Something Old, Something New

This has been a really great month for me. I can't believe I haven't posted about this yet, but I'm so super thrilled to have some of my work featured in this Summer's Martha Stewart Weddings (click). There she is! My new Norah Suite, right there on page 238. I am so grateful for the attention and the opportunity that their Editors have given me. I've been getting a lot of really great feedback, and some lovely new projects from this. Thank you, Universe! xo Victoria

Hot Off the Press, Part Deux

Hello All! It's been a busy month, and I'm happy to tell you that in between working on projects, that I have managed to produce the latest offering from my new line of cards. True to the nature of Letterpress, these are happening slowly, but surely. For now, they can be purchased by clicking here (click).

Other projects include a new design in shades of blue for the good folks at Martha Stewart Weddings. Look for it in the Summer issue. This is off to a great year so far, and soon I'll have some pieces to show off from my latest collaborations. xo

Hey—I Know You: Memories of a Memory Box

The thing about being a Maker, is that I tend to make things and then move on. The process of making—the planning and design, the gathering of materials, and then the actual creating and putting things together is such a long process that by the time I've finished, my brain has almost moved on to the next thing. I've been thinking about this quite a bit lately. You see, the more things I make, the more times this process is repeated. Design in-mind, create, give away. I used to sit with the things I made for a few days, before they'd find their new home.

In my fantasy work-life, I am super organized about the post-project stuff: I take fantastic photographs of my work, hang out with it, and then send it on its way. In reality, this isn't always the case. Deadlines, shipping times and eager collaborators sometimes make it so we (my stuff and I) need to be brief with each other—say our goodbyes and not look back.

This lovely box was one of these kinds of pieces. It didn't quite make it into my camera, but lucky for me, this is another reason I love the internets. I was looking at behind-the-scenes stuff and found—Hello there!—the link to this (click). The good folks at Martha Stewart Weddings *do* photograph everything! I'd made this Memory Box a few years ago. I remember it well—the couple had sent this special fabric to me so I could prepare it, and use it as bookbinding cloth. They had an idea of the size, and from that, I created this. I loved how I was able to line the paper up to match perfectly. The fuschia ribbon was their idea, and today, I get to have a moment (again) with it, to see how it all worked out. Here's to the happy couple!

Repost: A Thousand Words, Right?

I have always been a huge fan of the posters from President Roosevelt's Works Progress Administration (WPA), and frankly, the scope of the project itself. The largest, and most important of The New Deal Cultural Works—The Works Progress Administration—launched on May 6, 1935—seventy-six years ago—with the simple philosophy of "Putting Unemployed Americans back to work in jobs which would serve the public good and conserve the skills and the self-esteem of workers throughout the United States." FDR himself says this, in regards to our need for change:

"...We find our population suffering from the old inequalities, little changed by our past sporadic remedies. In spite of our effort and in spite of our talk, we have not weeded out the overprivileged and we have not effectively lifted up the underprivileged....We have... a clear mandate from the people, that Americans must forswear the conception of the acquisition of wealth which, through excessive profits, creates undue private power over private affairs and, to our misfortune, over public affairs as well. In building toward this end we do not destroy ambition, nor do we seek to divide our wealth into equal shares on stated occasions. We continue to recognize the greater ability of some to earn more than others. But we do assert that the ambition of the individual to obtain for him and his a proper security, a reasonable leisure, and a decent living throughout life is an ambition to be preferred to the appetite for great wealth and great power."


Persistent unemployment was a continuing concern, and Roosevelt felt that simply doling out relief payments would mean, "spiritual and moral disintegration destructive to the national fibre."


Work began immediately on the WPA's Federal Project Number One (simply known as "Federal One"). The project covered Five Cultural Arenas: the Federal Art Project, the Federal Music Project, the Federal Theatre Project, the Federal Writers Project and the Historical Records Survey, each headed by a National Director. Just one year after the five national directors first met in Washington, some 40,000 WPA Artists and other cultural workers were employed in projects throughout the United States. The cultural impact of this simple fact was far-reaching, summed up by Holger Cahill, director of the Federal Art Project, in a 1939 speech:


"... The Project has discovered that such a simple matter as finding employment for the artist in his [sic] hometown has been of the greatest importance. It has, for one thing, helped to stem the cultural erosion which in the past two decades has drawn most of America's art talent to a few large cities. It has brought the artist closer to the interests of a public which needs him, and which is now learning to understand him. And it has made the artist more responsive to the inspiration of the country, and through this the artist is bringing every aspect of American life into the currency of art."


I'll spare you the history, but long story short, roads were built, parks were cultivated and our Nation's infrastructure was both created and made stronger. A perfect example of that (if we work together),
"The Whole is Greater than the Sum of Its Parts"- Philosophy that Aristotle spoke of.

The poster above was created by Ms. Vera Bock (click)—one of the two noted women creating these works. Created sometime between 1936 and 1941, it is a great example of the WPA's original intent: encouraging laborers to work for America. And perhaps I'm sitting here, listening to the latest happenings in New York, and feeling restless. Perhaps you have been feeling the same way? The economy and the overall state of our Nation has been up in arms, or so it feels. I am counting my blessings Every. Single. Day. I am grateful for health, happiness, a roof over my head and an incredible job. But what more can be done? Moving along, perhaps this next segue may help to guide me:

While puttering around on here and looking at the WPA Posters (click), I started reading about Anthony Velonis (click). He was a schooled artist who joined the New York City WPA Poster Division as a Designer in 1935. In the beginning, the posters were hand-painted or (though, rarely) letterpress printed. Velonis had worked in his brother's sign shop (prior to his time at the College of Fine Arts) and it was he who brought silkscreening into the Poster Division. Through his efforts, silkscreen prints were turned into a fine art medium (serigraphy). He wrote a book called, "Technical Problems of the Artist: Technique of the Silkscreen Process", which can be read in its entirety here (click). Because of his work and contributions in regards to silkscreening, his Dept. was able to produce their posters at a much greater volume. Even still, while creating each one by hand. Enter the concept of an Edition. While I have yet to silkscreen a poster myself, I can say that I know it takes great skill—especially considering the amount of colors that they were using and the separations necessary to recreate the art in multiples. The ink is applied with a squeegee and pulled (using your hands on said-squeegee) with pressure across the sheet of paper/posterboard for each stencil. The ink dries on the paper, so the quality is much closer to the originals than the type of digital printing we'd see today. In a word, simply gorgeous. They were soon producing up to 600 prints a day. Not easy, and I can guess that most printers working in this department probably looked more like linebackers than artists.

In the end, the Works Progress Administration gave way to the Work Projects Administration and then, go figure—government and politics and censorship all reared their special heads (and this is my simplifying at its worst). There were problems too complicated to go into, and most State Units started to assign employees to non-cultural work. Finally the War put an end to all subsidized-artwork. It was formally ended in 1942 and here we are.

I would be lying if I didn't say that these posters are a big source of inspiration for me—artistically and spiritually. It was more a of 'band together' motion rather than a 'stand alone' posture. And maybe this is what I'm getting at? I'm curious—how are you dealing with these times? Are you coping? Are you angry or simply relieved? I understand all of those positions, and I would love to propose a project:
I am thinking as I type, but what about a Collective Poster? Here. If you simply think about these times (and please spend some time on the links in this post), is there a word or words or a sentiment that comes up for you? I'd love to hear it. Perhaps I could take my ramblings and turn them into a Something. Let's see what we can come up with. In the meantime, I am going to go back to my printing press. xo Victoria

Out on the Town, I Bring You... The Album Cover (with links & links)

Album covers from top L to R:

1. S. Neil Fujita 2. Jim Flora 3. William Eggleston

4. R. Crumb 5. Josef Kalousek 6. Andy Warhol

7. Salvador Dalí 8. Saul Bass 9. Saul Bass

The other night I had the pleasure of catching up with my dear friend and date, Richard Seibert, while attending a talk for The Colophon Club.

A Colophon is an inscription at the end of a book which states the name of the printer, bookbinder, foundry, publishing information as well as the typeface(s) used and the edition size (amongst other things and not necessarily all or in that order).

In this case, the Colophon Club is a group of Bookbinders, Printers, Typographers, Designers, Calligraphers, Rare Book Dealers, Artists and general Book Lovers here in the Bay Area. It's an organization dating back to the late 1970's, whose main objective was to curate a monthly discussion (along with cocktails and dinner) and to provide a meeting place for like-minded enthusiasts to get together and share ideas. A traditional Salon, if you will. I have not attended for quite awhile, so when I saw the Invitation saying that Milo Miles was giving a talk on Record Album Art, I knew it was time to get back in.

Milo Miles is a music critic and a lively speaker, harking back to his Montana Days with his old friend, Peter Koch (former Colophon Club President/whose Print Shop/Studio is where I learned to print). His presentation was short, but very sweet. There were some kitschy (I know this is subjective) offerings as well as some striking and straightforward graphic design. I was well aware of Andy Warhol's iconic album cover (the banana) for The Velvet Underground & Nico, but I had never seen the Kenny Burrell or Johnny Griffin album covers that he did for Blue Note. Lovely and simple, much like his earlier/Andy Paperbag drawings. Miles offered a Jackie Gleason (presents) album, Music to Make You Misty, and I have since found a copy of his infamous Lonesome Echo (cover art by Salvador Dalí) which sounds equally schmaltzy.

Personally, I have always been interested in music. For me, the album covers and liner notes were a giant part of the listening experience. It wasn't until I started consciously learning about typography and graphic design, that I started seeing these pieces with a new perspective. Much like the sign painters of the last Century, this type of graphic design was part of a trade. A skill, where larger Record Labels (Decca, Columbia and RCA to name a few) employed real artists—in house—to create their packaging. Most of the artists were uncredited but these unsung heroes helped to create a large part of the American landscape and pop culture as we've come to know it. Listeners like myself would sit and listen to an album for hours, with the sole purpose of just experiencing it. The album cover and liner notes were there to teach, and to entertain. I wasn't already sitting at a computer, listening to music while I was also doing a bunch of other things at the same time. It was a different pace and bird all-together.

And I'm also the first to admit that I see parallels between the craft of letterpress printing and vinyl records. Both were pushed aside by the shinier, faster 'improvements' (offset/digital printing for letterpress printers and compact/digital downloading for the vinyl industry). While letterpress printing has certainly enjoyed a renaissance, the record industry has been almost completely wiped out; the entire business has changed. It warmed my heart to hear Miles saying that he believes (vinyl) records are going to make a (perhaps small) comeback. People are realizing that these too, are tactile objects. Like books. Like print. You can sit with it, feel it and experience it.

Of course the days of high-end production for said-albums are waning/gone, but there is a new movement of self-produced albums and smaller record labels, offering well-crafted album covers and cds. The art of the album is coming back. Bloodshot Records, Arhoolie and Bear Family Records are all coming to mind as I type this. Jon Langford is a fantastic artist/musician and his work is (to me) becoming as iconic as others mentioned. While they mostly put out cds, Winter and Winter's Editions offerings are just lovely.

In the spirit of this week's talk, I have been compiling a collection of album covers and I thought I would put something together. But forget about the unsung heroes-portion of this writing. In this sampling, I am showing off some now-famous (again with that subjective part) artists' offerings to the world of Album Covers. And oh, I know; the irony is not lost on me that I am putting all of this together on that greatbighug known as the internets, but I digress. I will leave you with this lovely earworm (click on "earworm") while I sit here and continue to mourn the loss of the little red string in the band-aid wrapper... Happy Friday! xo

Wow! Is Right.

For such a former Luddite, I have to admit—I love the internet. For a solo-craftsperson, I can't tell you how lovely it is to open up my computer-box and find a little link to something that I made being talked about by veryfancypeople, 3,000 miles away from my own two hands.

I was sent a link this morning to the very lovely Lauren Richel Kelly's (from Martha Stewart Weddings) blog. Lauren is a true champion of paper and stationery, and I'm so happy to see Ms. Wells' fabulous lettering right there in front of me. Thank you, Lauren!

As a self-taught Worker Bee, I have to thank you the Universe and the *Powers-That-Be for such accolades. I have more ideas and scheming to come and I think this new year is off to a great start. xo

(*Inside joke for the curious)

Hey, I Know You.

I was browsing the webs and found this picture yesterday. It's a book that I custom-bound well- over a year ago, and it's so nice to see the handsome couple that I did it for. 

It was the first project I'd worked on after having my baby, and it was deceptively complicated.

It's actually a square book (harder than you'd know) and I custom-backed both the outer cloth

and the hard-t0-see lining on the inside of the covers. And it's striped. Horizontally. In the end, it came out flawlessly and I wish I had a photo of it other than this!  I'm happy to see it in 'real life', being used. 

Pretty in Pink (and Taupe)

I'm really flattered to have been included in the latest issue of Martha Stewart Weddings!

I designed an escort card and an envelope, drawing on the artwork from a full invitation suite that I'd already created. I think the artwork looks really charming in the bright colors and at this smaller scale. While the Designer in me was really very pleased, the Printer in me was very cross at said-Designer (what were you thinking?!); artwork like this ('bleeding' off the edges of the paper, the slight curve of the art and the way it lays over the 'seams' of the folded envelope) is technically really difficult to print well. I know—nobody knows the troubles I've seen— but really, it was a fun challenge that only another experienced printer could appreciate (or probably even notice). 

And, at the end of the day, what shows is the perfectly sweet results and I am truly grateful.