unsolicited opinions on random things
I was perusing through the archives of Rifle Paper Co’s blog, and found this. Anna Bond (aka Rifle Paper Co’s amazing head designer lady), did a guest post on Martha Stewart Crafts, featuring a DIY cocktail party invitation. This is beyond cute. Too bad I’m not so good with scissors – if I try to make this, it will probably turn out pretty bad. But I might just have to try anyway. Click here for full instructions and templates.
What a cool idea – cut up a book, leaving just the illustrations. These pieces are by German/British artist Alexander Korzer-Robinson.
From the artist: “The cut book art has been made by working through the books, page by page, cutting around some of the illustrations while removing others. The images seen in the finished work, are left standing in the place where they would appear in the complete book. As a final step the book is sealed around the cut, and can no longer be opened. As we remember the books from our own past, certain fragments remain with us while others fade away over time – phrases and passages, mental images we created, the way the stories made us feel and the thoughts they inspired.”
Makes me wanna get out my scissors. Bad idea.
[via Ready Made Editors Notes and Wooster Collective]
[top image: Kinnon’s letterpress projects. She has mad skills. bottom image: my letterpress project, based on a quote from Samuel Beckett. A fitting passage for my lack of skills.]
On Saturday, Kinnon and I attended an “intro to letterpress” workshop at Kozo Studio. All of the print design work I do is designed on the computer and printed on digital presses, so working by hand on old-school presses was a real change. Things that are so easy to do on the computer (layout changes, kerning letters, justifying text) is NOT so easy to do by hand. But it’s so much more rewarding when you get it right!
I was a bit disappointed to learn that “real” letterpress work doesn’t actually impress/indent on the paper. The ink should just “kiss” the paper, leaving a print, but not a pushed-down indentation in the paper. Our instructor taught us that pushing so hard as to make an impression on the paper is hard on your metal type (it wears it down quickly). But it’s so popular now to use letterpress to get the indent on the paper on purpose. That’s what sets it apart from digital printing – there’s so much texture that you can’t get with digital. If I were to do more letterpress work, I’d say “to hell with the metal type” and definitely make indentations in the paper.
Overall, I had a great time, but learned that I am not so good with movable type. It takes too much time to position your letters properly. If I were to do letterpress projects, I would design them on the computer and have photopolymer plates created. Then I could take the plates and run those through the press.
Now I have even more respect for printers and those that are doing letterpress work by hand. Just look at this blog post from our instructor at Kozo Studio – that’s pretty insane. And cool.
I saw this video on Design*Sponge Friday – it’s of Lotta Jansdotter showing you how to do potato printing. The video is basically a 2-minute long commercial for Rowenta irons, but I watched it anyway (I’m a big Lotta Jansdotter fan). I checked out the web address posted at the end of the video (Rowenta Craftlabs), and it looks like Lotta is doing a whole bunch of crafty projects with Rowenta irons. These videos have inspired me, and I want to get my craft on!
I must admit two things: 1. I love crafts. 2. I am terrible at crafts.
I’m pretty good at making things on computers, but once you bring out the scissors and glue, I get all messy and nothing turns out the way I want it to. But I still try. And potato printing is just about the easiest thing you can do (remember it from kindergarten?), so maybe I would have some success with it. I’m going to give it a try soon…