni in lead type for all the tiny text, mixed in with a little bit of woodtype (for Dylan), and added a modern twist with some polymer for the blind-embossed heart. You can read more about that process here. It takes lots of time, patience, love and a little OCD to handset type, and I'm starting to believe more and more that there is something extra special in the imperfection of it all... how the type seems to dance on the line. 

In any case, I'm really pleased with how they turned out. Maybe Dylan will print with me one day.

A New Little Baby ~ the shower

Weddings and babies are just the most exciting thing on my radar lately! And all I want to do is letterpress anything related to it. Back in February I was busy planning a baby shower for my sister-in-law, Dani, which of course included letterpress invites! I decided to go with a postcard to save a little bit on the cost of envelopes, but also because I thought it would be totally awesome! The blue was bright and fun, and I experimented with tiny dots and lines. The tiny dots were a bit small in hind-sight and next time I try that I think I'll make them a bit larger and further spaced apart, so that they're visible. Also I totally figured out that when printing a flood of colour (like that mega big ribbon), and thin type is going to look even thinner, so it's just a mental note for next time to make it a thin lines a bit bolder. 

Anyway, you live, you learn. I'm just happy that I got to design and print these, so even though they're not "perfect", they're fine by me. 

On another note, this little baby that was on his way, is officially here, and I'm a proud new auntie!!! He is beyond adorable, and of course I had to snap a few photos, which you can see here. 

Have a lovely weekend everyone!

Friday night printing

If you read my other blog you probably already know that I'm about to become an aunt! I can't be more excited about it... I love the little guy so much already! A couple of weeks ago I hosted the baby shower and of course I needed to have a little something letterpress printed amoung the festivities. AND Of course I didn't figure out what to actually letterpress until, like, the night before the shower! So here I was, on a friday night, typesetting this "Wishes for Baby" card. I was a bit nervous for the day ahead... I really wanted everything to be just so... I had spent weeks planning and coming up with ideas with the help from one of my bestest creative friends, (hi Sandi!) and on that friday night it was all coming together. Arranging the type just so, having all the pieces in place... kind of interesting how similar it was to planning this event... figuring out how all the pieces will fit together... hoping that it will turn out the way I imagine... interesting to draw the parallel. Do I sounds crazy? hehe... but it was calming. 

That calmness only lastest while I was printing. I think I feel most relaxed when I'm printing. 

I hope you all have a lovely weekend! Thank goodness it's friday.

You make me happy...

I hope you had a lovely day yesterday with your sweetie-pies. I didn't have that much time with Justin for Valentine's Day this year... (he had a class to go to for most of the evening), but we're those lucky few that commute together on the subway (or bicycles) everyday, so I just cherished those moments, plus we had a quick dinner before he rushed off. 

In the evening I spent using Justin as my inspiration for some printing. What a great excuse to finally use some borders! I also used 2 sizes of wood type plus a bit of lead type for this print. It was the first time that I used a scale to mix my ink. It was a bit weird actually... and involved a bit of math, which was challenging to do with my right brain... but eventually I figured it out! Have you ever done that?! Mixed ink by weighing it?! It's a bit crazy, and one of these days I'll document it, so you know what I mean (in case you have no idea what I'm talking about). 

I made only a very limited 10 prints. Making them that much more special. I will have them on my etsy store (if it ever gets off the ground)

... and of course these are dedicated to the one that makes me happy when skies are grey. :)