erika

Move # 2

About three weeks ago I came to the painful realization that having my studio downtown was too much for me to handle.  The space was great, but the commute and juggling two separate spaces was driving me crazy.  My life really revolves around Sophia.  Dropping her off to school - making sure the home is a safe and clean place to be in - picking her back up from school and spending time with her is really what I mostly do every day.  What I can take advantage of while she's in school is a good chunk of time, but if you throw in driving downtown- looking for parking - getting in the studio - prepping the press - running a job - cleaning up - getting out of the city - and picking up Sophia by 3pm - it's harder that I thought.  SO!  In a nutshell, the space that is in my own backyard - 5 min's away from Sophia's school started looking more and more appealing to me as the year has gone on (the school year I mean).  So not even three months in, I said "this isn't working - let's move it all again!"
Much to Pavel's chagrin.
And a lot of "I told you..."
So, it all started on Saturday October 18th, 2008.  I talked with another letterpress printer here in Philadelphia about who he used to move some of his big equipment around.  TG - Scrap iron & Metal removal.  Called him, he looked at the job, we set it up that day for the following Sat.  He came at 8:30 and we were done by 2 PM.  WOW!!!!
These guys were great!  Thank you Tim and Mike! And thank you Ryan for the tip! We took all of my equipment from the fourth floor of a 100 year old building that has a very small freight elevator - put it all on the back of his flat bed truck - and drove it out to the studio and unloaded it all in 5 1/2 hours.  That in my book is awesome. 
I recommend them to anyone in the area that needs to move equipment.  e-mail me if you want their contact info.
And the new space is looking like this right now::::

It's a little on the unfinished side, but now that I'm clear of pending jobs I'll start to fix it up and finish the space. 
Whew, I'm glad that's over :)

Surprises

I've been busy getting some work together for a project I was asked to participate in.  Here's a quick snap of the the work on its way out the door.  It was fun getting together, but a lot of work in a relatively short amount of time, so I'm taking today off and getting ready to enjoy the weekend. 

This weekend we are going to a wedding :) I love weddings...  Our friends Heather and Shawn are getting married!  We are so happy for them.  They are such a great couple.  Heather is a wedding photographer and does some really beautiful work.

Below are some recent inspirations from our somewhat tradition of going to the museum on Sundays as a family to check out some art and get inspired.