Sunday, November 16, 2008
This is where I question my actual sanity.
Let me first say that I've become sort of obsessed with my letterpress these days. It's out and fairly easy to get going and clean up in a timely manner. I just seem to have it on the brain.
Carrie came over Friday night and we printed fun stuff.
Here is the studio space I'm working in now. It used to be my mom's dye studio, and we can still dye fabric in there. I put up some shelves this weekend so that I could work neater and easier instead of walking back and forth and digging things out of tubs. Those are not my deer heads on the wall. They're my dad's last stand as a manly man in this house. So I decorated them my way. Click on the picture to see it a little bigger.
Now let's talk about how and why I think I've lost my mind. First things first, I've found a house that I want to buy---but logically, we really need to save some serious cash first. Here is the house. I hope I don't sell it to someone else, but I think most of you live out of state, so I'm probably safe. It's so DREAMY!!! So you now see that I have a lot of motivation to make a little extra money right now.
The most direct route to making a little money would be freelance design, and now that I have a lot more printing experience, I'm very confident about sending things to the printer. If any of you know of anyone who needs some design work done, please let me know. I can do logos, simple web design, or t-shirt design, or holiday cards. There. Done trying to be the pimp AND the ho.
So here you see a calendar. This seems simple enough. But then you remember that there are 12 months in the year. And that I will need to do a design for the top of each month. Carrie and I talked at length about doing a calendar, and we decided it would be crazy to hand set each month and try to carve 12 designs. But something about that kept nagging at me, and last night I just wanted to see if I could layout a calendar.
So now I have 50 "January"s and I don't know if I'm going to have the stamina to make all the rest of it work. I was actually depressed last night when I stopped printing, because I think this is the official "you're crazy" sign. Not my normal, "haha, yeah, I do wacky things" sheepish, but now I worry there actually might be something wrong with me.
I also have something to say about a lot of the letterpress you see on etsy. It's lovely. Really lovely, but I think a lot of those people are cheating. (Please don't hate me for this) They're laying out their pattern and letters, then sending it to a big company to make plates for them. I think this is cheating because it's not the artform of hand setting the type or carving the woodcuts. It's clicking the button. That said, I did do that for my wedding invitations, because there's NO WAY I could have carved that tiny tiny hand-drawn text. I guess I'm a hypocrite.
I can't get my prints perfect because the type I'm using has really been around. These other printers are great designers, but the prints look like they were done in a factory by a robot. And I'm glad that my prints really truly look like someone's hand has touched them. I'm going to label all of them as "Hand-Printed on a Letterpress" on Etsy when I post them.
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First- oh my goodness! That house looks PERFECT. It is completely worth the hard work you'd have to do to bulk up the savings to purchase it! If it is snapped up, I know that the right one is out there for you.
I love, love, love your press work. As with any handmade thing, those who understand the work that goes into it, are the ones who value it and will pay for it. You can buy a cheap stuffed animal from Target for 2.99... or a hand-stitched, one-of-a-kind softie for a whole lot more. My advice to you would be to have a "what makes my work unique/special" explanation. You told it well here in the blog what sets you apart and why would anyone want less?!
Can I update your add to 707 Jefferson????? You know I am SO practical (remember, I un-shop!!!!!) but that house is great. weigh out I HAVE AN OPPORTUNITY RIGHT NOW vs. WAIT + SAVE ANOTHER YEAR. Plus there is that kitchen issue you might want to see through.
As for the letterpress bit- as someone who works in the field of mental health AND owns a letterpress- you have officially lost it + I blame the resin!!!!!!!
p.s. I love !!!!!!!!'s + ?????????'s
I love letterpressed calendars. It's like art that you only have to commit to for a month and if you really love it, you can frame the upper portion (or the whole thing).
Go for it. As someone who just bought an old house - I'm in heaven! Although I did save up some money which is all gone now after our kitchen remodel... P.S. Have you sold your Nashville house yet?