Letterpress workshop
Thanks to my recent jump into the Twitter-verse (mostly for Eastman), I heard there was a letterpress workshop at the Genesee Center for the Arts and decided that I should take it. I mean, what good is feverishly reading all about typography (including a pretty nerdy piece on typography in the movies) if I don’t start with the beginning basics?
The workshop was supposed to be from 10AM-1PM, but we definitely went overtime. The instructor, Mitch, was very knowledgeable, patient, supportive, and perceptive. I definitely want to take more classes at the center – looking at pointed pen calligraphy next. Birthday present, anybody?
For this workshop, we were making a card, so I decided that it would be smart to make one for Adrian’s mom (since it’s her 50th and I can’t go to Costa Rica this week for her birthday party). I plotted a few ideas in my head before class and knew that I was thinking of centered justified text for the front, which turned out to be much harder when you only have pre-defined typefaces and sizes! No .5pt sizes like I have in Illustrator. Luckily, I found a really great Gothic font with just enough all-caps letters and a couple of 36pt ornaments to make the top line match the bottom two in width, so I set that for the front and a line in Helvetica for the back (just to let her know that, you know, I made it myself). We printed on a Vandercook No. 4 proof press with Pantone violet. The paper wasn’t super soft so it isn’t super debossed, but I’m happy with my final product!
And of course, pics or it didn’t happen:
iPhoneography: Lighter embed
I’ve been fascinated by the photos people shoot and edit on their phones, so here’s one I took of a lighter embedded in asphalt down in a VA hotel parking lot the morning after our wedding. No editing done.
Schools are actually closed in Rochester
I guess 18 inches of snow will do that.
Lake effect snow in Rochester [YouTube]
They really exist (at least in Asian supermarkets)
I hope you’ve heard of these before, or else you’re probably thinking I’m either very gross or very childish.
Happy 14th No. 25-52
ye olde Union Oyster House
I should explain – I’m not actually very good with “important dates” in relationships, but in the course of making fun of myself for it, we started remembering and sometimes doing something for our “special day”. Of course, I didn’t remember what day it was until after dinner, so all of our awesome adventures were just a coincidence, but it’s the thought that counts!
This particular 14th, we happened to be in Boston, and decided that it just wouldn’t be a trip to Boston without eating seafood, specifically from the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the U.S. – the Union Oyster House. It was Adrian’s first time having oysters and it was a good time, even if I can’t eat more than a few before getting totally freaked out. Despite Kathy’s warnings about terrible driving conditions in Boston, we had an easy trip and got a parking spot right in front of the place, from which I snapped that picture. Awesome.
We also went to the amazing Museum of Fine Arts, walked around the Faneuil Hall Marketplace, and did a little dining and shopping on Newbury Street. All this in addition to visiting my darling sister at Boston College. A successful trip, I’d say.
More to come later about our weekend jaunt. I promise.