hands on printing

Despite spending most of my day sitting in front of a 24" monitor, and producing most of my work between Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, I've always had a fascination with tactile methods of creation.

Letterpress and screen printing has seen a return to popularity in the last number of years. I love nothing more than the look and feel of a well printed piece on a toothy stock.

I've always been a little jealous of designers who have the opportunity to work with these methods. My experiments in screen-printing a few t-shirts, and using lino-cut blocks in 8th grade art class hardly measure up. Soon I may be able to lay this jealousy to rest.
Today I discovered The Print Studio, a printing workshop located in Hamilton, Ontario. From what I can gather, they provide access to their space and equipment, as well as running workshops and exhibitions.

I spend quite a bit of time in that neck of the woods, and I fully intend to keep myself up to date on their workshop offerings. Looking forward to getting my hands dirty again!





Image Source: http://www.theprintstudio.ca

Garagesale Gems

A few weekends ago I was in Southern Ontario visiting my cousin and her family.
Garages sales are a big thing there, so we spent a few hours driving around on the Saturday, pulling into any garage sale that looked interesting.
While most stops yielded a few curiosities, I walked away from one in particular with some very interesting finds.
Its reassuring to know that it's still possible to have fun for less than $10.


Fundamentals of Layout F. H. Wills
For Newspaper and Magazine Advertising, For Page Design of Publications and Brochures.
Copyright 1965.
$2





hmp!



"Every layout man must be able to hand letter Roman type in its basic form as skeleton type, for it is the foundation of all layout work. Begin with a lettering pen and change later to a pencil or pointed pen when you have learned how to make the character."



At the same sale I found a cardboard fruit basket full of old wooden blocks. There were also a few worn dominoes. Very wabi sabi.








Not pictured: I have a thing for vintage packaging, and I found a reproduction of an old Maxwell House coffee tin design. It's currently one of the eclectic pieces decorating my patent's place.

Type-humour

Here's some groan-worthy type related humour for your Labour day weekend.



Found on toothpastefordinner.com

Last Chance to Dance

While I was walking around on my lunch hour today, I came up with a few amusing projects to keep me occupied in the upcoming evenings.

I completed one of them tonight.

Nothing spectacular, but it was fun anyway.



Can you name all of the bands I borrowed from for this image?

I guess I should probably give credit where it's due.
The bands are as follows;
Metallica, Lynyrd Skynrd, Fleetwood Mac, Rush, KISS, Sex Pistols, Iron Maiden, The Doors, The Cure, Korn, The Clash, The Who, Nine Inch Nails, ACDC, Led Zeppelin, Rammstein, Twisted Sister

Chew on this

Well, I think this proves a few things about me...

1) I chew too much gum
2) I have too much time on my hands
3) I need more variety in my gum chewing
4) I think I need to complete the alphabet...