New Letterpress Paper Site

Legion Paper just announced it's new web site for letterpress papers, www.letterpresspaper.com. The new site offers a nice selection of letterpress papers, custom cutting, a make you own paper option and a helpful knowledge base for beginners. Very cool Legion, very cool!

Happy Groundhog's Day!

As I work my way towards some fun new letterpress cards, I wanted to stop for a minute and wish everyone a very happy Groundhog's Day!

Groundhog's Day is one of my favorite holidays of the year. If groundhogs could lay Cadbury Eggs, it would be shear perfection.

This year I decided to try my hand at something different and make some block printed cards. After a few rounds of sketches, I finalized my groundhog and lettering. Then, both images were carved out of linoleum.

I chose an oil based block printing ink and printed on Strathmore's pre-cut Sugar Cane Cards. It's one of Strathmore's earth friendly options*, made from 50% sugar cane and 50% post-consumer waste fiber. The paper has a nice smooth, feel to it and a creamy ivory texture. It also has flecks of color from some of the visible paper fibers. It was really fun stock to work with. Although, I'm not sure the flecks in the paper added much to this particular project.

So without further ado...here's the final print.

Happy Groundhog's Day!

*Strathmore also has hemp and bamboo papers which I plan to test out soon!

It's French Paper Friday!

Whoohoo! I'm declaring today French Paper Friday in the shop because today, I'm going to peruse my stack of paper sample books and order some envelopes. Looking at sample books and seeing all the textures and colors is always fun, but French Paper has such wonderfully designed books—it's an extra treat!