Category: World Dominance

  • Here’s the part about salvaging letterpress equipment:

    People (my mom) always (whenever she feigns interest) ask me, “where do you get this stuff?” Type, cabinets, printer’s cuts, ink, chases, quoins, sticks, cutters, furniture, leads, slugs, tympan, rollers… letterpress takes up a lot more space than this tidy little laptop. I wonder if that’s one of the reasons people stopped using it? I doubt it.

    Jen and I both agreed that our favorite salvaging-situation involved a compulsive hoarder with a murder/torture-pit (alleged) in his basement. This house had it all; two commercial espresso machines:

    nera-new-2-group-rails-small-180x121nera-new-2-group-rails-small-180x121

    two Kluge Printing Presses:

    kluge-butner

    (just in case you’re wondering: TWO Kluge Printing presses are massive and would look like this if not covered in books, dvd’s, televisions, kleenex boxes, grocery bags, magazines and mail):

    SONY DSC

    a family-style restaurant booth: (this suspiciously barricaded the basement door)

    restaurant-booth-300x224

    dozens of old computers: (so sentimental)old_computer

     

    “stackable” type cabinets: (we took these)

    type-cabinets-butner-basement

    and this:

    galley-butner-basement

    and this:

    wood-type-butner-basement

    Oh, here’s a fun game:

    Can you find the treasure in this photographic vignette?:

    letterpress-library

    How about here?:pixelated-face-450x600don-butner

    °°°°

    Oh, well. Enough of the sweet, sweet memories. Here’s part of our latest salvage:cabinet-of-wood-type western-wood-type condensed-wood-type

  • Potato-Guns and Make Magazine

    The other day, I needed to learn how to make a potato gun. It doesn’t matter why. Anyway, I made my way to the MAKE Magazine blog - If you haven’t been – I don’t know what to say. It’s not like we can’t be friends. It will just never be more than that.

    So, they are doing this Maker Business Series and I thought, “hey, I make things… I own a business…” The potato gun would just have to wait. Sorry Edmund. …I sent an e-mail to someone named Gareth (Jen keeps referring to Gareth as “her” – I don’t have the heart to correct her) and told him about Zeichen Press – he responded and then it turned into an interview and… Go read it!!

  • A whirly-what??

    A whirly-who?

    A metalsmithing kineticist/teacher  needed a business card and we made him this:

    whirligi-business-card-whol2-450x337 whirligig-business-card-450x337

  • As we descend into the bowels of that beast called Winter

    It is February 1.

    If anyone is left please contact me. I have locked myself in the furnace room and my rations are dwindling. I am eating Panko Japanese Style Breading with a dirty popsicle stick and telling myself it’s Lik-A-Stix. Mmmmm, Lik-A-Stix…

    Somehow, I was able to make this card:sup-dawg-450x577

  • Je m’appelle Françoise

    If I were getting married I would design and letterpress print my own invitation.

    What am I saying?? No, I wouldn’t. I don’t even send out the Christmas cards that I design and letterpress print. WHAT??!! I know. This is a blog post and a confession.

    Anyway, Minnesota Bride included  one of our wedding invitations in a nice little spread they called ”Vintage in Vogue.”

    See?

    minnesota-bride-logo-450x173mn-bride

    2. Inspired by the couple’s romantic first meeting in the city of love, designer Fran Shea blended imagery from Paris with a vintage postcard theme to create a classic yet distinctive invite. Using letterpress printing and a unique accordion layout, this design evokes an aura of chic French elegance. Zeichen Press, 612.432.1943, zeichenpress.com

  • A roomful of Letterpress printers

    It was everything I imagined. Except better, because of the chicken shots. Yum! 

    Mary Bruno organized the event in honor of Amos Kennedy’s timely arrival. As far as I could tell, Amos is not related to THE Kennedy family. There were certain clues, like: He did not share that distinctive/made up accent or that glamorous head of hair. Also, he is black.

    Anyway, Amos was there and we hugged like old friends. There was much talk, naturally, of printing presses. Mary Bruno ended up breaking a beer bottle and using it as a weapon – apparently her “street cred” was at stake. Boy was I glad to get out of there with only minor injuries. I wish I could say the same for Jen. Please send flowers and meals to our headquarters.

    zeichen-press-hq

    Two St. Paul printers showed up : Fred Petters of Vandalia Street Press and Bill Moran of Blinc PublishingBill was nice. Fred ate off of other people’s plates. I could go on and on but why should I when I have this amazing photograph that perfectly captured the evening?

    half-of-titus-mary-and-amos-450x337

  • And this is where Fran and Jen learn to use their new Heidelberg

    Oh, the joy of leaning over a giant machine that has the potential to crush my hands and create such beauty!

    I think I felt joy. Or panic? In any case, I felt some sort of feeling while leaning over the New Press. Karl (the previous owner) had explained, really clearly, the 1,000 things to know – why couldn’t I remember them?? Knobs, pulls, blades, grippers, clutch levers, friskets, sucker bars, rollers, toggles, gears, pins, springs… they all seemed to get tangled up in my mind.

    Oh, so tangled!

    Just like a rat king.rat-king

    That’s what happens when the tail of one thought gets covered in feces and the tail of another thought gets stuck to it… and the tail of another thought gets stuck to the other thoughts. It’s all very messy and usually ends up in some Dutch chimney.

    Anyway, here’s a snippet of our lesson:

  • Vintage Indie

    This is Gabreial Wyatt —>

    gabriel-wyatt

    I think we would totally have been friends in high school. She would have called us “top-secret friends”. I was told (by my “top-secret friends”) that “top-secret friends” are better than regular friends. Sure, they don’t go anywhere in public with you, or sit next to you at lunch, or acknowledge your presence – but, that doesn’t mean anything.

    Gabreial keeps a blog about all things vintage AND indie. She interviewed me because we are such good “top-secret friends”.

    Bless her heart.

  • -33° in Brainerd

    That’s where I am. Will I ever be able to get back to Minneapolis? Stay tuned.

    And, just because I’m a little obsessed with the weather, I gathered some very important figures. - Record low temperatures in The United States of America:

    State Temp. Date Station Elevation
    Alabama -27 Jan. 30, 1966 New Market 760
    Alaska -80 Jan. 23, 1971 Prospect Creek 1,100
    Arizona -40 Jan.  7, 1971 Hawley Lake 8,180
    Arkansas -29 Feb. 13, 1905 Pond 1,250
    California -45 Jan. 20, 1937 Boca 5,532
    Colorado -61 Feb.  1, 1985 Maybell 5,920
    Connecticut -32 Feb. 16, 1943 Falls Village 585
    Delaware -17 Jan. 17, 1893 Millsboro 20
    Florida – 2 Feb. 13, 1899 Tallahassee 193
    Georgia -17 Jan. 27, 1940 Mauna Kea 13,770
    Idaho -60 Jan. 18, 1943 Island Park Dam 6,285
    Illinois -36 Jan.  5, 1999 Congerville 722
    Indiana -36 Jan. 19, 1994 New Whiteland 785
    Iowa -47 Feb.  3, 1996* Elkader 770
    Kansas -40 Feb. 13, 1905 Lebanon 1,812
    Kentucky -37 Jan. 19, 1994 Shelbyville 730
    Louisiana -16 Feb. 13, 1899 Minden 194
    Maine -48 Jan. 19, 1925 Van Buren 458
    Maryland -40 Jan. 13, 1912 Oakland 2,461
    Massachusetts -35 Jan. 12, 1981 Chester 640
    Michigan -51 Feb.  9, 1934 Vanderbilt 785
    Minnesota -60 Feb.  2, 1996 Tower 1,430
    Mississippi -19 Jan. 30, 1966 Corinth 420
    Missouri -40 Feb. 13, 1905 Warsaw 700
    Montana -70 Jan. 20, 1954 Rogers Pass 5,470
    Nebraska -47 Feb. 12, 1899 Camp Clarke 3,700
    Nevada -50 Jan.  8, 1937 San Jacinto 5,200
    New Hampshire -47 Jan. 29, 1934 Mt. Washington 6,288
    New Jersey -34 Jan.  5, 1904 River Vale 70
    New Mexico -50 Feb.  1, 1951 Gavilan 7,350
    New York -52 Feb. 18, 1979* Old Forge 1,720
    North Carolina -34 Jan. 21, 1985 Mt. Mitchell 6,525
    North Dakota -60 Feb. 15, 1936 Parshall 1,929
    Ohio -39 Feb. 10, 1899 Milligan 800
    Oklahoma -27 Jan. 18, 1930 Watts 958
    Oregon -54 Feb. 10, 1933* Seneca 4,700
    Pennsylvania -42 Jan.  5, 1904 Smethport est. 1,500
    Rhode Island -25 Feb.  5, 1996 Greene 425
    South Carolina -19 Jan. 21, 1985 Caesars Head 3,100
    South Dakota -58 Feb. 17, 1936 McIntosh 2,277
    Tennessee -32 Dec. 30, 1917 Mountain City 2,471
    Texas -23 Feb.  8, 1933* Seminole 3,275
    Utah -69 Feb.  1, 1985 Peter’s Sink 8,092
    Vermont -50 Dec. 30, 1933 Bloomfield 915
    Virginia -30 Jan. 22, 1985 Mountain Lake 3,870
    Washington -48 Dec. 30, 1968 Mazama 2,120
    West Virginia -37 Dec. 30, 1917 Lewisburg 2,200
    Wisconsin -55 Feb.4,   1996 Couderay 1,300
    Wyoming -66 Feb.  9, 1933 Riverside 6,650

    AND before we start killing and eating each other, we are entertaining ourselves by throwing boiling water into the cold air.

    rob-turns-water-to-steam