The Weinberg Memorial Library Visits Hand Deliver Press!

The University of Scranton Weinberg Memorial Library's Kristen Yarmey stopped by my shop yesterday to photograph and film me printing a project for them. The U has a collection of penmanship journals and samples called the Zaner-Bloser Collection, and it is beyond impressive. What is more exciting for me, though, is that they have many of the original printing blocks that they have allowed me to print from.

Yesterday I was working on a Christmas card (I know, it's June!) that they will send out to patrons of the school and library come the holiday season. I had a great time showing Kristen around and showing her how letterpress printing works. I am so thrilled about this projects, and there is much more than just Christmas cards involved, so stay posted to see what comes next!


In the meantime, check out the Library's Flikr page to see what Kristen got yesterday.

Expanding Communities

I have had the absolute honor of being asked to participate in a portfolio exchange through Ladies of Letterpress. 30 letterpress printers were invited, most of whom I have admired for years, now. The theme of the exchange is "Expanding Communities", and though I have to keep the final print under wraps until the show, I can offer a little sneak peek here, in it's grey and red glory. How nice is that ampersand? And the star? I can't wait for the full reveal. The conference is in 41 days, and I am so excited to see Asheville again, and spend all that time with fellow printers. Go, letterpress, go!

My dear friend Jess Fisk has redesigned my website for me! I am so thrilled with how it looks now, and there is so much to be excited about. First, is that you are now able to buy work directly from the site. Second, is my line of customizeable wedding invitations. I have designed three of them, and have more on the way from local female designer friends of mine in the Scranton area. Take note, brides to be!

 I have a whole lot in the works for the coming months. The University of Scranton is letting me print using work from their archives, (and they will be filming me while I do it!). I'll be instructing a tabletop press workshop this summer at ArtWorks Gallery, and I'm involved in a print exchange through Ladies of Letterpress that includes other amazing lady-printers, plus the unbelievable Amos Kennedy. The conference is coming up fast, in the beginning of August, and I will be joined at the hip with the Vandy until then. Also, while at the conference, I'll be teaching a "Yoga for Printers" class! So happy!

 Stay busy, stay creative.

The shared booth of the Ladies of Letterpress at the 2012 National Stationery Show.

I attended The National Stationery Show in New York City for the first time this week and I was so overwhelmed with the incredible work people are producing! I went with Jessica White and Kseniya Thomas in support of Ladies of Letterpress, helping out in their booth and promoting our conference this summer, but it sure got me thinking about next year and whether I could exhibit or not. I met a lot of encouraging people, and I believe that it is certainly on the horizon for me. I am working on a line of wedding invitations that I could show next year in the LoLP shared booth, along with a lot of other projects in the works. NSS could be exactly the goal I need to set for myseld to take Hand Deliver to the next level. Until then, I will continue to admire the phenomenal women of LoLP. The ones who exhibited this year were truly inspiring. Their work was beautiful, clever, cohesive and artistic. I am so proud to be part of this community!

The lovely Sarah Hanks of Fancy Seeing You Here.

The wonderful Val Lucas of Bowerbox Press. Planning on visiting this great lady next month in Baltimore and talking more printing & crafty things with her.

There was a fantastic paper party at Little Town, NYC on Tuesday night. Great bar, great balloons.

I woke up to a lovely surprise this morning. While snooping on Google Analytics, I saw that someone had been referred to my site via Card Observer. I jumped, then clicked over to see that they had picked up the business cards I printed for Mission Yoga. Check out the post here. Pretty exciting stuff, folks.

Forgive me. So much has been happening here at Hand Deliver Press. Since last I wrote, I aquired my Vandervook SP-20, which, while picking it up in Ontario, Canada, I lost a little chunk of my left middle finger which kept me from printing for a while. I'm all better now, and have been printing and desiging and becoming involved in a number of great local projects in the Scranton area.

I've printed business cards for local businesses, piano players, and poets.

I printed up covers for the folks at Shawnee Craft Brewing Co., for their "Beer Gospels" - what they hand out to their distributors.

I'm working with The University of Scranton's archives, printing with blocks from the turn of the century and earlier, creating stationery and posters for them and to raise money for their library. Look for a more detailed post about that in the near future.

Plus, a number of wedding invitations, business cards, and the like. More rolling in and out every day, and I'm so grateful.

Looking to the future, the Ladies of Letterpress Conference is coming up this August, and I've been lucky enough to be working for LoLP co-owner Kseniya Thomas of Thomas-Printers, helping her in the shop, and promoting the conference as much as possible. More on that to come as well.

The site will be getting an overhaul soon, too. So much to look forward to here at HDP. Go, letterpress, go!

My very own exhibit during Scranton's First Friday Artwalk will take place this coming Friday, September 2nd at the fantastic shop, Green Being on Adams Avenue, downtown. I've made four new cards, a postcard and a bookmark, plus I have some linocuts from my pre-letterpress days that will be framed for purchase. Hope to see you all there!

Here is a link to the Facebook invitation. Repondez, s'il vous plait.

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=152008734883262