• Tater Tots, Kings Wine Bar, Letterpress, Deer John,

    Let’s talk about the kitchen in my first apartment: A room the size of an airplane galley* with the bonus feature of a countertop hinged to the wall. If that countertop was not in the lift and stow position (just like an airplane tray-table) it wasn’t possible to open the refrigerator or the oven.

    This was great incentive (for my roommate) to do the dishes. I preferred moving the dirty dishes to the living room. *I’ve peeked in an airplane galley – it’s usually hidden behind a curtain (that matches the drapes) – the flight attendant works mechanically, loading up that cumbersome cart to roll down the aisle.

    The delicacies that came out of that first apartment kitchen included (and were limited to) chicken pot-pies and tater tots. The crisper drawer in my refrigerator contained a large amount of an herb – but that was none of my business.

    Oh, but the tater tots!

    Straight from the freezer and onto my cast-iron skillet: washed down with an Old Milwaukee and a Camel Lights cigarette.*camel-lights-34110Whew! Did I mention I had 18 by the balls? ALSO, if I had a hankering for ribs OR pizza, I only had to walk down the stairs. That’s right, the one and only Ribizza fulfilled that strange combination requirement for Uptown, Minneapolis.

    Exactly five minutes West of my house is Kings Wine Bar - a newish (rhymes with Jewish) little neighborhood restaurant. They serve tater tots but with sauces far fancier than ketchup.  I was there last night and there didn’t seem to be any Old Milwaukee or Camel cigarettes on the menu but somehow, after we ate our tater tots, our table was magically covered with candy.

    This doesn’t have anything to do with the card I wrote/designed last night. Or does it?Deer-John-June-13

    June 13, 2010
  • Letterpress in Minneapolis

    Sunday: The Corpus Christi procession brought oodles of the Devout through Loring Park – all busses were rerouted and the Minneapolis Police department was on high alert for any shenanigans. Still, I couldn’t help but feel a little emotional as the church bell solemnly rang out and I watched Barb perform CPR on my husband.

    Tuesday: Our new intern (Andrea Sanow) showed up with the enthusiasm of a 22 year old girl. We love her – and we’re not just saying that because she reads the blog and is, like, the strangest mix of a Type A Personality and totally laid back. What?! It’s true. Thanks to her, I got so much done: Here are the Room & Board prints in color:

    room-and-board-in-color-on-piano

     

    June 9, 2010
  • Black ink can be so nice

    It’s unofficially Summer around here and to celebrate I’m going to make some more prints for Room & Board. People always ask me (no, they don’t) if I feel lonely or maybe a little afraid working out in the studio/shop/time warp at night. But how could I feel lonely or afraid out there when I have all of those cabinets of cold, lead type and Mark Wheat‘s voice coming from the plastic radio?

    newest-room-board-print-450x440

    June 2, 2010
  • More letterpress for Room & Board??!

    I hit my head on the asphalt yesterday and when I snapped out of that familiar concussive daze, I thought to myself: Again? And: That wasn’t as bad as running into the tree. Or the windshield. Or the Christmas tree-stand. Or the windshield. 

    Walking my bicycle and openly weeping, I made it home just in time to work on the new Room & Board project:

    r-and-b-4-450x439 r-and-b-3-450x439 r-and-b-2-450x439 r-and-b-1-450x439r-and-b-layout-450x439

    Thanks MADGE for introducing me to the Polaroid app for my iPhone!!

    May 27, 2010
  • A Typical Day for Zeichen Press (Minneapolis Design and Letterpress Studio At Large)

    “Yeah, you should wear the wig.”

    May 22, 2010
  • Achieving perfect balance

    People always ask me, “Fran, how do you balance everything so well?? Zeichen Press, kids, marriage, hypochondria, facebook, animal-taming, daydreaming – It doesn’t even seem possible!” I wish I had some fluffy (Oprah-approved) secret to share but it’s really much more simple: Evil twin. What?! Yes. You’d be surprised by how many people actually have evil twins.

    This has been a regular rat king of a week: The big Tanek party is tomorrow and Jen and I have been planning the whole thing – From venue to letterpress printed coaster to life-jackets. One of my favorite things is the Tanek 10 Year CD - a music mix and letterpress printed sleeve/party favor/door prize. My playlist skills were honed as a teenager – hour after hour spent with the dual cassette player… see, mom?? I told you it was more important than algebra.

    Tanek 10 Year Party CD Sleeve
    Tanek 10 Year Party CD Sleeve

     

    Tanek 10 Year Party CD Sleeve

    As soon as this party is done I can get rid of that mannequin.

    lucy-and-other-mother

    May 19, 2010
←Previous Page
1 … 57 58 59 60 61 … 79
Next Page→
  • COLOR ME IMPRESSED!

    Do you need ANOTHER thing to do this Holiday Season?

    YES, PLEASE.

    How about a COLORING CONTEST??

    But, Fran, how could I possibly fit this into my busy schedule??

    THAT’S EASY BECAUSE WE BROKE IT DOWN INTO STEPS!
    ~ Step 1: print this picture
    ~ Step 2: color the picture like your life depends on it
    ~ Step 3: take a photo of your colored masterpiece with your super smartphone OR scan
    ~ Step 4: send to info@zeichenpress.com ~ or snailmail to us
    Zeichen Press will choose the winner AND and that person will receive free cards!!! 

    color-mezeichen-press

    HAPPY HOLIDAYS!

    December 8, 2016
  • We want to be more than just friends with: i like you too

    i like you too -> 416 Snelling South Saint Paul, Minnesota 55105

    ANOTHER profile in that special series dedicated to bringing our readers biased reviews of shops that carry our goods.

    The gals  sarah-angela-i-like-you

    knew it wasn’t right to deprive the good people of St. Paul all of that hand-crafted goodness for one more minute. After all, they are THE purveyors of one-of-a-kind-locally-made-gifts.

    They remind me of me and Jen except Jen has way more tattoos and piercings. Some day you’ll be as cool as us, ladies. SOME DAY.

    They transformed i-like-you-too-paintinga blank canvas on Snellingne-i-like-you-too-space

    into something WORTHY ENOUGH to carry Zeichen Press cards.cards-at-i-like-you-too 

    And they have other cute stuff too. Or whatever.

    PS:

    color-i-like-like-you-new-card

    November 28, 2016
  • Custom Customer & Choirs of Angels

    Now that my fireplace is ready for Winter,fire-fall-2016

    Jen can finally print Holiday cards for our favorite custom customer.akustiks-chase-lock-up Akustiks is a fancy company of acousticians who design the architectural acoustics for theaters and concert halls.must-enjoy-winter-for-akustics

    And, correct me if I’m wrong, but a group of acousticians were actually hired by God to assure the residents of Bethlehem that His choir of angels sounded better than some music pouring out of the earbuds crammed in my earholes.

    Despite my lo-fi circumstances, I created a new card. Only 38 shopping days till Christmas!

    hark4

     

    November 18, 2016
  • House Calls

    Sometimes your web developerkelly-living-room-cropped

    has to come over and gnaw on bricks (gluten-free scones) and discuss dogs wearing sweaters so your mobile site can function properly.

    TECHNOLOGY.

    And Jen loves meetings because she’s a social butterfly jen-living-room

    and craves attention. Oh, Jen! When will it be enough??

    November 14, 2016
  • My Heart(h) Will Go On

    As my eyeball filled with blood,bloody-eyeball

    I thought to myself, “should I have someone redo my hearth,

    or stop working on our 2017 catalog?”

    2017-catalog-on-couch

    I decided to both because I’m an over-achiever.

    AND THEN I wrote a card

    winter-brought-back-2

    because it’s cheaper than therapy.

     

    November 10, 2016
  • Poop Sandwich vs. Soup

    top-of-mailchimp-blastI'm sorry life handed you that poop sandwich when you obviously ordered the soup.body-of-mailchimp-blastxo-mailchimp-blast

    November 3, 2016
  • Hello!

    October 26, 2016
  • Always happy, never mad.

    October 26, 2016
  • Loretta “Daredevil” Shea

    October 26, 2016
  • Behind The Scenes

    October 26, 2016
1 2 3 … 48
Next Page→

Notifications