Tag: Letterpress

Meet The Maker: Mariko Iwata of Miks Letterpress

Hello and welcome to our Meet the Maker blog series! Twice a week we will be profiling one of our talented vendors who will be participating in our Holiday Art Star Craft Bazaar on November 19th and 20th at the Simeone Foundation Automotive Museum. This is a great way to get to know each of our artists better. Learn more about their process, get a glimpse into their studio, and meet the person behind the beautiful products they create! We will be posting these every Tuesday and Thursday until the show. Join our Facebook Event so you are notified as soon as a new post is up. Enjoy!
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Hi I’m Mariko and I design and print modern and funny letterpress greeting cards as well as minimal wedding invitations.

photo by Jon Moses Photography

I am all about the hand written note. Nothing says “you’re worth it” than someone who gets out a pen, thinks of something to write, licks the envelope and rifles through their drawer for stamps. Oh, yeah and then remembers to send the letter.

The sentiments printed on my cards are modern and funny as well as gushingly sentimental. I try to think of something unique that people today want to say like “i wait to watch tv shows with you” to express love. Most cards also have a blind impression that you can only see if you’re up close, like a secret message.

photo by Jon Moses Photography

photo by Jon Moses Photography

I love printing. I have a heidelberg windmill letterpress machine in my studio in Mt. Rainier, MD. It’s heavy and large and quite awesome when it comes to letterpress printing. I got it two years ago when I decided I’d pour my heart into designing and printing stationery and wedding invitations.

photo by Jon Moses Photography

There are a number of steps involved in printing, starting from the design and concept, getting plates made, inking up your machine, setting up a design on the machine to then finally print. Here is a video that I did with Below the Park that shows the multiple steps.

Miks Letterpress – Clones from Below The Park on Vimeo.

photo by Rachel Lynn Photography

This year I’ve been focusing more on my modern wedding invitation line. The wedding line is minimal, simple and great for the couple who wants their wedding invitation suite to be unique and different. I use gold foil, letterpress and watercolor in my work.

photo by Rachel Lynn Photography

I’m so excited to be at the Art Star Craft Bazaar this year. I’ll have a number of new items that I don’t have yet online and will be debuting at the show. I’m super excited to be in Philly this year with other super talented makers.

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Mariko Iwata is the creative force behind Miks Letterpress +. When she is not printing and being a boss lady she is hanging out with her husband (the inspiration for many of her cards) and 8 month old son (who frequents craft fairs with her and will be at Art Star). Follow Miks Letterpress + on instagram (@mikspress) and check out her site mikspress.com

Photos by Jon Moses Photography & Rachel Lynn Photography
Video by Below the Park

October 18, 2016
Meet the Maker: Heidi Shenk/Row House 14

Words and Photos by Heidi Shenk

I’m Heidi, the owner and designer of Row House 14, an indie stationery and paper goods company. I’m a small town Indiana girl that made her way to Baltimore somehow and became a teacher. On the days I felt burned out in the classroom, I turned to art as a creative outlet. The final products– cards and stationery.

Six years later, I moved on from the classroom to design and make cards full time from my home studio in my historic Baltimore row house. I never thought that something I did to keep a creative energy going would turn into my job, but I am always excited for a new adventure in life and haven’t looked back since.

My inspiration comes from daily life, so many of my cards embrace the humor in every day life. I enjoy writing the cards just as much as I like to design them. I pair bold and bright colors with recognizable images to create designs that are relatable. If I can make someone laugh or smile or just make someone’s day a little better, then I think my ultimate goal has been accomplished.

I love experimenting with the final product as well. Some of my cards are bolder and brighter in design and finished digitally. Others, I print myself using a letterpress printing press. Each medium offers its own creative challenges and pushes me to hone my craft and think outside the box.

Aside from greeting cards, I offer other stationery goods such as note cards, notepads, and pencils. The pencils are all individually hand imprinted with a vintage Kingsley press– a piece of history in itself. The process is one that I enjoy immensely and is truly a labor of love.

Working with my hands is incredibly fulfilling for me. I also find importance in using recycled and sustainable paper and products for the end results in my shop. I want my business to not only bring happiness to others, but to be an extension of my own lifestyle from the day to day, so that includes being environmentally conscious while still providing an incredibly high quality product, as well as finding joy in what I do in the day to day.

Through Row House 14, I hope to offer witty, stylish, and ridiculously hilarious stationery goods.
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Thanks for sharing Heidi! Visit Row House 14 at our May 7th + 8th Art Star Craft Bazaar at Penn’s Landing Great Plaza, Booth #86 (along the Walnut Plaza).
http://www.rowhouse14.com/

April 12, 2016
Meet Bobby + Sara of Just A Jar Design Press!

Just A Jar Design Press is a letterpress & design studio run by Bobby & Sara Rosenstock. We have a large studio in the historic river town of Marietta, Ohio. We do a range of different things as a business, but for this post we will focus on our woodcut & letterpress prints.

We create fine art prints as well as gig posters that have all been commissioned for the actual events. Just about all of our prints are limited edition which means they are signed and numbered, & when they all sell we don’t print any more.

The process begins with a pencil drawing to scale, which is then traced on to tracing paper so I can flip the image to reverse (woodblocks need to be carved in reverse). I make a plan for colors, typically written out in the margins of the drawing. Each color is carved on it’s own block typically, (I do some reductive printing but won’t get into that here). Using carbon paper I transfer the drawing onto pieces of birch plywood. I then carve the blocks for each color.

The woodblocks are all manually printed on my Vandercook SP20 press, from the 1960s. I do a separate run for each color. If the print includes text, I will set some of my lead & wood type onto the press, & print that as a separate run.

Typesetting is a craft of it’s own. I feel overwhelmed by the options when designing on the computer, but when I’m setting type, I’m limited by the size and typefaces in my collection. I also find that when I can touch it with my hands I can understand it better. Some of our wood type is over 150 years old, & I want that history to be represented in the work.

It’s a pretty slow and meticulous process, depending on the detail, a print can take anywhere from 40 to 100 hours to complete. Planning is a big part of the process, but I also think its important for some parts of the print to be spontaneous & of the moment. I enjoy the controlled rawness of the medium, and I want the labor of the process to come through in the image.

We are really excited to be returning to Philly in May for the Art Star Craft Bazaar. We do lots of art fairs each year but our very first one was Art Star in 2009. We haven’t been back since our daughter was born in 2012, so are thrilled to be participating this year. Come stop by our tent and say hello. If you want to see more of what we do you can find us here:

www.justajar.com
www.facebook.com/justajardesignpress
www.instagram.com/justajar/
www.twitter.com/justajarpress

April 8, 2015