Come One, Come All!

Hello, Hello!

I hope you are gearing up for a fun weekend!

I'm looking forward to finishing up a few projects, hanging out with my family, and putting together some items for a super fun, local Trunk Show that I'll be participating in next weekend, at Lilac Dress Boutique (click), right here in Alameda, California.

If you are planning your Wedding in the Bay Area, please come and see what myself and others have to offer. Lilac's owner, Pilar, is so very nice, in addition to knowing all-things-bridal-gown. Read what nice things people have to say about her right here (click). Alameda locals have known about her for years—in addition to her beautiful gowns, she sells really great clothes, Hobo (brand) bags, and other unique, hard-to-find accessories for everyday wear. Plus, her shop smells divine and she is genuinely awesome to talk to.

I'm really excited that she will be offering up her beautiful boutique to myself and others next Saturday, the 25th of February, from 1-4 pm. Please come by and say hello!

Here is a list of participating folks (I'll link when possible): Susan Bell Florals, Anne Kohler Photography, Malia May, Alive Events & Entertainment, Bird and Whale Design, Tucker's Ice Cream (but this day they will have their amazing cakes), The Wedding Coach, and Milkfed Press.

Be @ Home: Best of the Web

I just heard from the darling Jennifer at the Be@Home blog, and they have kindly selected my blog to be part of their weekly, Best of the Web series. I was sincerely flummoxed when she reached out to me, and visions of 7th Grade Oral Report Day came flooding back into my consciousness. What? People actually read this blog? Well yes, apparently, you do.

Above are some samples of the fruits of my labor—from my garden (carrot seeds were from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds (click) and raspberry shoots were from Bob Hattich, in Napa) and eventually to my press (click). I thought that these would be fitting photographs for such a blurb. The intention of this blog is to offer a behind the scenes look at my work, and this does it well. My confidence in my craft and at the press is pretty high, but I am still learning to trust my voice here, on the not-page. I think that the picture above illustrates a process; knowledge, some hard work, skill, faith and (hopefully) some little victories. I find myself in the middle of these states at any given time, which makes it a little hard to recognize. But if I'm going to be honest, right now it feels wonderful to sit here and feel a little, well, victorious.

To see the Jennifer's post, please have a look here (click). Thank you again! xo Victoria

Insanely Great

Below is a citation by Steve Jobs that I'd added to a post written (click) about a year ago. I used it to illustrate a point I was making about Letterforms, and ways we land where we do (simply put):

"... Reed College at that time offered perhaps the best calligraphy instruction in the country. Throughout the campus every poster, every label on every drawer, was beautifully hand-calligraphed. Because I had dropped out and didn't have to take the normal classes, I decided to take a calligraphy class to learn how to do this. I learned about serif and san serif typefaces, about varying the amount of space between different letter combinations, about what makes great typography great. It was beautiful, historical, artistically subtle in a way that science can't capture, and I found it fascinating.

Next is my favorite part:

None of this had even a hope of any practical application in my life. But ten years later, when we were designing the first Macintosh computer, it all came back to me. And we designed it all into the Mac. It was the first computer with beautiful typography. If I had never dropped in on that single course in college, the Mac would have never had multiple typefaces or proportionally spaced fonts.

Did you notice the typography used in his computer? Oh, beautiful serif! He truly was sincere…

What can I say? It really comes down to this:

Dear Steve Jobs,
You changed my world. Thank you for your open mind, your quest for learning (traditional or not), your willingness to take risks, and your ingenuity. May you rest in peace.
Respectfully yours, Victoria

Nothing Comes From Nothing

This Party Blows

One of my favorite things about life, is that you pretty much just have to walk out your door to find something interesting. I grew up in a small agricultural town, and one of the nicest things I can mention about this fact, is the ability one gets to entertain; to entertain yourself, others, and time itself. I digress.
Above is a picture taken in June 2010, when, on a whim, I decided to walk out my door and see what was going on at the then very popular Art Murmur, in Oakland. My friend has a studio centered in the hub of this, so I thought I'd go and see what the fuss was about.
Artists and craftspeople were set up around the block, musicians were playing on the street, and bacon was being sold hand over fist. The few galleries were fairly packed. All was pretty much living up to the hype of the time. Cutting through the alley behind my friend's studio, I found this Magic. I saw the lettering on the side of the truck/gallery and was immediately charmed by the cheeky sentiment. The simple genius of making a moving gallery piqued my curiosity, and I couldn't wait to see more. Up the stairs and inside the gallery-space were paintings that seemed both familar and unique. I still kick myself for not buying one. There was an organic fun and energy buzzing around this scene. I noted that this was the best thing I'd seen all night, and took a snap (shown above).
The next day, I showed my friend, Dan this picture, and he immediately said, "J. Otto!". And that's why the work seemed familiar to me; it was the moving Gallery of one J. Otto Seibold, a well-known Artist, Author and Illustrator, who was also living in Oakland. Having a few mutual friends, I reached out to him and long story short, we are putting together a book. It will will be awesome, and available in a fairly limited edition.
Tomorrow night, J. Otto will be debuting his latest Party at the Oakland Museum. For more information, please click on the link here. Be there or be square. xo

Capital-F Friend, Part II (links, links, links)

Dear World,

I know I've mentioned this a gazillion times, but I could not be more proud of Dan for being such a Magic Man. I think his and Margaret's mutual love and respect for each other and for each other's crafts shines through. I might add one little-known fact that people may not know, which is that Margaret was also a pretty great Banjo player. In fact, I'd guess this was her playing in the opening music. And Dan is a 1930's True Bluesman walking around in the 21st Century. Their appreciation for early Americana is another thread that I believe runs through the very core of them. They truly 'got' each other and it was so cool to witness their parallel interests trying to make their way(s) around Civic Center (where SFPL was). That's really all I can say about it.

Rough segue, but necessary nonetheless:

It's been a full Summer of work and play over here. The Printer's Devil has turned 4, and is beyond lovely. My Dad passed away earlier this year, and I feel like I'm getting my landlegs back from this. I am working and approaching each of my projects with an appreciation that only a personal loss can bring. I am grateful for my lovely clients, and am also feeling inspired to create a new, personal project. More on that to come, for sure.

Lastly, I've also been working—gasp—on a new website. I love, love my old one, and thankfully in these past 7 years since my friend, Josh designed it, he has gone on to discover his true genius in developing a Website Platform/Fancyness for folks like me (see definition #1). In other words, he developed a very usable web service and platform for those Creative types who want to have a fancy new website with all the current technological bells and whistles (the ipad/iphone/ican'tkeepup-necessary viewing-stuff). And down the road, us Creatives can actually edit it. While it was years of work for him to develop, with his help, it won't take years for me to create. I feel like I'm starting over. Or back to school shopping. Will keep you all posted.

Enough of that. Enjoy the inspiration and brilliance of both Margaret and Dan. xo

Friends, Both Close and Far Away.

Last night I met up with my dear Friend (yes, capital "F"), Dan, to see a showing of some of Margaret's work, in San Francisco. The gallery, Ratio 3, was fittingly located in the middle of The Mission (district). Margaret, along with a handful of others, were considered to be a part of San Francisco's contribution to the Art World, The Mission School. I had the pleasure of working with both she and Dan at the San Francisco Public Library, where the 3 of us spent hours mending books, talking and scheming. Dan was our ringleader, I suppose, so it was bittersweet to be with him last night to see part of Margaret's remaining collection. It's always been clear that she is/was a very gifted Artist—her legacy and her talents supersede her. I'm so grateful to have known that in addition to all that, she was an incredibly lovely person. This Sunday will mark the ten years since she died, and it was nice to see that people are still celebrating her accomplishments and her life. We should all be so lucky.

Well, Well, Well... Look Who Decided to Show Up.

{The top image is from Snippet and Ink and the bottom is from Style Me Pretty.}
Hello, New Year. Here we are. I feel a little sheepish seeing that my last entry was 5 months ago, but alas—here I am.
Last year was a very good year for my business. I took on some exciting new projects and created some frankly really cool pieces. That's really all I can tell you or show you at this point, because I'd have to kill you. BUT, I will keep you posted when they make theirverybigdebut in the Wedding Magazine World.

On a personal level, the last few months were fairly tough. My Father (who raised me), has been in declining health for well, it seems like a very long time now. He entered the hospital in late September and we truly did not think he would leave. But he did. Words like, "Miracle" and "Incredible Will" have been bandied about and the cheery part is that he is one tough cookie. For how long, I do not know. I won't go too much further into this because he's of a finer generation and frankly, we just don't talk about these things publicly. Certainly not on the internet-machine. I think the reason for mentioning this is that this has certainly provided me with the proverbial Spiritual Growth that perhaps all decent people must go through. And downtime. And most importantly—gratitude.
I'm very very grateful for the work I do, the work I have and the lovely people that support me. This is not lost on me every. single. day. of my life. Having had a few months of contemplation and time away, I feel rested. I feel inspired. Strange how the creativity finds a way to grow, even when I don't feed it much.
So here I am. New Year. Newer Me. I feel recharged. I have pictures to post. Maybe of work, maybe of things that simply interest me. It warmed my heart to see that when I poked my head out of my little world this morning, I found a piece of my work on the very lovely Snippet and Ink, as well as Style Me Pretty. What are the odds of that? The Style Me Pretty blog was featuring a gorgeous wedding created by the couple along with Custom Event Group. Rebecca and I have worked closely for years now and she has become my friend. If you are considering a special event (not just wedding) in the Napa Valley Region, she is your gal. On the shallow end of the pool... that IS Brad Wollack! I am now just four degrees from Chelsea Handler. It feels like the Universe is saying to me, "It's okay. I know you've been busy and we still think about you. Come back!". Or that's how I'm going to view it.
So, here goes. Blogger, you may or may not be coming with me, or I might move on to another format. I'll keep you all posted, whichever way I land.
I hope the New Year brings you all health, happiness and prosperity. Drop me a line sometime. xo Victoria

National Buy A Book Day!

Well, it's not really but it should be. Like many small businesses, book stores are suffering in this crazy economy. It's hard to believe, but bookstores in Berkeley (California) cannot keep their doors open. Big chain stores have closed down and I don't even want to go into what's happening to the fine press community. On a cheerier note, I want to talk about Rakestraw Books, in Danville, California. Touted as "The Bookstore In Danville" (even with the little registered trademark), they truly are that cool bookstore we love to go to. Rakestraw's Ambassador, Mr. Michael Barnard, does a wonderful job of bringing in writers and events which make Rakestraw Books a go-to destination for folks in the Bay Area.

A patron of the arts, Michael is also so very supportive of the letterpress community here. Following a rich, Bay Area Tradition, he often hires us designers and printers to create a commemorative broadside for some of his events. Above is a snapshot of a broadside that I printed this week. It's for Robert Hass—a Pulitzer-Prize winning Poet reading at Rakestraw Books at 7 pm tonight. If you can't make it then, please be sure and get yourself there sometime soon. Buy a book and tell them I said, "Hello!" (and thank you). xo Victoria

Friends Far and Close

This is a small painting done by Margaret Kilgallen. It's of a bookbinder and I love the way she drew all of the tools on her workbench.

I had the pleasure of working with her and my friend, Dan Flanagan, years ago at the San Francisco Public Library. It seems like a really long time ago, and worlds-away for so many reasons, but I really cherish those memories. We could all just sit and talk/argue about bookbindings, letter-forms and life in general, drawing on the daily inspiration sitting in each of our hands. In our jobs, we all had a common goal (mending and preserving books) yet we all approached this with such different styles. 

I had studied bookbinding first, prior to letterpress printing. My hands/brain understood how to build a book but it was getting the printed-words on to the pages that now piqued my interests. Margaret and Dan had both been accomplished printers prior to being bookbinders, so we were all somehow in the same collective mix. It was at this time that I finally had someone to try and identify typefaces with or guess the period of a book based on design-decisions, binding-styles, etc. (and no cheating/without just looking at the publishing dates). I loved it.

Like many people, we all crossed paths and became friends through/because of our jobs and frankly this was my favorite part of working at SFPL. 

I'm not sure where I'm going with this; I guess I just miss my friends today.