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I don’t recall exactly where I came across ILSSA the first time – some blog or another that I read – but I do remember my initial reaction. I felt . . . understood. It’s not often in this fast paced, technology driven world that you come across a group of people whose motto is “AS MANY HOURS AS IT TAKES.” As someone with a serious love for letterpress printing and the process involved, I very much believe in contributing as much time as is needed to a project to allow it to be done right.

Their mission statement resonates as well:

Impractical Labor is a protest against contemporary industrial practices and values. Instead it favors independent workshop production by antiquated means and in relatively limited quantities. Economy of scale goes out the window, as does the myth that time must equal money. Impractical Labor seeks to restore the relationship between a maker and her tools; a maker and her time; a maker and what she makes. The process is the end, not the product. Impractical Labor is idealized labor: the labor of love.

That line, “the process is the end, not the product” is exactly how I feel – about all of life. I mean, we all remember my THE JOURNEY IS THE DESTINATION print, right?

Anyway, I’m getting way off track here. Every year ILSSA celebrates the Festival to Plead for Skills on July 7th. On that day, all participating members make a set amount {determined by the number of participants – this year it was 40} of an item. What that item is is entirely up to the member, the only restrictions are that it must be no larger than 2 inches in any dimension and it must allow you to practice a skill.

It took me several weeks of thinking to come up with what I wanted to do. I decided to take some of the vintage maps that where too worn to use for posters and cut them down into 2×16″ strips which I would then print an original quote on and accordion fold into small triangular books. Below are the results!

The show was a lot of fun and I got to meet a lot of  wonderful people. Thank you so so much for stopping by and saying hello, and thank you even more if you bought something or took a business card. It means the world to me to have all of your support!

For everyone that couldn’t make it out, here are some photos of the booth Gary Rothera and I shared!

I’ll spare you a look at Day One’s setup, as it was frightful. I finally got everything down on Day Two. So, if you had walked up to our booth on Sunday, this is what you would have seen!

I laid out my postcard sets on the table and used a thread rack to display them in an upright manner. Also on the table were hand-bound travel notebooks with letterpress printed covers made from vintage maps and letterpress printed Moleskine journals.

I wasn’t quite sure how I was going to display the postcards so that you could see each and every one until Saturday morning. I was looking at the IKEA shelf that I use as a drying rack {making do with what I have!} and realized if I strung up some yarn and grabbed some bulldog clips {which I had to steal off of ALL the prints hanging in the house} I could successfully line up all 22 postcards.

The shelves also provided a place to lay out more notebooks, my wallets, and an assortment of THE JOURNEY IS THE DESTINATION maps.

My favorite display element was this little green vintage suitcase. I picked it up a few months ago at a thrift store in town, having absolutely no use for it. When I realized earlier this month that it would make the perfect case to house an assortment of cards, I got very excited. It turned out really well, though I think next time around I’d want to have 2 or 3 suitcases with cards. A couple times there were people who couldn’t get to the cards because someone else was thumbing through them. Live and learn, right?

Oh, also visible in that photo is the patchwork backdrop I hung. It’s actually the canopy that is usually draped over my bedframe! I made that over the course of a year and a half – it’s definitely not the most perfectly sewn canopy, but it certainly brightened up our space, just like it does my bedroom!

I am STILL trying to get decent photos of all of my prints, so that I can put everything you’re seeing here up in my Etsy shop. I promise you it will be completely up and running by June 1st at the absolute latest! Currently the “you are LOVED” cards are in the shop, so feel free to check those out!

I’m currently working on printing POSITIVE MESSAGE postcard sets. Every set will include 5 postcards, each with a different message, in a different color. This run is printed on French Paper’s Muscletone in Sno Cone.

A stack of prints on my makeshift drying rack.

This is the main wall of the studio. On the far left you can see my Kelsey Excelsior 3×5 press, which gets little use these days. Next to that is my guillotine paper cutter, and then my 14×20 showcard proof press. The showcard is my main printing press.

Finally, here’s a closer shot of one of the finished cards!

I’ve been working on a project for Neighborhood Bike Works. My housemate, Wayne, is in the process of starting a branch of the organization {which teaches kids, and adults, how to build and repair bikes – among other things} in South Philadelphia. We’ve both been living in South Philly for several years and have quite a bit of pride in our neighborhood, so when Wayne started planning a Fix-a-Flat event at Tattooed Mom’s {on Januray 17th} and needed a craft tie-in, it seemed like a natural fit.

Back in September, Dustin Hurt (director of Bowerbird} bought me a 3×5 Kelsey Excelsior press and a slew of teeny tiny lead type. After my trip to Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, and my opportunity to print with type that was a foot tall, it was difficult for me to fathom working in such a small medium. Fortunately I was turned on to Boxcar Press and their polymer platemaking services, which allows me to bypass working with that teeny tiny type.

Let me say though, I don’t necessarily approve of polymer plates. I understand the convenience and the appeal, and I did just order my very first plates, but there’s something about working with old wooden blocks and a limited supply of letters that thrills me. Polymer seems to subtract a large portion of what I love about letterpress. Also, I’m Photoshop illiterate, which makes it incredibly difficult to design anything, and likely contributes to my standoffishness towards polymer.

I’m getting off track. I liked the idea of combining my love of letterpress with Wayne’s love for bikes, but knew that I couldn’t possibly design anything with the tiny type I own. Enter Twitter. I posted an update asking for interested designers which put in contact with Athens, GA designer Scott Hodges. A week later I had two amazing designs in front of me and a week after that I had the final files.

I sent the files into Boxcar this Monday, they called that evening to clear up some file issues, and by Tuesday afternoon they had shipped my files out. We’re expecting our delivery today and I’m looking for forward to trying this out for the first time.

For now, I’ll tide you over with Scott’s designs, and an extra one I did to fulfill the minimum order requirement.