erika

Fortnum & Mason

I LOVE everything about this company - via Ancient Industries

one of my favorite blogs - and very worthy of it's own visit. 

I'm really into packaging and have spent a ridiculous amount of time on-line and over the phone talking to box companies.  The basic issue that I have is that I don't need 1,000 boxes and cannot spend thousands of dollars on packaging.  But if I could and if I did - I would want my packaging to be as pretty as those teal ones with the gold edging.
Also, please do go to Fortnum & Mason's site and read about their history and their bees!
Too romantic...

Jarmusch Quote

keep thinking about this...
via Uniform Studio (she inspires me)

Letterpress printing ::: keeping out the cold

As some of you may know, my studio has now been re-located to the beautiful building that we built behind our house.  It is un-heated, un-insulated and has a concrete floor.  I'm putting this post on-line to show others - as it seems that there are so many people out there who wish start up letterpress, but don't have a place to do it - how I've managed to overcome some road blocks.

First off, I have to be warm enough.  That includes dressing in multiple layers -many that consist of wool - and most importantly a wool hat.  Second most important thing are my feet.  I wear these traditional russian felted boots called valenki and two pairs of socks.  My sister in law Natasha gave them to me.  They don't usually have the white fur - but were decorated that way for New Year's. 
  I laughed when I saw them at first because I thought when the hell am I ever going to wear them?!  I realized not two seconds later that I would prob. wear them every single day - out back to keep my feet from feeling that cold floor.  And how I've solved the issue of the cold floor can be seen above as well.  I have three layers of flooring where I stand in the studio.  In front of the press, ink table, paper cutter, drying tables.  I have (instead of tossing nasty old rugs) kept them to put out back.  The first rug down was the red persian looking one (from ikea) The second large pieces of rubber that P. has brought home from the foundry.  They used them in sand castings - and didn't need all of them anymore.  On top of that is another rug - a woven rag rug - between all of this I stay pretty evenly warm.

Second most important thing is keeping my ink and ink disc warm enough to get a good impression on the paper.  I just ran a pretty major job in some seriously cold weather - and was very happy with the results.  A simple candle can go a long way in the 21st century. 

You can see that I have  two candles under the ink disk and one under the ink table.  The candles under the ink disk I would say a very important in the winter.  I used one after the disk warmed up - for this photo - but now bring the ink disk in overnight if I know I have to print in the morning.  I also keep my rollers and ink inside now so that they don't get too cold.  The table that I mix my ink on is a big slab of green marble that P. and I  brought home from VT.  The candle under there is to keep the ink that's on the table warm.  This photo I also put on here to show what a color wash looks like.  When you switch from printing a dark color to a light color - you have to really clean the rollers so the light color does not get muddy.  To do this, run the press with white opaque ink for a while - clean the press and the rollers - then ink the press and rollers up with the light ink - otherwise, your ink will end up looking grey and dirty.  Thanks to Alan Runfeldt's post about printing in the cold and the Briar Press website contributors about the tips for a color wash.

Other than that, I closed in the space with a double wall of plastic - then hung drop cloth in front of the plastic (cause' who wants to look at plastic all day? - not me) and heat the space with one propane heater with a heating element on top.  My dad got the heater for me for Christmas  it was about $60- the propane tanks cost anywhere from $15 - $20 to fill up and I can run it for 5 days in a row - for at least 5 -7 hours a day.  I prefer this over kerosene heat, as paper has a most lovely way of absorbing smell (opening a box of fancy wedding invitations that smell like kerosene isn't the most wonderful thing in the world)  If any one has any questions - please feel free to e-mail me or leave a comment!