52 Postcards | Week 20

FAIL.

I had high hopes for this postcard. I have been waiting to do it for awhile. I used to have a sticky note on my desk that said this. It is my Freelancer's mantra when I am lacking confidence. I wanted this postcard to be a better version of my sticky note. One that I could proudly share with the other freelancers, solopreneurs, makers, hustlers out there. 

I love cussing. It feels great. One part of this fail is that I went too small on the graphic. And why? Fear. Fear to go bigger with the "motherfuckers." I let the fear of the bad word take over. "If I make it smaller, it will be less offensive, and I don't want to offend anyone." So I am calling bullshit on my fear. When I let my fear take over, I stay small.

While the execution of the postcard is lacking, the takeaway is huge.

FAIL. FAIL OFTEN.

Materials:
Niji Carving Knives + Speedball carving tool
Easy-to-Cut Lino
Speedball red + magenta water-soluble ink
Strathmore Bristol vellum, 400 series, 2-ply

52 Postcards | Week 19

My mom requested I carve her a stamp of speech bubbles. She has been doing work in my kids' classroom on writing, one area where Montessori falls a bit short, in my opinion. She has been having the kids, the boys especially, writing comics. With W, drawing is much more favorable than writing so she has started them drawing a scene and then writing about it. Sneaky teachers.

I used a Yellow Owl Workshop double sided Carve-A-Stamp block. The rubber was a bit harder to carve. But it is such a fun option for carving your own stamps. This speech bubble would be super fun to use to customize gift shop postcards or stamp over photos you take on an adventure.

Materials:
Niji Carving Knives + Speedball carving tool
Carve-A-Stamp rubber stamp block, double sided
Really old black ink pad
Photos + cardstock

52 Postcards | Week 18

I have a seven year old boy at home right now. And nothing is funnier than poop, farts, and burps. (I'll admit, I'm a month shy of 40 and I still think poop, farts and burps are pretty funny too).

The other night we were talking and one of us said "full diaper." We laughed, and it was the first time Windham got the joke. He is right in that sweet spot where he is getting sarcasm, puns and the implied. We had a long discussion about why "full diaper" is funnier than "poop." We decided it would be a great band name and a great thing to put on a t-shirt. Later, he suggested I do it for my block print. I immediately told him that was the best idea ever. (see first paragraph.)

A few days later I asked W what he would say to someone who asked him what his shirt was all about. He paused and said "I would tell them to think about it for a minute." He thinks this is the greatest thing ever. I agree.

There will be t-shirts.

Materials:
Niji Carving Knives + Speedball carving tool
Moo Carve
Speedball black water-soluble ink
Strathmore Bristol paper, 300 series, 100lb. 270 g/m2

52 Postcards | Week 17

This is one of my favorite sayings these day: it's complicated. In fact, I can't think of much in life it doesn't apply to. I mixed a nice gray to really send home the point. The older I get, the more life situates me in a rainbow of grays. Black and white are for the youngsters.

I printed on Bristol which didn't take the ik as cleanly as I would have liked. I hope after 52 weeks of this I will learn some lessons. Right now I keep making the same mistakes. Although conceptually, complicated is messy and so this print is only better with its imperfections.

Not so great first prints.

Materials:
Speedball carving tool
Moo Carve
Speedball white +black water-soluble ink
Strathmore Bristol vellum, 400 series, 2-ply

52 Postcards | Week 16

After a brief hiatus, I am back. We will consider those two weeks of April as a hiccup, a stumble on the way to a new horizon.

I have new office space and have had to rethink my carving/printing space, mentally and physically. New windows, new sunlight, new systems.

I wanted to try a color blend and this design seemed to lend itself nicely to a bit of experimentation. It turned out to be much easier than I expected. The inks kept to themselves nicely. I let alignment go more than my usual perfectionism allows. I definitely want to try this again.

Materials:
Speedball carving tool
Moo Carve
Speedball blue + turquoise water-soluble ink
Strathmore Bristol vellum, 400 series, 2-ply

52 Postcards | Week 15

One of the many hats I am wearing these days is Creative Director for June Labs, an educational startup that brings educators and technology companies together. We are working on updating the imagery for our social media channels. I carved the logo and can use it both for postcards as well as printing the logomark onto orange sticky notes, the official analog tool of design thinking everywhere.

Printing the postcard was a bust. The orange cardstock was too smooth for the slippery white ink. I will print some more on white using orange ink to see if I get better results. The white on the stick notes however, looks awesome. Those will be arranged for a photo shoot later today.

Materials:
Niji Carving Knives + Speedball carving tool
Moo Carve
Speedball white water-soluble ink
Orange 65lb cardstock from Office Depot

52 Postcards | Week 14

This postcard design started from a drawing I did of an arrow. I loved the arrow but it didn't fit into my postcard requirements very well. So I chopped it up, moved the elements around and here we are. I enjoy the challenge that comes from having to design for the limitations of the size of the postcard or for the medium, Moo carve or linoleum.

I had a great conversation with a friend today about playing around with other variables too. One variable that seems to have the greatest influence on my weekly project is time. The busier I am in other parts of my life, the less experimentation I am able to do. Blerg.

Materials:
Niji Carving Knives
Moo Carve
Akua intaglio ink in van dyke brown
Strathmore Bristol paper, 300 series, 100lb. 270 g/m2

52 Postcards | Week 13

This was a quicky. It has been a long week. The success here is that I actually got some printing done. Small victories are still victories.

Spring has arrived early here in Portland, OR and the flowers are exploding. I spotted these lovely daffodils on a walk awhile ago and it seemed like the right time to carve and print.

Materials:
Niji Carving Knives + Speedball carving tool
Moo Carve
Speedball yellow, red and white water-soluble ink
Utrecht American Masters 100% Cotton - White, 90lb/250gsm, Acid Free