I hope this finds you all well, and that you're enjoying my very favorite time of the year—Fall!
Having grown up in the Sacramento Valley, the heat wreaked havoc right to my very core. Endless dry, hot (!) Summer days would finally give way to a slight crispness in the air before the leaves started to change color. Ahhh... I could breathe again and this was my cue that Autumn had arrived.
While I was always jealous of you East Coasters's vivid color shows, the effect of cooler days was enough and is still that way for me now.
This Summer came and went. It was a busy time for me at the Press, and it always feels so fleeting. Deadlines come fast and furious and I've moved on to the next project before being able to sit with what I'd just finished. Truly not complaining—but I do like the contemplative space that shorter days/longer nights seem to give me.
One of the things I'm most excited about this Summer, was that I finally took some time to focus on more lettering work. Mine, specifically. If you ever saw my handwriting, you would know why I became a printer: it's terrible. But I really, really love letterforms. I get them and between my work as a bookbinder and designer/printer, I have been staring at them for decades. To give myself the time/space to sit down and try to create them has been amazing. To start it off, I took a class at the Makeshift Society from my dear friend, Maybelle Imasa Stukuls. She is a very accomplished calligrapher who is now pursuing her new adventures as a teacher. It was really great to sit and just write. The scratchy-scratch of the pointed-pen on paper is really one of the greatest things ever.
Another class I finally took was a weekend workshop at the renowned New Bohemia Sign Company. Oh how I love these people. Anyone who knows or follows me knows that I love hand-painted signs. I love the craft and the tradition, and the folks here Do. It. Right! It was such a whirlwind weekend and I'm so grateful for the opportunity to have taken this. I'm practicing and have great respect for them for keeping this tradition alive.
This is really the bulk of where I've been. Printing, Sign Painting, a little Calligraphy, and we'll see where it all lands. In my perfect world, I will start combining all of these facets. And more perfectly, people will start seeking me out to do all of these things.
While I'm at the tail-end of my catch-up post, I wanted to post a close-up picture of a collaboration I did with the Fabulous Leigh Wells, and the Incredible Karen Templer. Just look at that tactile-yumminess! Karen runs a business called Fringe Supply Co. If you are a knitting-enthusiast, you must seek her out. With our latest project, she combined Leigh's illustrations with her design, adding my letterpress printing to produce a small edition of really great prints. They are now live and for sale on her website, so please click here.
Thanks for checking in, and I hope to be back here soon. xo Victoria
