Linotype: The Film

Posted on February 14, 2012 by in Inspiration, Letterpress

“Linotype: The Film” Official Trailer from Linotype: The Film on Vimeo.

Last night I was fortunate enough to get into a sold out screening of the new documentary Linotype: The Film by Doug Wilson and Brandon Goodwin. The event was sponsored by AIGA Boston and screened in the Paramount theatre at Emerson, where I teach. It was AH-mazing! Much like I’d previously read about the documentary, you don’t have to be a type geek or a letterpress printer to appreciate the story behind the Linotype machine. It’s more about the people who love and run these machines, who have a real passion for what they do, and want to preserve the craft despite it’s near extinction. In a Q&A session after the screening, director Doug Wilson noted that the goal was to make a movie that his mother could enjoy. His mother hasn’t seen it yet, but I’m certain that anyone would find this movie not only educational (did you know the Linotype increased literacy and the amount of printed books, newspapers, magazine, etc. after it’s invention?) but also very entertaining. A movie like this could easily feel pretentious or unapproachable but Wilson and Goodwin did an excellent job of keeping the tone of the film serious while also injecting a lively sense of humor.

As a letterpress printer in the Boston area (who I might add has no skills on a Linotype and rarely has the opportunity to even use hand set type these days) this movie got me so excited. The letterpress community is a small but passionate group. Those who still use Linotype machines are an even smaller segment of that group. I was so happy to see that the film included several people/places I know, including The Museum of Printing in North Andover, MA; a former colleague I worked with at Albertine Press, Jesse Marsolais, who also works at Firefly Press with John Kristensen; and a brief cameo by John Barrett of Letterpress Things in Chicopee, MA (his name wasn’t mentioned in the movie but he’s there advising, as he always does in his frank and helpful manner, when a fellow purchases two Linotype machines for the Charles River Museum of Industry in Waltham and needs to get them up and running). This movie made me feel so, so lucky to have these resources so close to me. I’m realizing that I need to take more advantage of what’s available to me and continue to learn the craft in it’s traditional form as well as newer technologies (like polymer). I may not run out and get a Linotype of my own (it doesn’t really fit my business model, and frankly these machines are huge and scary! and probably wouldn’t fit through my studio door) but my interest is peeked and maybe one day I’ll be able to learn.

So what the heck is a Linotype machine anyway? They’ve got a pretty good explanation up on the film’s site here. Or you could watch the movie at one of it’s upcoming screenings or when it comes out on DVD this summer (which I can’t wait to own, BTW, my students are gonna be watching this starting next fall!).

 

 

 

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January 2012 Project: Choose-Your-Own Adventure Poetry Book

Posted on February 9, 2012 by in Graphic Design & Illustration, Process

Where did January go? Or for that matter where is February going? It’s hard to believe it’s been over 3 weeks since my last post and that we are already a week into the month of February. I still haven’t posted a wrap up of the 2011 holiday season. Or solidified any goals for 2012 (though I have ideas, just haven’t committed anything to paper yet). In fact, I haven’t even caught up on my long list of to-do’s that have been piling up since this time last year. Though that’s one of my main goals for the rest of February, crossing my fingers!

So what the heck have I been doing during the last month or so? Well, as the title of this post suggests, there was a big project I was working on, designing a choose-your-own-adventure book of poetry and illustration for Rose Metal Press, I Take Back the Sponge Cake, by Sierra Nelson and Loren Erdrich. It was a really fun project to work on but it also took up quite a bit of my time in January. Plus when I wasn’t working on the book, I was preparing for the two classes I’m teaching at Emerson this semester (Book Design and Advanced Applications for Print Publishing). We wrapped up the design process of I Take Back the Sponge Cake last week and it’s currently at the printer and waiting to make its world premiere at the AWP conference in the beginning of March. I can’t wait to see the final book!

Until then I wanted to share the cover design and a few of my favorite spreads. But first, lets back up and get to know a little bit about Rose Metal Press. They’re a small indie/non-profit publisher of hybrid genres like short short/flash fiction, prose poetry, book-length narrative poems and novel-in-verse (like I take Back the Sponge Cake). The press was founded in 2006 by two Emerson College grad student alums, Abigail Beckel and Kathleen Rooney. They release about three titles a year and this was my fourth book I designed for them.

Each project I’ve worked on with Rose Metal press has been really unique. Working with such different content is not only refreshing but a fun challenge. I Take Back the Sponge Cake was no exception, especially since each page also contained a full-color illustration. Here’s a little more about the book (taken from the back cover):

I Take Back the Sponge Cake is a choose-your-own-adventure collaboration between poet Sierra Nelson and visual artist Loren Erdrich. Each turn of the page features an ink and watercolor drawing, a poem, and a choice between two sound-alike words that create a variety of paths through the book. The adventure always begins in the same place, but depending on your choices your reading experience moves by emotional meander—leaping, looping, and surprising until it finally reaches one of the possible endings. With its blend of words, artwork, and audience participation, I Take Back the Sponge Cake is a triple threat.

The real challenge with this book was to seamlessly incorporate the illustrations with the complexity of the poetry and the choose-your-own-adventure directives. A visual hierarchy and balancing each spread was of extreme importance so as not to confuse the reader, allowing one to enjoy the narrative and whimsical illustrations without distraction from the design. I also spent quite a bit of time researching the perfect typeface for the interior text, deciding on LTC Kennerley because it has a quirky yet classical feel while still maintaining its legibility (and it was originally designed by Frederick Goudy).

But the biggest challenge of the project was designing the “Adventure Map” included in the back of the book that shows all the possible directions each choose-your-own-adventure narrative can take. When I received the map it went in the opposite direction vertically from the top down (like a family tree) which didn’t fit onto the trim of the page. I had to figure out a way to make it work horizontally, going across the gutter as a full spread, while not loosing any text in the center. I also tried to make sure all those arrows didn’t get too out-of-control! (Which was really, really, hard!) This one will be interesting to see in print since I’m still not sure how the arrows are going to look in the gutter.

Once I have a final printed copy I’ll be sure to share some pics. And if you want to get your own copy they’ll be ready to order through the Rose Metal Press website at the beginning of March.

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Pressbound’s 2011 Wrap UP (Part 2): What Went Wrong

Posted on January 13, 2012 by in Events, News

Yesterday I wrote about some of the things that went right with Pressbound in 2011, most of them unplanned and happening by chance. Now I want to look at what went wrong so I can learn from them and fix these problems in my plans for 2012 and beyond. Although these are all things that I see as going wrong these mistakes by no means are seen as failures but learning experiences.

So here we go…

1. Overall lack of Balance and Time:

Here is a direct quote from a blog post at the start of 2011:
“This year it’s my goal to juggle less and focus more on a few bigger things.”

Erghhhhh. Wrong. I juggled more than I ever have in 2011. Much of this is because there was no clear vision or plan for Pressbound other than to grow and increase sales. So I tried to do everything possible in an extremely short period of time to grow, all while finishing an MFA program, working part-time for someone else (until the end of June), teaching 2 classes a semester (2 of which I’d never taught before) and moving my home for the first time in 5 years. I applied to every holiday craft fair/show I could fit in my schedule. I committed to every consignment opportunity that came my way. I acquired lots of new equipment (which required coordinating moves) and a studio space. I made things, made more things, and then made even more things so I wouldn’t run out before the holidays. I did not take a single moment to get my head above water and breath. I couldn’t see the big picture for most of the year and that was a very dangerous position to be in.

2. Not aware of target markets.

I’m still trying to work this one out. Though doing a gazillion craft fairs really helped me establish a clearer idea of who my market is. The problem is that I applied for every big craft fair out there without keeping my target market in mind. There are some fairs I probably won’t do again because they don’t attract the kind of person who buys my work. I generally do better at shows with a culturally diverse audience that has a strong appreciation for the arts. But I also have a market of people who buy my work because it is Polish influenced. As well as experiencing potential customers who react negatively when they find out my work is inspired by Polish folk art and not (insert-their-family heritage-here) influenced. So that’s something to consider when moving forward. How do I grow my business and still stay true to the work I’m doing now, but ad work that doesn’t alienate other potential customers?

3. Hired an Intern without Defining His/Her Role.

This is just one of those things you need to learn from experience and making mistakes. It’s the same thing that happened when I first started teaching college level classes. I had no prior training as a teacher, I only had my experiences as a student to go by. Much the same I had very little experience being the boss, mostly just my experiences of being an employee. Similar to teaching a class in which the structure and expectations are defined in a syllabus, an employee, even an intern, needs to have a job description with some expectations and structure in place. I agreed to take on my first intern without that job description or any expectations of his/her role in my business and thus have not provided enough structure. This creates a situation each week where I’m scrambling to think of or prepare projects and spend time giving in-depth instruction, rather than have certain tasks they can do each time he/she comes in with new responsibilities and skills added gradually as he/she learns.

4. Did Not Make a Profit:

What? What is that you say? You just wrote in the last post that you increased sales by 124%, including a 400% jump in Etsy sales. Yes, that is all true. But Pressbound also sacrificed all of its freelance design and custom work in 2011 to my MFA program. This was previously a much larger portion of my business income than my product sales. But there was no way I’d be able to balance that in with everything else I was juggling and made a conscious choice not to take on any freelance or custom design in 2011. In the end the product sales did not equal as much as my previous design work did. I also had a lot of overhead this year, including rent and large equipment purchases. So my expenses for 2011 have outnumbered Pressbound’s income. It will be a sad day indeed, when I need to report this information to the tax man. I also knew very well that this is where I’d probably end up by the end of 2011 and squirreled away enough money in 2010 to make sure I could get by. Now that the MFA is out of the way, this should (really crossing my fingers here) change in 2012.

Conclusion:

For some reason I seem to rebel against planning. But my going-with-the-flow nature just doesn’t work when running a business. In order to gain balance in my work/personal life, make a profit so my business is sustainable, and insure that interns or other future employees (if I’m so lucky) have a defined role in my business, I need a plan. Sound familiar? Indeed, it’s the same conclusion from my what-went-right post. So what am I waiting for? I got to start developing that plan…

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Pressbound’s 2011 Wrap Up (Part 1): What Went Right

Posted on January 12, 2012 by in News

The other night I made a list (I love making lists!) of all the things that went right/wrong with Pressbound in 2011. I’ve decided to divide up my list into two posts, starting with what went right. Although I hope most of the negative appearing, what-went-wrong stuff, can be spun into a positive as well. It’s been interesting looking back, especially since so much happened in my life outside of Pressbound in 2011 as well (moving, MFA, teaching, working part-time at another press). But some really positive things happened considering everything else that was going on simultaneously.

So without further ado, here’s what went right in 2011…

1. Pressbound was accepted into lots of really great craft shows/fairs.

These were mostly holiday shows since, as I’ve mentioned before I took the first half of the year off to finish my MFA. I was shocked and delighted as acceptances rolled in for holiday fairs. It made for a very busy November and December, of which I will wrap up in another posting next week. I learned a tremendous amount from these experiences. Overall I’m delighted that my work was so well received in 2011.

2. I increased my product sales by 124%.

Much of this is due to the large number of holiday shows I participated in. The other part is due to spending time growing my Etsy shop. In the previous few years the shop didn’t get huge sales numbers since (I’ll be honest here) I didn’t know what the heck I was doing. I certainly didn’t understand the concept of renewing and therefor was practically invisible in site searches. This year sales grew by 400%. I attribute this to first spending Jan-June renewing and re-listing often. Then when Etsy switched the site to relevancy based searching in August, I spent a lot of time tweaking my product titles/tags and began showing up more in searches, first for Polish or Poland related things then for 2012 calendars and holiday cards, which definitely resulted in more sales. I’m not saying I’ve got this process down, since I recently learned a few more trick and tweaks to make my shop even more relevant. But this change on Etsy must have made some difference for Pressbound since many people have reported a drop in sales/traffic since the change to relevancy based searches and I’ve experienced the opposite. Also, getting my name out at all the shows I participated in and a few other marketing efforts like sending an email newsletter with coupon codes and getting visibility on some blogs, including the Poppy Talk Handmade market place also contributed to the increase of Etsy sales. So thank-you to all those who featured my work and accepted Pressbound into shows in 2011!

3. I grew my community of other like-minded indie/craft artists.

Last January I joined a group of amazing women who meet each month to discuss the ins and outs/trials and tribulations of running a craft business. I’m not sure the group has a formal name but we all refer to our meetings as the Crafty Biz meetup. I’ve learned so much from everyone and got to know some incredible ladies. This group has been invaluable to my sanity and the growth of my business. It’s open to anyone interested so please be in touch directly if you want to know more. I also increased my community on social networks such as Twitter as well as joining a few craft related./artist groups on Facebook.

4. I acquired my first larger press and a studio space.

If you’ve been following the blog then you know all about this and I won’t go into details since you can read about it in postings from May-September. Having my own space and equipment is extremely important to the growth of Pressbound and being a legitimate design and letterpress studio. It will hopefully contribute to the growth I am looking for in 2012 and also allow me to acquire a second, larger press this year. I really look forward to continue sharing in this growth with you here in 2012.

Conclusion:

Looking back at a blog post from the start of 2011 I talked about focusing on growing Pressbound’s online sales. So yay! I managed to complete one of my goals for the year! But my other goals were sort of vague and generic: grow my marketing efforts and the blog (note, neither of those are mentioned above and what exactly does that mean anyway?). I also talked about juggling less, which I’ll touch on in the what-went-wrong post.

So this year it’s pretty clear to me that I need to devise a concise business plan for 2012 and also the long term. I hate getting so business-y sounding but that is what I’m trying to run, right? I need to know where things are going so I can determine how to get there in 2012. Three of the four things I listed above as going right happened by chance. The only one of those things that was an actual goal was increasing Etsy sales. Stating vague goals means I will get vague or happenstance results. Not that anything is wrong with chance results as well. But that should only be part of what went right and not the majority of it. There will always be happy accidents or things we don’t plan for (like finding a press and a studio space) but I can’t take the risk of running my business on luck anymore. It’s time to get serious and take things to the next level.

I’ll be developing my plan this month and taking a long hard look at the business as a whole. There are a lot of other things happening at the same time so I’m hoping to have a plan in place by the beginning of January. So I hope to share some of what I discover with yousoon!

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This Week Only, 20% Off Etsy Overstock Sale

Posted on January 9, 2012 by in Events, News

Thanks everyone for an awesome 2011! Last year was Pressbound’s best yet and I’m ready to make 2012 even better. I’m currently working on new products and need to move the remaining stock from 2011. Take advantage with an extra 20% off already reduced items like the 2012 letterpress printed desk and wall calendars or all letterpress holiday card sets. You’ll also find plenty of handmade journals and card sets available too. Use copon code OVERSTOCK2011 in the Pressbound Etsy Shop through 1-15-2011 at 10pm EST to get 20% off all items at checkout. Prices currently listed on the site are before the extra discount is applied.

Also, stay tuned! I’ll be posting new work for Valentine’s day in the coming weeks.

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What I Did Over My Winter Vacation

Posted on January 3, 2012 by in News

Happy 2012 y’all! Hope your holidays were merry and your new years was festive. I am back and refreshed after a very busy few months. Though I wish I could take another week off to really decompress! Alas, bills must be paid, orders shipped, syllabi written, and new projects started.

Here on the blog, I want to spend the first few weeks of 2012 reflecting on the last year, the holiday season, and my goals for 2012. But first, I think it’s important for me to share what I did over my “stay-cation.” I’m really hoping that in 2012 this blog becomes more a reflection of me as a whole and not just about what project I most recently finished or where I might be selling my wares over the weekend. So, as a start, here’s what I did last week:

~ I slept and did not use an alarm.

~ I unpacked boxes that have been sitting around since I moved in June. Sure this stuff is mostly unnecessary. But it was fun to discover things I forgot I had like this super cool bowl that used to be my grandmother’s.

~ I decorated using some of the “unnecesary stuff” I found.

~ I cleaned the house.

~ I played video games

~ I went to the library and got some business oriented books to read: Made to Stick by Chip and Dan Heath, Why We Buy by Paco Underhill, and Free by Chris Anderson.

~ While at the library I also got a museum pass for the MFA. I went the next day and spent most of my time in the new Art of the Americas wing. I was surprised to find inspiration in the Boston 1790-1830 room. There were three rooms (bedroom and dining room below) re-created from the Oak Hill Estate which was located  in Peabody, MA (where I live!) and designed mostly by the famous local architect Samuel McIntire. Today, it’s the site of the North Shore Mall (sad). I loved the patterns and woodwork I discovered in these rooms. I am thinking about developing a line of decorative cards using these rooms as my inspiration.

~ I scoured through several issues of Vegetarian Times I had sitting around since summer. I made a few of the dishes for dinner and we are still eating some of the delicious left overs this week. Also a quick note here, I’m not veg anymore (and haven’t been for a number of years) though I try to cook this way as much as possible.

~ I got my hair cut.

~ I hung out with my brother for the first time since the summer.

~ I spent most of the day Friday cooking some more of the above veggie recipes in preparation for a New Year’s Eve party we were having.

~ We had a New Years Eve party.

~ I tried not to think about work, but it was really, really hard.

Now I’m back! And boy am I thinking about work. I’m planning and scheming and trying to figure out what my next step is. We’ll get to all of that soon. But first, I’ll reflect on 2011 in my next few blog posts.

 

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Thanks for an Awesome 2011!

Posted on December 23, 2011 by in News

Thanks so much to everyone who supported Pressbound during the 2011 holiday season! It’s been a long, crazy year! I’ll be taking a break from Pressbound during the holidays to regroup, get ready for the next academic year, and relax a little. I’ve got so much to share and that I’ve wanted to post about but time has been in short supply this last month. I’ll be back in 2012 to get you up to speed with my holiday show round ups, my favorite projects (ie: my thesis!) and much, much more. I’m looking forward to it!

Wishing you all a wonderful, safe, and joyous holiday! See you next year!

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Happenings this Weekend

Posted on December 9, 2011 by in Events

AND

It’s my last weekend of holiday shows! I am both sad and elated at the same time. It’s been a lot of hard work and exhaustion getting here. So I’m happy to finally have time to breath and relax again soon (after I finish grading my student’s final projects next week). But I’m sad that this weekend will be the last of my shows for a while. Maybe until the spring. So come out if you can and say hello! I’ll be in both Boston and Portland, ME.

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Boston Bazaar Bizarre this Sunday!

Posted on December 1, 2011 by in Events

I’ll be having a busy weekend! Along with my holiday open house on Saturday I’ll also have a table at this year’s Bazaar Bizarre holiday show on Sunday from 12-6. I’ll be right next to my friends and fellow letterpress-ers, Albertine Press. Hopefully I won’t be talking in tongues by the end of the weekend!

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Pressbound Holiday Open House this Saturday, December 3

Posted on November 29, 2011 by in Events

I know, I know…it feels like our grand opening celebration was just yesterday! Now it’s already time for our first annual holiday open house. I’m very excited about this event and hope all you local folks can join us at The Studios at Porter Mill in Beverly, MA this Saturday. There will be letterpress demonstrations, giveaways, food, and lots of Pressbound’s handmade paper goodies for sale (including our letterpress holiday ornaments only available at local events). You’ll also have a chance to visit the other 25 artists in the building whose doors will be open to the public. Or check out the small works exhibition and sale in the Gallery at Porter Mill just down the hall. Hope to see you!

Saturday, December 3
2:00 – 6:00 pm
95 Rantoul Street
First Floor
Beverly MA

Located a five minute walk from the Beverly Depot Station on the Newburyport/Rockport commuter rail line.

Can’t make it to this event? Check out where else I’ll be this holiday season.

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