Painted Tongue Studios
New Workshops - May 2009
Letterpress on the Vandercook: Suitable for beginning to intermediate students, this covers design for letterpress using InDesign and Photoshop, creating film files, making photopolymer plates, using the guillotine to cut paper, printing on the Vandercook and bindings and assemblies. Focus is on photopolymer, rather than hand set, letterpress. Students may come to class with their own project in mind, be it invitations, cards, broadsides, or a simple book. Or, students may come just to learn the craft, and the instuctors will guide them through project choices and development. Taught by ...<< MORE >>
Letterpress Printing in Hard Times
Recently we had a little fun with a Bailout business card promotion and we did make a little money with our fun and learned a few things, as well.
This economic crisis we are in, however, is no fun.
It is serious and though one can always << MORE >>
Business Card Bailout
Click Here to see our six stylish designs
and colors to choose from.
Wow your friends and make a memorable impression on your
customers, clients, or future employers.
Painted Tongue Press Floats its own Bailout Proposal!!! 100 Letterpressed Business Cards for only $700,000,000,000!
Just kidding about the $700 Billion. Actually, it's only $70!!
Jump start your economy with our business and personal calling card selection! Check out our economic stimulus designs at the above link. Together we can get our economy rolling again! Call now to order yours: 510-593-4221.
In the News
We've been remiss on sharing some of our publicity this year. Here are some items that went into print:
We made "Best of the East Bay!"
In the East Bay Express, we are the "BEST PLACE TO ARGUE OVER WHETHER SAVE-THE-DATE CARDS ARE REALLY NECESSARY" Click here to read the article (published Summer 2008):
Kim Vanderheiden was quoted in the Washington Blade
Follow this link to read the article, "California Wedding Industry Enjoying Upswing Despite Prop 8's Unknown Fate." (published September 2008): http://www.washingtonblade.com/2008/9-19/arts/feature/13298.cfm
My First Letterpress Project
One of the perks to being an apprentice at the Painted Tongue Press is being able to work on personal projects under the guidance of experienced mentors. During Sunday workshops I have started working on my first personal project, a holiday card. The process begins with<< MORE >>
The Heidelberg
I had one of those weeks
on the Heidelberg—
the kind that can only happen
two or three or more years in,
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First Time Heidelberg User
When I first saw a Heidelberg Windmill operate, all I could think was, "Wow, that's LOUD." Whenever the press was turned off, a collective sigh of relief would escape from everyone in the studio. No more whooshing arms or pumping pistons, just sweet quiet. So you can imagine the "crap" that involuntarily echoed in my head when I heard I was to print on this machine. "The scalper", as I now fondly call it, was to be my next lesson in humility.
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A New Apprentice in the Shop
For most of us, the first day in any new environment, be ita job, classroom, or even a store, is usually filled with anxiety andcuriosity. My first day as a letterpress apprentice featured only the latter. Ileft all presumptions at the door as I walked into the Painted Tongue Press’sstudio space. Between the art and paper sculptures covering the walls andceiling and the colorful drawers and cabinets scattered throughout, I knew thiswasn’t any ordinary letterpress studio. After quick morning meeting with Kimand Liz, I got right to work. I already had some experience with the Vandercookpress so I familiarized ...<< MORE >>
From the Printer Poet
Mary Oliver says,
"Someone I loved once gave me / a box full of darkness. / It took me years to understand, / this, too, was a gift."
"The uses of sorrow," Mary Oliver
I know exactly what she means. Darkness, the kind she’s talking about, is there, along with the light, as surely as night follows day. Wendell Berry says the same thing, in his way,<< MORE >>
Restoring an Antique Paper Cutter
How wonderful it is to have a sharp paper cutter that cuts paper without chewing or tearing it! We have this antique wood and iron Ingento paper cutter which had served the studio wonderfully for a number of years, but had been set aside, in disrepair for over a year. I offered to take<< MORE >>