Thank you to everyone who left a comment about the best parts of Fall in my calendar giveaway. Congratulations to our two winners, Jane and Chantel.
Jane won the 13-page calendar!
"My favourite bit about fall (another autumn-sayer over here, really...) is cycling through big piles of crunchy leaves :)"
Chantel I. won the tear-away calendar!
"Fall is by far my favourite season. I love the colours and the crisp air. I love to hear leaves crunching under my feet and to eat warm stew. Your calendars are beautiful and I'd be most pleased to win one."
Chantel, can you please send me an email with your mailing address. Your email address bounced back to me.
Stop back in early December for another giveaway :)
I love reading Sophie Blackall's Missed Connections Blog. Her illustrations are perfect for the odd missed connections, almost always hilarious, although sometimes a little sad. She also has prints for sale!
And, make sure you check out her apartment Sneak Peek, it's equally amazing. I seriously love how full it is and the quilt is awesome! It makes me feel good about all of my stuff :)
My sister sent me a link to the most amazing dog Halloween costume...chihuahua on burger! I wish we had been able to think of something so genius for our girls this year. Susie would have loved felt burger paws and Cassie would have loved trying to eat them :) Maybe next ear we won't be so lame.
When I came acrosss Stephen Wiltshire's work on A Cup of Jo I was blown away. After short ride in a helicopter he was able to recreate the skyline of New York City. From memory! Can you imagine it? The details are just incredible and I don't know that I've ever been able to concentrate so intensely on one thing in my life like he is able to do in these.
In my last giveaway I mentioned that I'd be having more. Well, October came and went, so now it looks like I'm saying hello to November with a calendar giveaway!
One winner will receive the full 12-month calendar and a second winner will receive the tear-away calendar. Both are letterpress printed and the imagery is inspired by vintage china patterns. To enter, please leave a comment telling us all what you your favorite part of fall is (mine is that I have an excuse to make and eat soup!). To double your chances, post about this giveaway on your blog and leave another comment with a link to the post and I'll make sure you're entered into the drawing a second time! The contest will end on Monday, November 9th at midnight (EST) and I'll announce the winner on Tuesday, November 10th.
As an added bonus for reading my blog I’ll send an extra greeting card with any shop order if you enter the code “hello fall” in the checkout section (valid until November 20).
Monday, November 2, 2009
Wow, things are moving so quickly! Plans are well under way for the next Second Storie Indie Market. We'll be picking up posters to plaster the town, for both the market and the Western New York screening of Handmade Nation, tickets are still available. I'm so looking forward to both. The best part of the entire event is when vendors start arrivig for set up. Everyone is so excited and chatting about the holidays and their work and busily setting up their tables. It makes the whole planning process worth it! I hope some of you in the upstate area might be able to stop by in person and say hi during Thanksgiving weekend :)
This past weekend was packed full of fun stuff. I don't know how I managed, but I got up at 5:00 in the morning, met Jim at 6am and then we drove to Syracuse for the Salt City Craft Market and set up our tables. The fair was really well attended and after eight hours of standing and talking and meeting super nice people we had dinner with some of my best friends. The organizers did a great job and it was nice to be on the vendor end of things and not have to worry about any set up other than my own!
Then on Sunday we got up and headed out to be in a zombie horde for a friend's movie. It was so awesome, I can't even tell you! The camera man shot from a helicopter for about an hour of the shoot and the rest of the time we drudged through the woods and made lots of hungry zombie noises. I'm looking forward to doing it again this weekend :)
And as the last note for this post, many thanks to everyone who pre-ordered a calendar! They are ready to be shipped and will go out this week. I'll be ending the free-shipping on all pre-orders on Friday, October 30th.
Seriously, it's Thursday? And it's almost the end of October? That's crazy! I almost forgot to tell you that I'll be participating in the Salt City Urban Art and Craft Market this weekend in Syracuse. I'm really looking forward to it, and hoping to pick up some awesome holiday presents :) I hope some of you can stop by and say hi.
Things have been pretty good this week. Printing is going great and I really think I'm going to be able to bring the calendars with me to the Salt City Market. The bug situation is close to being resolved. On Monday Jim cleaned up almost 200 of them, but I think this was their last stand. There are much fewer today and the exterminator is coming with a new product this afternoon. And, our awesome carpenter is almost finished repairing out dining room ceiling (which was damaged by a broken overflow valve in our upstairs bathtub). It looks amazing and he even repaired a few things we were never going to have time for - like when you get 90% finished with a project and then it stays exactly the same way for three years.
I'm not sure if I ever showed you my calendar wall in my office. It makes me so happy to flip the page on each calendar at the beginning of the month - fresh art the entire year! It was also so much fun to shop for (and trade for) calendars last year, and I'm looking forward to doing the same thing this year.
On that note, printing is going great! With the help of my new intern I was able to finish printing the tear-away calendar this weekend. These calendars are $10 each and can be trimmed to 5"x7" prints at the end of the year. I'll keep you updated on the full 12-month calendar, which I hope to finish printing this week. Happy Monday!
More pictures from this weekend. We went to The Apple Farm with a big group for Kelly's birthday and it was so much fun. It was a bit of a drive for us, but the view and the apples were amazing. Afterward we ate apple cider donuts, apple turnovers, mini apple pies, and hot apple cider...yum!
Oh, blogger, I've missed you. I told you I had some stories coming, but I figured that it might be better to just make a descriptive list of my last week. I will preface this by saying that I have been deprived of exercise for three weeks and I am terrified of worms...total phobia.
Last Monday: I hadn't been to the gym in two weeks, trying to fight off a cold, heal my tender knee and massive amount of work. Imagine how good (and sleepy) I felt to get out of bed, put on my gym cloths and head out for a morning Zumba class. I shut the door and realized immediately that I had locked myself out. It was chilly and I had to wait on the porch for my friend to drive across town with the spare key.
I had a problem with some paper mites (at least I think this is what they were) over the summer, but thought I had eradicated them after some vigorous cleaning and throwing out lots of old prints that had been sitting in my flat files. I found two this afternoon and called the exterminator. This set the tone for the week, no Zumba + bugs = uggg!
Tuesday: Right before the exterminator came I pulled a piece of making tape off my large collating table and there was a maggot stuck to it. Screeeeeeeeeeeeaaammmmmmmmmm! The tape stuck to my hand. OMG I almost died right then. Sara calmed me down and assured me there was no way there could be more. The exterminator came and said the same thing. Then he sprayed some bug killer and I felt better. Until...maggots started falling out of the table, dying. Complete panic, I'm the only one in the studio and I can barely breathe. I call the exterminator back and he says not to worry, they'll be dead by morning and life will be beack to normal....perhaps a dead mouse was in the table...who the hell knows!
Then, the bookbinder for the big book project comes up and tells me the leather for the book is too small. The book was supposed to be bound by tomorrow. More panic and skin is still crawling, I order new leather and have it overnighted.
Wednesday: FedEx is late. I call and they say the package will be there shortly. Another hour goes by, still no leather for the book. I call again, then three more times. The local facility can't reach the driver, they've tried twice. Finally I get a call that the packae will be delivered in 15 minutes. The driver comes, I try to be as nice as possible then race over to the binder and the book is officially out of my hands.
But....I go into the studio and there are more larva and they have crawled away from the table toward my press. Ok, now I'm almost hysterical...who knew these things could travel so far?! I have to leave to teach and I can't stop crying and I don't know how on earth I can clean up the studio. So my wonderful friend comes to the rescue and removes the table from my studio and vaccuums up all of the bugs (which is how I will refer to them from here on out). I am so relieved that I start crying again. Then I get to have Marni's mac & cheese, which is declicous.
Thursday: I go to the studio to meet with some clients and find more bugs. They have reappeared, or come out of their hiding spots in the floorboards. I have to meet with my very understanding clients near the door because I can barely walk into the space and as soon as that's done I call the extemrinator to spray the whole floor. I gather up all of my ink and plates and get ready to print elsewhere until I can walk in the studio again.
Saturday: The exterminator comes, sprays the whole floor. We still can't figure out where the problem is coming from. But, I hope that this will solve it. I have to stand near the hall the whole time and Jake moves things so the floor can be sprayed.
Now, I'm tired of being overwhelmed and just want to relax a bit. We go apple picking for a friend's birthday and it's perfect weather. We get lunch with friends. We get to see the finished book project at the unveiling, which turned out beautifully. And then I look at travel books at the book store with a friend.
Sunday: We drive to Letchworth Park with the dogs and meet with Jen and Jim and my dad for breakfast. Then we hike for about four hours under perfect blue skies and falling leaves. I grade papers in the car, both ways. Then a double feature of Julie and Julia and District 9. More grading papers and Jake goes into work for an all-nighter.
Today: Jim calls me from the studio and says there are lots of dead bugs. He cleans them up...total life saver! Now we have to wait and see if they just came out to die or if there are more tomorrow. But, I have to wait for someone else to go in the studio before I do or I might just pass out. I ran a ton of errands and then I teach for the rest of the day.
So, now you've gotten to live vicariously through me for a whole week. I promise things aren't ususally this crazy. I've stopped crying and I laughed a lot this weekend. And I took a ton of great pictures and ate lots of apples. Tomorrow is going to be packed, but Wednesday I will be able to breathe again. I'm looking forward to a good week and a full night of sleep.
ps-I love this video (the first words out of my mouth are "oh shit") and I love that Jen says "what thumb?"
This is an incredible feat of letterpress work, so meticulously organized, printed and bound. I am in awe of John Carerra's Pictorial Webster's! It is so easy to take for granted the skill and craftsmanship that went into books and publications produced before the age of computers and offset printing. In addition to the letterpress printed copies in this edition, Chronicle Books has published a $35 hardcover version.
I am so excited to finally share the designs for the calendar with you! I have always admired my grandmother’s delicate collection of china. The designs in this calendar were inspired by patterns found on vintage teacups and saucers.
I am still in the process of printing it, but the designs have been finalized and I am currently taking pre-orders in the shop. All domestic pre-orders will receive free shipping (all other locations receive a discounted rate) and a complimentary letterpress printed greeting card. They will be ready to ship mid-late October.
There are seven different ink colors throughout and a very sweet notes section at the bottom of each month for birthdays and important reminders. The size of the calendar is 4" wide by 11" tall and it is punched through the top and bound with ribbon. At the end of the year (or before) each month may be trimmed to 4” x 6” and framed.
I have some crazy stories for you in the next few days, we'll call them mishaps in the life of a printer. I'm too tired to write about them now, but trust me, they're coming. Have a great night!
Somehow, in the last two weeks, I have fallen in love with blue cheese. I don't quite know how it happened, but it started innocently in salads and now I'm basically eating hunks of it right out of the fridge. I never thought I'd like it, but now I can't get enough. I had some tonight for dinner and it was quite tasty.
I am tired and it's only Monday. This was a long weekend. On Saturday Jake biked another long ride - 60 miles this time, and then he came to the studio and kept me company while I printed until 1am. It was nice to have the company. I have a few more days of printing ahead of me and a bit more design time for the calendar before I order the plates. If you're waiting for a response to an email, I promise it's coming!
I'm excited about the progress my students are making this semester. They're a quiet group, but they're making some really great drawings. Our first critique went well this afternoon and I'm glad to see that they're working so hard - all of them.
Another day in the studio. Notorious BIG, Pitbull, ODB, Outkast, Parliment, and Justin Timberlake all made an appearance. Seriously, I don't think that I could get through so many hours of printing without them.
The light in the studio has been really beautiful now that the sun is setting earlier. I'm trying to settle on the color palette for the calendar and I'm just about there.
I got home at ten this evening and Jake had done three loads of laundry and most of the dishes. It was so awesome, so very awesome.
My name is Rachael and I'm a letterpress printer, artist, teacher, foodie who loves Mountain Dew and cheese doodles, dog-lover and indecisive decorator (I paint every room at least three times before I find the right color). I'm married to an engineer who has a car obsession but rides his bike to work, plays complex European board games, could survive a zombie apocalypse, and can pick out great paint colors on the first try. We have two dogs, Pancake Sue and Cassie, and we love them very much!
I'd love to hear from you: info {at} pistachiopress {dot} com
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