solsken. » Letterpress/Book Arts

Sun Printing with Jacquard

solsken — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 06:42:16 +0000

Last Saturday, I attended a workshop at Flax where Annette from Jacquard explained several different textile dying techniques, from indigo to batik.

I made a sun print by brushing wide rows of white, red and black Dye-Na-Flow colors using a foam brush onto dampened cotton cloth, followed by placing a plastic stencil on top. I brushed a little black on top of the stencil for extra definition.

Laying down stencil on painted cloth

I then took the fabric outside to bake in the sun before removing the stencil.

Drying in the sun

Removing the stencil

The entire process took about half an hour, a surprisingly quick way to achieve stunning color and patterns.

Finished textile

I’m going to turn this piece of fabric into a book cover! I also tried out the lustrous metallic Lumiere paints with a soy wax resist on cloth. They come in these cute little squeeze bottles:

Jacquard Lumiere Paints

Laser Cutting at TechShop

solsken — Wed, 20 Apr 2011 07:12:28 +0000

Here are some photos from a fun laser cutting class I took today at TechShop in San Francisco:

We learned how to use CorelDraw to send digital files to the laser cutter, both to etch as well as cut through various media. You can see how Elvis in the first photo above is etched into corrugated cardboard at different settings.

I took this class to be able to incorporate laser cutting into my print work at Logos Graphics. This week, I am letterpress printing business cards onto chipboard and will laser cut the client’s logo out of each card. It’s very exciting to learn how the process works, and I’m glad TechShop hosts classes and offers machine rentals to its members.

Felt & Wire Love

solsken — Wed, 30 Mar 2011 07:05:14 +0000

On St. Patrick’s Day, the San Francisco Center for the Book hosted a Ladies of Letterpress event featuring the organization’s co-founders, Jessica White and Kseniya Thomas. Jessica and Kseniya met many Bay area printers, spoke about the growing online LofL community and promoted the first ever LofL conference coming up this summer in Asheville, North Carolina.

As a member of LofL, some of my print work was included in a member show that same evening:

Offset and perforated identity system

Letterpress printed promo card for SXSW 2011

Pop-up foldover card

Wedding invitation suite

Many thanks to Alyson Kuhn, literary mistress of Felt & Wire, for including my work in her article.

Fine Press Printing Demystified

solsken — Sat, 05 Mar 2011 22:13:17 +0000

Here are some photos I took during a two-day class I took at the San Francisco Center for the Book last weekend. The class was taught by Peter Thomas, who hauled not only boxes of fine press books and cases of type, but also his ukelele which he played at the close of the class!

Centaur 14 pt. type

Linocut by Laura Lagomarsino

Metal and wooden furniture

Proofing text on the Vandercook

Letterpress printed press sheets

Roadworks 2009

solsken — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 05:02:20 +0000

The San Francisco Center for the Book is hosting its annual Roadworks event! Come check out this free street fair, which features a big steamroller as it drives over hand-inked linoeum blocks cut by several artists — including one of my favorites from last year, Rik Olson.

Plenty of local vendors will also be at hand with their books, broadsides, cards, and other wares for sale. Come by!

Roadworks: Steamroller Printing STREET FAIR
300 De Haro St, San Francisco
Saturday, Sept. 19
12 – 5 pm
free