Happy Halloween!

This is actually from last Halloween, but I didn't have a blog then so I couldn't share this willy-nilly and Liam hasn't got his costume on yet today. Plus this is just priceless.

Translation: LUKE, I AM YOUR FATHER!! {Although,yes, I am aware that is sounds like this: WUKE, I AM YOUR FAWER!! which is what makes this so damn funny to me.

I'm running out the door, but look for a post later today with pics of the finished calendar + holiday cards. They'll be in my etsy shop by tomorrow morning.

collating calendars

Well, the weekend was spent attempting to finish up all the last things with the calendar. What I was able to get done was the collating – good grief, 200 14-page calendars!! That's a lot of pages, let me tell you. There were some panicky moments when I had misplaced some of the covers and was short 7 – but all ended well, with all 200 {no extras, mind you} collated and neatly stacked.

But it turns out that one cannot use a regular drill to drill paper. Um, in hindsight perhaps this much is obvious but we were so hopeful. It didn't work; the turning action of the drill makes a very ragged and unacceptable hole. Luckily, I found a bindery that would punch the holes for me today – well, they also drill them, but with a hollow bit – and I'm hoping they'll be ready to pick up tomorrow. I still need to number, tie ribbon and package these babies. Needless to say, I was very very nervous when I went to drop them off this morning. After all, there are no extras and it's not as though I can just print off a few more just like that should something go wrong. So let's just keep our fingers crossed.


In the meantime, I've been a printing fool. Holiday cards, holiday mini-cards!! Printing, blind-stamping, trimming, folding, packaging – repeat. I am so pleased with how these have come out – and both the avocado green and dark red have grown on me immensely.

I'm hoping to put all of the above items in my etsy shop for November 1st.

And, speaking of that date, I will be one of 22 vendors at the following:

NOVEMBER 1st ::: CRAFTY WONDERLAND + MUSEUM OF CONTEMPORARY CRAFT ::: First Thursday in THE LAB ::: 5:00 - 8:30 pm

A collaboration between Crafty Wonderland and Portland's Museum of Contemporary Craft!
The museum is located at 724 NW Davis Street in the Pearl District and admission is FREE.

holiday red

Two posts in one day and it's only half over – or less if you consider how late I've been staying in the studio printing recently. I thought you might like a sneak peek of the holiday card. It turns out, at least for me, that greens and reds are very difficult colors to get just right. This green – sort of a 1970s-appliance-avocado-green – has really grown on me in the last day. Maybe it's because there was plenty of time for it to works its magic; after all, I cranked out some 900 pieces {holiday cards + mini-cards + a little something for Lara} with it til late last night.

But the red, THE RED!! I'm having a hard time mixing up a deep, dark red that doesn't lean toward magenta or burgundy. Do you know the kind of red I have in mind? Because it isn't in the Pantone Book so I'm sort of winging it. I've started with all sorts of red bases – rubine, scarlet, warm red – and I've mixed some really lovely colors. But none of them have been just right. This one above is the best I can do today – it isn't exactly what I had in mind, but it does complement that avocado-green nicely. It makes the holiday cards a little less traditional red and green {which I don't much care for anyhow} – sort of a retro feel to it, I think.

I hope you like them. And, if you've got any tips of mixing that dark red, please let me know.

goodies

Here are the goodies I just got for finishing up the calendars. The silk ribbons are for tying the calendar pages together. I also got the ribbon in burgundy and deep red. I'm going to offer gift wrapping service for the calendars – a layer of kraft paper with a wide band of one of these two lovely papers above with a length of silk ribbon finishing it off. {I haven't yet decided how much that will cost.}

Do I need to mention that I love to wrap presents and that I really love paper? I may pick out a few more papers for the gift wrap yet – I'll take some pics if I do. I think these two above are so gorgeous. I wish I could find fabric with these prints, too – so I could, you know, hoard them away for if I ever learn to sew!!

Printing, printing, printing today ...

rainy day

It's a rainy day here in Portland. I was just looking out my studio window when I saw this spider's web, so beautifully covered with drops of rain. But now it's back to printing – a festive, dark red ink that was surprisingly hard to mix to the right shade...

each and every

This may be stating the obvious, but for each and every card that is printed, there still remains quite a bit of work before it is ready to be sold. Here's what usually happens for me: I print stacks and stack of cards and have them sitting {albeit in very neat} piles, waiting for a break, for a day or evening when I can trim the edges as needed, fold and package them all. Sometimes this takes, literally, weeks because – at least lately – there seems as though there is always something else to print. But then, at last, the piles just seem to be crying out for some attention, so I sit down with a cup of tea and then: Trim, trim trim. Fold, fold, fold. Divide into stacks of 5 cards and 5 envelopes. Slip into a cello bag. Repeat. It's a little tedious, I suppose, but sort of perfect for an afternoon like this when I'm feeling under the weather and I don't really have enough time to ink the press and print before I run off to my afternoon appointment.


And, just for fun, a photo of the lovely tuberose I picked up this weekend ...

a new lens

With a much needed push from my friend, Deb, I stopped printing yesterday and went out to buy a new macro lens for my camera. Here are some results – so much better! {Though I certainly can't claim to be a great photographer, at least you can see the close-up details with this lens...}

april

june

december


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And, because it's been a while, a photo of Liam taken last weekend when we were at our friends' place Columbia River Gorge for their annual apple cider press party.

calendar photos

They're not terribly good photos, but here are two sneak peeks. It's such a grey day here in Portland today.

where i've been

So, where have I been the past few weeks? Certainly not blogging ... I've been in the studio day in and day out, working furiously to get the 2008 calendars done. And, I'm happy to report that they are almost done! Every single month has its text and artwork printed. I decided mid-stream (so to speak) that I was going to print 200 calendars instead of 150 (ambitious, optimistic, I know!) so a good deal of time was spent going back and re-mixing inks for the art work for those extra 50.



I've had a few people ask if I was going to do any holiday cards – my answer until this week was a pretty resounding NO – because, really, I'm not all that into holiday stuff. Don't get me wrong, I LIKE the holidays {how could I not with a three year old who is head over heels in love with it all} and I love picking out presents for people and wrapping them. I've been known to get a little carried away with the wrapping! Anyway, my point is that I got inspired the other day and drew a little holiday pattern (birds and foliage in avocado green and dark, dark red) and will be printing these next week. I suppose what I'm trying to say is that I am not super keen on the cliché holiday patterns and kitsch so I hope the design above is neither of those. The cards will be for sale in my etsy shop just as soon as I can get them done, in packages of three {the words change: peace, joy, happy holidays} for $15 or six for $25. And there will be assorted mini cards with envelopes that draw from the same design.

I'm rambling a little, but back to the calendars. Yesterday I printed til 9 pm getting the last bit of black text printed. {I admit, the black ink is my least favorite to clean off the press, so once it's inked, I tend to print as long as I can to avoid having to re-ink and re-clean the very next day.} Now here's what is left to do: blind stamping 12 months x 200 each; drilling the holes for hanging, collating the pages, tying each calendar together, packaging. I'm still shooting for November 1st. Again, if you'd like to pre-order yours, please send me an email {lynn@satsumapress.com} letting me know how many you'd like. They are $39 each + shipping.

For bearing with me as I digress {and fail to blog}, here are some new calendar photos. I'll be posting all the holiday sales I'll be at soon, too.

Sorry – there's some sort of glitch with blogger right now and I can't upload photos. Maybe later today ... check back!

what's going on

While it may seem that I've fallen off the face of the earth, that's not the case. True enough, I seem to have been neglecting my blog for the past week ... Sorry.

To start with, I got wrapped up in the aftermath of the Good Morning America story on Liam. If you missed it and want to see it, you can read it online here. If you go there, you'll see that there are lots of comments written here and here and here. There is a whole lot of the good and the ugly both so I guess you'll see why I got a little distracted.

However, I am still printing. And printing. And printing. The 2008 calendars WILL be for sale on November 1st. I saved a lot of the two-color designs til now so I'm slowly making my way through these months. I know I posted this before, but if you'd like to pre-order yours, I am doing that for the first 75 calendars. Just shoot me an email at lynn@satsumapress.com and let me know how many you'd like. I'll email everyone on the pre-order list on November 1st {or sometime right around then} to let you know how to pay.

I just sent off this lovely accordion fold wedding program yesterday. It was a bit tricky because the total length of the unfolded paper was actually longer than my press can accommodate. This called for flipping and flopping the paper in order to be able to print everything – dark brown ink, cream ink and a blind stamp. It does look lovely lovely, though, and I'm really pleased to know that a four panel accordion book is within the scope of what I can do! I'll post pics once I get permission from the client.

I hope to back to blogging a few times a week soon. I am hoping it's sort of like what happens with my library books. It's terrible, really, because I love the library and I check out piles and piles of books at a time. But if by chance I forget to return them before their due date, well, then, something strange happens. They just sit and sit because now they're overdue anyway. I'm a terrible library patron, I know! I should just return them, I know! What I'm trying to say {in a roundabout way} is that I think when I fail to post on my blog for a week, I figure – why start again now, where to start now? I just have to get back to it; I just have to return those library books so I can get more!

I ramble, I digress. {I do happen to have a cold as well, that's my reason. I'm drinking Throat Coat tea while I print. It's truly vile stuff.}

kung fu liam

Well, I know I've said this before – but the Good Morning America segment on Liam is airing tomorrow {that's Wednesday, October 3rd} on ABC. It'll be on somewhere between 7:30 and 8:00 am if you have the chance to tune in. If you're lucky, you'll get to see Liam making a face like this one above. He looks like he's about to kick someone's ass, maybe our insurance company? Actually, he and his friend are 'driving' their race car to the grocery store. Serious business.

Of course, if you're new to this blog, you can read more about Liam here and here.

October News

Happy October everyone! Here's another sneak peek of the calendar, which is coming along nicely {despite the minor setbacks along the way}. Here's the scoop of what's happening with me this week:

The 2008 Calendars are coming along. I’m about 1/3 done with all the work and plan to have them ready and for sale on November 1st. I am taking pre-orders from those on my mailing list and those of you who read my blog for 75 of the 150 calendars printed so, if you know you’d like one {or two or more!}, please shoot me an email letting me know and I will put you on the list. Please note that I am only doing this for the first 75 calendars as I’d like the rest to be for sale through my etsy shop and the holiday craft shows I plan to attend in December, if there are any left by then. The specs: 6.5” wide x 11” tall; all artwork is original {some tried and true favorites from the stationery line and some brand new ones}; each page requires 3-4 passes on the press; and, finally, they are selling for $39 each, not including shipping or gift wrap.

The new Poppytalk Handmade {Virtual} Street Fair opened today and Satsuma Press is one of the 75 vendors. You can go visit my store here, though I should say it'll not be anything new to those of you who are already customers. It's just a great way to spread the word, I hope, and gain some new customers.

I was asked to join Trunkt and now have a portfolio site there. Please take a minute to go visit and rate my portfolio {good for me} – and, while you’re there, Trunkt is having this very cool holiday sweepstakes {good for you}: you create an account, make a wishlist and get entered for a $500 shopping spree on Trunkt! The details are here.