An ode to Clarendon in copper and black. The silhouette is from a popular Decatur street sculpture near the site of the wedding. The complete invitation package featured a 4-color save-the-date postcard, grocery bag envelopes with japanese decorative liners, Decatur street-themed table signs and place cards, and a perforated tear-off RSVP postcard.

Art nouveau florals, copper metallic ink, and a faux-retro script combine with letterpress finesse for one savory wedding package!

Fresh green and indigo letterpress for Gretchen + Brian’s summer solstice nuptials. The fern and recycled map envelopes were perfect for 2 Oregon hikers in love.

These elegant 2 color wedding invitations were designed and printed in collaboration with the bride and groom. We matched the green ink to the “avocado” envelopes, then mixed a silvery gray for the text and “bike math.” I love how the bicycles tell a playful, personal story.

I spent Friday morning calling around print supply and paper shops in Atlanta, trying to track down some special ink for a letterpress project. Nobody had any rubber-based transparent mixing white and nobody knew where to get it. I finally started contacting ink manufacturers directly, who were like, “You want what?” That afternoon I ended up at an ink plant in Stone Mountain.

Once I explained my plight, the friendly production manager at Wikoff Color, who typically sells ink in 400 pound batches, took pity. “I’m in a good mood,” he said, and offered to mix me a 1lb can for free. Score! That would be enough to last the rest of my printing life. Even better, when I showed up to claim my tiny order, he asked if I would like to tour the plant. Would I?

It was like an episode of Sesame Street. There was a row of ink mills, where giant vats of grainy ink poured continuously through steel rollers. They were producing “Budweiser Red” for a carton manufacturer.

All the raw pigments, drying agents and stabilizers were lined up in oozing buckets with garden-variety shovels for mixing and measuring. I was giddy to see the scale of their operation. I normally deal with tiny dabs of color.

So I skipped out of Wikoff Color with my 2lb can of ink feeling like I just got away with something. This kind of generous sharing is not unusual in my brief experience as a hobby printer. My studio is full of such stories–a complete cabinet of wood furniture, fonts of brand new lead type, cuts and caps in copper and wood, a steel pica stick I use every day–all donated by veteran printers who were delighted to pass on their old equipment and know-how. I’ve spent many Saturdays in fumey and dim print shops, talking with old pressmen and marveling at old machines, but this was a peek behind-the-scenes of modern mass production. I’m happy to report that modern high tech printing still relies on wildly primitive materials and thoughtful, ink-splattered, human experts.

Identity, website, and print collateral for Joe’s award-winning debut furniture collection, including business cards, newsprint brochures and pricelists. He also gave me full freedom to write the copy and product descriptions, including his tagline: Manhandled by Joe Manus.

Part of what makes the new year so inspiring is all the tools, books and loot I received for Christmas! My family and friends are so supportive. Dairy Queen too– she closely observed my documentation this snowy morning.

Above is an old case of wood type that my sister found at an antiques market. The imprint says “Polytype,” and I’m not sure what that means. These cuts are different from other wood type I’ve collected. I think it’s part of some kind of kit?

Dad and Mama Gayle gave me Volume III of Atlanta and Environs, the bible of Atlanta history. Franklin Garrett’s Volumes I and II seem to be out of print, but I love a challenge. Penny gave me a small digital voice recorder (not pictured) for conducting interviews. I’ll need both for translating Stumptown ramblings into a MFA thesis this year.

Jason gave me the Pantone books and a Kindle saying he wanted to feed both sides of my creativity– digital and print. I seriously racked up.

And mom found 3 fonts of lead type for me, including a few packets of “mixed type.” In the printshop, this is called “pied type,” (like cream-pied, not pied-a-terre). I’ve heard it called purgatory pie, because you can spend eternity sorting it. Anyways, it’s a thing of beauty. I can’t wait to start using all my new toys in 2010!

Funny, the relationship I have with my clothes. And I don’t even consider myself “into” fashion. I love the labels in my thrift store treasures almost as much as the clothes themselves. But the labels are hidden and only I get to see their delicious typography… so I decided to scan and share them on Flickr.

Recently led the Communications Team at my church to develop a new logo, branded elements including veritaschurch.com, printed brochures and more. And we made the short promo video here.