APA Wayzgoose!

Some of you may wonder exactly what a Wayzgoose is....so here is the definition (via Wikipedia):

"Wayzgoose was at one time the name for an entertainment given by a master printer to his workmen each year on or about St Bartholomew's Day (24 August). This marked the traditional end of summer and the point at which the season of working by candlelight began. Later, the word came to refer to the annual outing and dinner of the staff of a printing works or the printers on a newspaper"

From September 18-20 I attended the Amalgamated Printer's Association's annual Wayzgoose at Printers' Hall in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.  Printers' Hall is a working museum, with nearly thirty pieces (if not more) of working printing equipment.  They coined this Wayzgoose as a "Play-goose," as everyone was encouraged to "play" with the equipment.  

While I was there I got to print on a Uni-I Vandercook, as well as watch and listen to many older printers and some young ones alike.  Overall it was not only educational but a great time.  And I also came home with a bunch of new type and equipment!  

The worst blogger ever....

...is me!  September has been so crazy!  I've felt out of touch with blogger world, but I've had so much to share! 

As seen in the previous post, Matt and I were heading up to Okoboji for Labor Day weekend.  We camped out and it was gorgeous the entire weekend.  The above shot is our view from the tent.  

Of course the main reason we headed north was for the flea markets.  Okoboji has three flea markets over the holiday weekend and we stopped by Clear Lake's flea market on the way home Sunday.  Here is some of the great stuff along the path of the Okoboji Flea Market and Clear Lake Flea Market.  There was a ton of great stuff at both places.  Unfortunately (or maybe fortunately) my car limits the amount of purchases we can make, so most the photos here are objects of desire.  Enjoy!

Take a trip to the I-O-W-A Ocean!

This weekend Matt and I will be making our annual pilgrimage to the one, the only I-O-W-A Ocean, otherwise known as Okoboji. The major summer holidays are filled with multiple flea markets in the Okoboji area and we both love a flea hunt.  Vick's Corner will be celebrating its 118th flea market, while Treasure Village and the Dickinson Co. Expo Antique and Flea Market will also be crawling with bargain hunters, junk pilferers, and antique junkies.  

In addition to the flea-trifecta, the Iowa Rock n Roll Hall of Fame will be holding their annual induction ceremony.  The schedule of events seems quite promising and I hope Matt and I get a chance to view some of the celebration.

And for those not familiar with the term I-O-W-A Ocean, check out Wally Shoop and the Zombies here (scroll down to the bottom of the list for a listen). 

photo link

Anticipation.....

is not only a Carly Simon song.....it's what I'm feeling right now!!!  In September the Great Northern Printer's Fair along with the Amalgamated Printer's Association's Annual Wayzgoose will be held in Mt. Pleasant, IA and I will be attending all the days this year! There will be demonstrations on printing (even registering a 7 color job I'm told), bookbinding, and even paper marbling.  I've really been needing some time for myself lately and I can't can't wait for it to come!  

To check out some of last years awesome-ness (and pictures of me printing things) click here and here for my old post.

Big Building, Big Dreams

Many of you may know I'm originally from Ossian, Iowa and I still get my Ossian Bee, the local newspaper, to keep up on the news.  While catching up on Ossian news last night I perused the City Council minutes, to find out one of the largest buildings on Main Street had been donated to the city.  The Dessel building as it is known, has been sitting empty on Main Street for approximately 25 years according to the article. It is the second building in from the right in the photo above. 

Now this may not seem particularly newsworthy, but as I kept reading it stated, "A lengthy discussion ensued regarding liability, insurance, maintenance, possible uses for the structure, and possible demolition of the building."  Now this got me a little riled up, as I have been dreaming more or less about having my own little letterpress business in this building and residing in the second floor.  Now, this is obviously just a dream at this point, but now that they are talking demolition, it really breaks my heart. 

An excerpt from Reflections of a Golden Era, Ossian, Iowa shares this about the Dessel building: 

"The year 1898 found much new construction in Ossian.  F. W. [Dessel] started the construction of the "Dessel Building." This building is 42' x 100', 2 stories in height with a brick and stone front. The huge limestone blocks which are at the 4 corners of the basement area were quarried from the Fred J. Figge quarry south of Ossian in the Silver Springs area."  It goes on to mention that the walls are 6 bricks wide and the Dessel business closed in 1962.  

I would really hate to see the building go.  It could be utilized in so many different ways.  I just hope the city reconsiders or perhaps sells it off to someone wanting to utilize and preserve the building. 

Tea and Tarts

Last week I decided to have a little lady pampering party for a few friends. When I was planning the party, I really wanted to use these vintage display pieces that I had found recently. They are kind of like mini cupcake trees, but I haven't seen them anywhere else.

I began searching for dessert recipes that would be appropriate for the display tree and thought; Tarts! They'd be perfect. I eventually found a recipe on the Joy of Baking for Shortbread Tarts with Cream Filling, using blueberries for the topping, and they were delicious!

Here is the recipe:

SHORTBREAD TARTS:
1 cup (227 grams) (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (72 grams) confectioners (powdered or icing) sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups (210 grams) all purpose flour
2 tablespoons (30 grams) cornstarch or rice flour
1/8 teaspoon salt

CREAM CHEESE FILLING:
1-8-oz. (227 grams) package cream cheese - softened
1-14 ounce (396 grams) can sweetened condensed milk
1/3 cup (80 ml) lemon juice (freshly squeezed)
Zest of one lemon
1 teaspoon (4 grams) pure vanilla extract

GARNISH:
Any combination of berries (blueberries, strawberries, blackberries, raspberries) or other fruit such as slices of kiwi.

Shortbread Tarts: Lightly butter, or spray with a nonstick vegetable spray, 36 miniature muffin tins (approximately 2 inch (5 cm) in diameter). Set aside. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (170 degrees C) and place rack in the center of the oven.
In the bowl of your electric mixer, or with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugar together (approximately two minutes). Beat in the vanilla extract. Add the flour, cornstarch and salt and mix just until incorporated.

Divide the dough into 36 even pieces and place one ball of dough in the center of each muffin tin. With your fingertips, press the dough up the sides of the individual muffin tin so there is an indentation in the center. Once filled, place the tart pan, with the unbaked shells, in the freezer for about 10 minutes so the shortbread can become firm. (This will help to prevent the shortbread from puffing up during baking.)

Bake for approximately 18 - 20 minutes or until lightly browned. About halfway through the baking time, lightly prick the bottom of each shortbread, with the tines of a fork, if they have puffed up. Check again after another five minutes and prick again if needed. Once they are fully baked, remove from oven and place on a wire rack to cool. When completely cooled, remove the tarts from the pan. (These may be made in large quantities and frozen.)

CREAM CHEESE FILLING: In your food processor or electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until fluffy. Add the condensed milk, lemon juice, zest, and vanilla and process until smooth. Transfer the filling to a bowl, cover, and refrigerate until serving time. It is best to make the filling at least a day in advance to give it time to become firm and for all the flavors to mingle.
To serve: Using two small spoons, fill the tart shells with the cream cheese filling. The filled tart shells can be made several hours in advance and refrigerated. Just before serving top with fresh berries or cut up fruit.
Makes about 36 - 2 inch (5 cm) miniature tarts.

I guess I'm a bad blogger....

but look I updated my etsy shop!

And I promise more posts coming soon! There are lots of projects on the horizon.

Maybellene

I just paused from my internet life, and saw a commercial on Ovation TV for what looks to be an awesome series called "American Revolutionaries." They will be featuring some great musicians, from Sarah Vaughn to Chuck Berry (hence the name of this post). Not only does the series look good, I love their graphics! The saturated illustration on top of the black and white photo and the great use of type, its love all over. To check out a schedule of the American Revoluntionaries series, click here.

Whew!

Well I think I've finally recovered from the Des Moines Art Festival! It was a long and pretty warm weekend, but overall I had a good time. All my preparations and planning finally went into full swing.

I saw a lot of great people and had a lot of help from my family and friends (thanks you guys!!!!). I couldn't have done it without you.

Since I was one of the Iowa Emerging Artists, I was required to do a demonstration during the weekend festivities. My prints are generally printed with my Nolan proof press, but due to its weight, I decided to just print by hand. Thanks to Grant for his lovely "arty" photos :)

I brought a bunch of my tools and even had the linocut locked up in a galley to show during my demo. I had quite a few people stop by and hope they enjoyed learning a little more about printmaking.

Hometown Vintage Style

In postcards that is. Over Memorial Day weekend, Matt and I spent some time in Okoboji, Iowa at their various flea markets and antique shows/shops. We go antiquing quite frequently, but I've never really found any memorablia from my hometown, mostly due to the fact that Ossian is only home to 850 people.

Well in Okoboji I ended up purusing the booth of a woman with about a zillion postcards. She had the Iowa postcards separated by town and to my surprise found not only one, but three postcards from Ossian.

I guessing the top one was a stock "Good Luck" postcard, with the gold painted on later for which ever town wanted them.

The middle postcard has a house that looks very familiar, but has no clues as to its location. The writer indicates "I suppose you know this house without me telling you." Too bad you didn't tell me. I think it is a house on E Broadway, near the railroad tracks, but I'm not certain.

The colored house at the bottom I think is actually now on what is known as Becker Ave. The house still stands there and is home to some former neighbors. They worked on restoring the house and they might have even had a copy of this postcard, as the paint scheme is very similar to what it is painted now.

Any Ossianites out there recognize these homes? Do they still stand? Am I correct in their location?

Letterpress Set-up

When I describe my interest in letterpress, many people have lots of questions and can't really visualize the process. Today I finished up printing some new business cards and thought it would be a good opportunity to "show off" my set-up.

For my business cards, I started out designing in InDesign. Once finished, a pdf is sent off to get a letterpress cut. These cuts are made of magnesium and are reflected so they print correctly.

Mixing the ink color comes next. For my business cards, a dark orange was appropriate. This is where my background in painting comes in handy to mix up the right color. I use a Nolan Proof Press, so I hand ink every pass of the press. After inking the cut, I place the stock on the cut, apply the packing, and pull the roller across the cut. And then I repeat and repeat.

Since each piece is hand inked and pulled, one consideration to keep in mind is registration. Each color on a piece has to go through the press a separate time. In addition, the paper has to be registered properly to ensure proper placement.

There are many ways to handle registration, but thus far I've been using masking tape to eyeball the placement. Thus far it has been working fairly well, but tight registration does pose a problem with my masking tape system. I hope to look into a better registration system as I get into more complicated designs, but for now it works.

There's a short overview of letterpress. Hope you all enjoy :) Back to making more prints!

Where as all the time gone????

Obviously I've been a little pre-occupied to post any time recently...........here's a quick update of the past few months.......

I graduated in April with a degree in graphic design

ALT went to publication and was distrubuted throughout Des Moines

Matt and I went to the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans.

I'm still working with Main Street Iowa, but looking for full time graphic design work

I joined the Prairie Book Collaborative

And I've been busy busy busy preparing for the Des Moines Art Festival coming up here near the end of June.

Today I took the day off to work on some printing and such----found it kind of ironic that my finger nail polish looked all nice just to get covered in black ink :) But I like it none-the-less.

No post?

So I ran out of time yesterday to post.........which means I'm working really hard! Ironic for "Work in Progress Thursday." Lately I've been preparing my portfolio to go out into the "real world," which by the way, why do they call it the "real world;" isn't the life I'm living right now "real"? I'm hoping once I'm out of school the "real" world won't be so damn busy so I have time to do things for myself once in awhile........but I hope I find a job none the less.

Off to find something for Fun Friday ;)

Resolutions

I usually never make resolutions, but one of the things I've resolved to do this year is post on my blog more often, in fact, I'm going to try to do it every week day! The schedule that I've made up will follow the following ;)

Monday-Inspiration Monday-Why not begin your week with a little inspiration
Tuesday-New Talent Tuesday-Posts of any new or new to me works of art, design, or craft
Wednesday-Graphic Design Wednesday-I can't go a week without looking at something graphic-related, so neither should you!
Thursday-Work in Progress Thursday-Posting of projects I'm working on, graphic design, craft, or others
Friday-Fun Friday-Something fun to end the week with :)

I think this schedule will be fun and will make me more likely to post more often. I hope you all enjoy! Coming up in a few, Graphic Design Wednesday!

For the Love of Posters

Chicago Printmakers Gallery
Originally uploaded by Threadless Chicago

On January 15th, Steve Walters of Screwball Press will be giving a demonstration and presentation about his screenprinted posters at Grand View University. His show looks awesome in the gallery and I'm way excited about going. Rumor is, if you go, you get a free poster :)

I'm Famous!

Well kind of.......by Ossian standards......... :)

I've been accepted as an Emerging Iowa Artist for the Des Moines Art Festival, so I made the front page of the Ossian Bee. I've yet to see the actual newspaper but you can check out the online edition here. Thanks everyone for the kind words about my acceptance as well :)

Heading to the Beach

Today I came home to find an unassuming postal box sent from my favorite cousin. Earlier this month I had entered his blog contest, to send an artistic representation of Jacksonville, North Carolina. I've never been there, but was sad to see no one enter his contest. To remedy this situation, I sent him a little painting sketch I had done for a larger project. Since I "won" his contest with a painting of "Jacksonville," he sent me, as promised, a jar of sand from the coast. I must admit, I do enjoy going to the beach any time I want now. Especially since today it was only about 45 degrees outside and rainy. I also enjoyed the irony of the sand, all the way from North Carolina, was placed inside a strawberry jam jar from Minnesota.

Check out Phil's blog here to see my wonderful winning artwork :) You can also see his day to day experiences and his journalism skills in use at the Jacksonville Daily News. Thanks for the trip to the beach Phil!

Norwegian Goodness

Last Friday was Matt's birthday. He's not too much into birthday cake and I kept tempting him with how great my Great-Grandma's Norweigan blitz torte recipe is, so I decided to make it for his birthday. For the most part it was a success. I don't have the right pans for it, but it was still delicious and I even got the meriange to work out :) Too bad its all gone now...

Quick post of a great find!

I'm in love with this stamp. I may have to buy some just to make my letters (aka bills) prettier :) They are very Jim Flora inspired. He illustrated albums covers and children's books in the 40's, 50's and 60's.

Here is what the USPS website said about this stamp:

"On September 8, 2008, in Washington, DC, the Postal Service™ issued a 42–cent, Latin Jazz commemorative stamp.With the issuance of the Latin Jazz stamp, the United States Postal Service® celebrates the rich musical heritage of the United States of America. The stamp features a bold, graphic design by San Francisco–based artist and Latin jazz fan Michael Bartalos of San Francisco, California. The design conveys the multicultural aspects of the music, its percussive and improvisational nature, and its rhythmic complexity"

Great Northern Midwest Printer's Fair

Today I took a little roadtrip over to Mt. Pleasant for the Great Northern Midwest Printer's Fair. I was on the lookout for a press, but alas I did not find one. I did meet some nice people and got to see the Printer's Hall which was pretty cool. They even have the press and paper folder from my home town newspaper. The giant Babcock Reliance. Maybe by next year's Printer's Fair I'll have my own press.