Skirting the Issues

The League of Women Designers is a group I'm proud to be a part of in Chicago. Made up of product, furniture and home goods designers, the group meets regularly to discuss issues related to the field of design, and to help each other out in the interest of forwarding the prosperity of all members. The first LWD show is opening this weekend at Manifold, the beautiful studio and gallery of member Elizabeth Fiersten: The theme, skirt, was meant to be taken in any definition of the word:

skirt (verb) 1: to form or run along the border or edge of : border 2: to furnish a border or shield for 3: to go around or keep away from in order to avoid danger or discovery 4: to avoid especially because of difficulty or fear of controversy

skirt (noun) 1: a separate free-hanging outer garment or undergarment usually worn by women and girls covering some or all of the body from the waist down 2: the rim, periphery, or environs of an area 3: slang: a girl or woman

I went with definition 4 of the verb form of the word for a series of simple prints. Inspirational artwork for home decor (such as the Keep Calm and Carry On variety of posters) are incredibly popular, especially those that are hand printed and simple in structure. However, many of the themes of these prints represent more of an idea of ourselves than the reality of everyday life. With that in mind, I put together a series of simple black and white prints that express the true fears we face as opposed to the image we project to the public.

Here are the three prints done so far, along with the type forms for each.

We've done our fair share of inspirational prints at Starshaped, and they continue to be good sellers. That said, it was great fun to take a break from the sincerity of that style of print to poke fun at the genre. The framed prints will be available at the opening on Saturday, June 15th, and a limited edition of unframed prints will be sold on our etsy site.

The Annual Platen Press Museum Type Sale

If you have any interest in the history of printing, the Platen Press Museum is a must see place in Zion, Illinois (about an hour north of Chicago). It's run by Paul Aken, who is very much a mentor and booster of all things Starshaped. My relationship with Paul goes back many years to when I routinely went to the museum to help identify type and learn as much as possible about printing. Every Spring Paul hosts a type sale at the museum to clean out many of the duplicate typefaces, as well as other bits and pieces necessary to the craft. For the last two years, the sale has also include complete tabletop and sign presses, all set up and ready to print. If you're just getting started, or looking for a few missing things that would make your print practice that much better, this is a not-to-be-missed event. Today I went up to Zion to help identify, label and price some of the type that will be available. I'm thrilled to say there are some real gems set to go for the sale!

Here are the details:

Saturday, May 4th, 2013  ·  9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.

Cases, Type, Tools, Supplies, Toy Presses, Books, Bits and Bobs

Table Top Presses (Pilots, Sigwalts, Kelseys) with new rollers and a starter kit

3051 Sheridan Rd.  ·   Zion, IL 60099

847-746-8170  *  847-731-1945  *  platenpress@sbcglobal.net

One Day Sale   -   No Shipping

Here's a tease of just a few of the typefaces that are fonted up for sale. Type is also sold by the pound in cases, and there are blank cases as well. You really can't beat the prices (type ranges from $10-$100), not to mention the company of fellow printers that will be shopping. Hope to see you there!

Anatomy of a Move

This past weekend I traveled up to the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum (again) to help with one of their volunteer move events. As you may know, they need to move from their current location (the original home of Hamilton) to a new space in Two Rivers by April first. If you've ever moved any printing equipment and/or type, then you know what a monumental task this is on a small scale let alone 30,000 square feet of printing history. Jim and Stephanie, the museum directors, have put a great and organized system together for labeling each piece for the move, and an impressive amount of packing has already taken place. I got a chance to walk around and get a few great shots of the current state of progress. If you've been to the public area of the museum, this will look familiar. The system for packing involves shrink wrapping pallets in colors coordinating with where the pieces are at the current location. Many of the displays have been removed and are awaiting pallets.

Not only do you get to see the organization of these final staging areas (this is just one), but the sheer scale of the building itself.

Some very large wood type ready to go.

Pallets full of half rounds that could be (and hopefully will?) be used to create new wood type.

My job involved packing up the bits and pieces for printing (leads, reglets, furniture, etc.), as well as organizing the type cases in preparation for packing on the second floor of the building. This was a delightful job as I got to use years of experience with moving type as well as peek at many fabulous (and fabulously dirty) wood typefaces, some of which are here:

Found this type set in its case like this. And yes, I was.

This ampersand is approx. 5" tall.

There is also a fair bit of metal type at the museum, and this was a treat to find. It's 48 pt. Spread, a typeface we have at Starshaped in a tiny 8 pt version. Just lovely.

The back of one empty type case. We have some similar styles of written labels in the studio, though ours are from Chicago.

Our first load of wood type on a pallet, ready for labeling, shrink wrapping and banding. There is a sheet of bubble wrap and cardboard in between each case for extra protection.

We may not be up again until after the move and hope that all continues to go well. Money still needs to be raised and you can still help. And the always lovely Mari will gladly ship orders of some of the awesome prints and souvenirs you can find in their shop. Let's hope our next post about Hamilton involves a happy new homecoming and opening celebration!

The Hamilton Benefit, Chicago-Style

Starshaped Press is proud to be sponsoring an incredible benefit for the Hamilton Wood Type and Printing Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, along with Brad Vetter, STA, APHA and the Book and Paper Arts Center at Columbia College Chicago. The museum is the legacy of wood type design and manufacturing in the US, and is being forced to move from its current historic location. 30,000 sq ft of type and printing machinery to move by March? Yeah, it's a thing. This is why we're coming together with some incredibly talented folks to throw a huge benefit to raise money to facilitate this move.

You may recall our post about the Fall Wayzgoose this year, and all of the wonderful people whose company we shared that weekend. This past April, Hamilton honored Starshaped with a solo show in the museum, where I was able to get some great shots of the place:

We all hope you will join us at Columbia's Book and Paper Arts Center this Saturday between noon and 6pm. The sale will continue through January, but why wait? There will be food, fellowship and printing. We will also be bringing the Press Bike press (alas, no bike) so that Jo the Printer's Devil can print stickers for you.

If that's not enough, I put a call out for brand new work just for the occasion, and in 3 short weeks some truly fantastic printers came through. We will be documenting them so they will be available after the benefit, provided they don't sell out this weekend. Here's our offering:

If you can't make it to Chicago, you can visit the Hamilton Benefit at The Arm, in Brooklyn, NY. And if you can't do either, consider making a donation to Hamilton asap. Hope to see you there!

Renegade Holiday 2012

We're getting ready for the Renegade Holiday Craft Fair this weekend in Chicago!

We'll be bringing lots of wrapping paper, gift tags and holiday cards. Here are just a few of the items we'll have on hand...

Not in Chicago? Bah Humbug. You can always check out our etsy shop and get what you need there. And in case you missed it, we've got a 20% sale going on through December 3rd. Just use the promo code SMALLBIZ12 when you check out.

See ya this weekend, Chicago!