judyisokay

Come and Make It: AIGA Austin Design Ranch

AIGA Austin's Design Ranch is just around the corner. The countdown has begun to April 18th. Grace Hall, Ranch Director and the rest of the folks heading things up are busy getting things spiffy for this sold out three-day event in the Texas Hill Country. This will be the 10th DR and it's sure to be memorable.

I'll be working the next two weekends finalizing materials for my workshop: "Rock. Paper. Stitches." My employer, Olmsted-Kirk - the oldest and rootinest, tootinest paper company in the great state of Texas is sponsoring my three workshops. Paper materials are being supplied by my fellow paper enthusiast and head honcho at Reich Paper, Mr. Duke Reich. The papers they make are beyond luxe. I am excited to be sharing them. We'll be utilizing the super thick-100% cotton, Savoy and the felty goodness of Odeon. You'll be drooling. Promise.

Beyond my workshops, I am looking forward to spending quality time with quality folks making things and kicking back. Here's just a few items on my DR to-do list.

• Meet Anna Bond from Rifle Paper
• Sit in the calm presence of Dana Tanamachi
• Eat a Dorito and Mayo sandwich with Geoff Peveto of Decoder Ring
• Letterpress with Dirk Fowler from F2design
• Sign paint with Paul Fucik and Joel Swec from Arts & Recreation
• Spend time with my girls: Kelly and Diana
• Eat some great Ranch grub! I am talking about that peach cobbler!

Yee-haw - Come and make it!

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Headed to the Ranch!

Seriously? More @ARTCRANK looky loo's

Here's the final look/see at ARTCRANK for today. Enjoy!

Grace Hall @gracedashhall
Silkscreen on Neenah, Classic Crest, Eggshell, Solar White, 100 Cover

Chris Wood
Letterpressed on Neenah, Crane's LETTRA, 100 % Cotton, Flourescent White, 110 Cover

Looky, Looky! More peeks of @ARTCRANK

Here it is! The second installment of ARTCRANK creations. Commence the coveting. And remember, these are just tiny peeks of the total poster goodness. Get to the event on Friday for the full frontal view.

Oen Micheal Hammonds @visualnotepad 
Silkscreened on French, Durotone, Butcher White, 100 Cover

Sean Carnegie @lewiscarnegie
Silkscreened on French, Speckletone, Kraft, 100 Cover

Ben Harman
Silkscreened on Neenah, Classic Crest, Eclipse Black, 100 Cover

Take a Sneak Peek @ARTCRANK ATX

ARTCRANK 2013 - ATX is pedaling in! The show opens this Friday, February 22 at Austin’s Pine Street Station, followed by an extended run at Mellow Johnny’s Bike Shop. As promised, throughout the day, I'll be sharing sneak peeks. I've included the artist, the paper and print process information. Here's the first installment of peeks from Roy Milton II and Lee Brenner.

More peeks throughout the day today! Stay tuned!


Roy Milton II @designforthought
Silkscreened on Olmsted-Kirk, Royal Sundance, Smooth, Eclipse Black, 100 Cover



Lee Brenner @leebert
Silkscreened on French Paper, Speckletone, Vellum, Starch White, 140 Cover

 

Oscar Morris @oscar_morris
Silkscreened on Domtar, Cougar, Smooth, White, 100 Cover

@ARTCRANK returns to ATX

It's back! That event at the intersection between bikes, making art and the poster. ARTCRANK creative director/curator, Charles Youel shared this pic of  last year's creations on display at Mellow Johnny's. It looks like this upcoming return event in Austin will be even better. It's been fun helping the artists with their paper selections. Take a look at the peeks I shared from last year. I'll have a sneak peek soon to get you rearing and ready to go. These new posters for the 2013 event are looking amazing.

ARTCRANK is sponsored by Widmer Brothers Brewing, ClifBar and one of my favorite paper mills -  Neenah Paper.  While at the event, you can purchase an ARTCRANK pint glass and enjoy a Widmer Brothers beer. Your purchase will benefit LIVESTRONG and the foundation's ongoing campaign to provide free cancer support services to help people cope with the financial, emotional and practical challenges that accompany the disease.

Sneak peek soon!

Hipstamatic Adds Multi Exposure Kit

This weekend the latest Hipstamatic 260 upgrade arrived. It comes with a slick multi exposure kit. You can now snap double, triple, even quadruple exposure photos. It's 99 cents and available in your Hipstamart within the app. I have begun experimenting with black and white with the kit. It's great to see how the different Hipstamatic gear of film and lens combos change with the exposures.  Additionally, with this upgrade, you get new views on your prints and stacks and the app supports portrait and landscape orientations. Plus, the flash switch has been retooled to be super easy. The flash stays on until you turn it off.  And included is a "Rock the Vote" film pack just in time for the election. I'll post some photos shortly.

Frankenweenie "Weird Girl" Kills it

So excited to tell you about the movie Frankenweenie that I took in this weekend with the kiddo. Filmed in stop action, black and white; it is the latest film from the peculair mind's eye of Tim Burton. It's gothic and dark and full of heart. The characters are beautifully crafted. My personal favorite is  "Weird Girl" .  Frankenweenie is the story of a boy and his dog - Victor and Sparky.  After Sparky meets an untimely death, Victor brings his beloved pet back to live in an electro-science experiment. Frankenweenie is an inspiring, artistic, masterpiece. It gives heavy nods to B movie horror flicks like Frankenstein, Godzilla and actor, Vincent Price.  I am now officially into a black & white trend. This movie will please younger audiences as well as older, gothier types.  I might have to see it again before Halloween. This time in 3D.

Movable Type Rubik's Cube

Wow! Check out this stamp cube featuring Chinese characters. Shaun Chung created it from a wooden 3oth anniversary rubik's cube. The characters are laser etched from wood and then affixed to the cube with Elmer's glue. Superbly gorgeous. Shaun's major is in fine arts with a concentration in printmaking. The first known movable type was in 1040 in China. Not bad considering in 105 AD, Cai Lun invented paper. A sincere thank you for that. The text of the characters on the cube teaches one to become a good person in society and written in triplets - perfect for the 3x3 of the rubik's cube. More at Stern Lab.

Is it Soup yet?

I was greeted by a super cool display of Campbell's Condensed Tomato Soup cans at Target this week. Color, color, color! Did you realize that it's been 50 years since Andy Warhol created his iconic imagery of the soup can? Campbell's and Target together have embraced their inner Warhol. Back in 1962 the soup company actually pondered legal action when they saw their product on his canvas. It didn't take long for them to realize how wonderful it was for the tomato soup's image and they sent him cases of his favorite food. Warhol said he ate a can of the soup each day. These four colorful, special edition cans are only 75 cents each. I bought a bunch and created a art installation in my kitchen.

Are you Crane's LETTRA or Reich SAVOY?

It's sorta the chocolate or vanilla thing - tomAto or tomatO - mustard or ketchup. When looking for a cushy, 100% cotton sheet to print on, folks - especially letterpress and designer folk, have a definite favorite. It's either Neenah, Crane's LETTRA or Reich's SAVOY. Whichever one you are, never fear, Olmsted-Kirk now stocks both! So if it's the soft linters of LETTRA or the subtle but crisp folding properties of SAVOY that you love - you're covered.

Both SAVOY and LETTRA can be used for a wide range of projects from greeting cards and invitations to hang tags and luxury packaging. Each of the sheets are offered in weights well over 200 Cover for great heft. LETTRA goes up to a 220 and SAVOY hits the roof with a 236. Though they both were originally designed for letterpress printing, they can also be offset and digitally printed beautifully.

Haven't made up your mind which one is right for you and your project? Let's break down each sheet for you. I personally love both equally for each of its unique attributes.

SAVOY

• Its strong formulation, yet soft flexibility allow for strikingly clean and crisp folding, blind embossing, foil stamping and engraving. And it gorgeous with standard four color / CMYK.
• SAVOY 80# Text and 92# Cover are certified for use on Kodak NexPress digital presses. SAVOY Brilliant White 118# Cover has been used successfully on many HP Indigo presses though not certified because it is too thick for certification. 
• SAVOY is tree free and made from 100% recovered cotton from the textile industry. It is archival, acid free, recyclable, biodegradable, and elemental chlorine free.
• Users who love SAVOY say its surface allows for crisper  ink jet printing or handwritten, ink calligraphy and it doesn't show the cotton linters when folding.

LETTRA

• Tough yet fluffy. LETTRA is unsized and uncalendared which leaves the fibers relatively uncompacted, giving the sheet an extra bulky feel.
• LETTRA has the feel of fabric and the look of hand made art paper. And while it is engineered to stand up to the great pressures of letterpress printing, it performs equally well with offset lithography; engraving; stamping; and inkless processes such as embossing, debossing, or die-cutting.
• LETTRA is made from cotton linters—a byproduct of the cotton industry that is recognized by the EPA as recovered fiber. Not only are these fibers environmentally responsible, they can be recycled with traditional paper.
• Users who love LETTRA say it feels like fabric and the envelopes are bulkier.