An upcoming feature in Ottawa Woman magazine

Wow! What a lovely, and completely unexpected email did I receive the other day. Lynn Griffiths was one of those kind shoppers that came by my booth last Saturday at the Gowling Christmas Craft Show. She showered my work with compliments and bought some of my Christmas cards and gift tags printed on wood veneer. I recall having a brief chat with her about letterpress printing and my shop. But little did I know that she would write an article about the local craft shows and that she would mention me and my shop in it!

As it came out, Lynn is a columnist at the Ottawa Woman magazine, a monthly publication that celebrates the achievements of women in the community. The article will be published in a week or so and I simply can't wait to get my hands on a printed copy. 

I am so ecstatic about this and it is so wonderful and gratifying to hear about the positive reaction Lynn had to my work. Thank you! 

Image credit: www.ottawa-woman.com

Gowling Christmas Craft Show

I participated in my first ever craft show this past Saturday, November 15, 2014! The Gowling Christmas Craft Show took place at a local elementary school in Ottawa's west end and generated a good crowd of shoppers. impressus received many positive comments, which was wonderful to hear after many weekends spent preparing for this show. Shoppers admired the streamlined design and simplicity of my paper goods and were very impressed (no pun intended :) with the process of letterpress printing once explained. The wood veneer gift tags were very popular as well! 

Here are few photos of my booth:

In overall, it was a very positive experience and a good first impression when it comes to exhibiting my work at these types of community events. I made new friends and established few potential business relationships and really enjoyed the support offered by fellow vendors. There was a lot of talent in the room and I'm very proud of having been a part of this show. I sure hope to be back next year!

Close up and personal

I finally got a hold of a fancy professional camera and snapped few close up photos of my beautiful antique printing press. Here is the Golding Pearl Improved No.11 and all of her charming nooks and crannies. 

This is the original Golding Pearl decal on the side of the press. 

And given all the recent prep work for the upcoming (and my first!) Christmas Craft Show, I couldn't resist posting few photos of printing with red ink. Quite something, isn't it? 

Christmas craft show coming up!

It has been a while since my last post. Things have been busy!

I have been printing lots though in preparation for my first ever craft show. I'm quite excited! On November 15th, I will be at the Gowling Christmas and Holiday Craft Show and I will be selling hand-printed Christmas greeting cards, gift tags, gift bags and boxes; all beautifully printed on my lovely Golding Pearl Improved No.11.

If you are in the Ottawa area, please make sure to stop by. There will be over 50 vendors displaying and selling their wonderful creations at the show. I can't wait!

Let the countdown begin. 

And then there was a Pearl...

I'm long overdue for this post. Life has gotten so busy! But tonight, as I walked into my studio (which I humbly call an art room), and yet again surprised myself seeing my beautiful Pearl standing in the corner, I thought to myself, it's about time to write all about how she ended up in our house.

I'm so proud to introduce my Golding Pearl Improved No.11:

Back in April I wrote all about my quest for a letterpress; different presses I was considering and things I ended up learning along the way. I mentioned back then Don Black Linecasting, the one and only supplier (to my knowledge) of letterpress equipment in Canada. Shortly after that post, I ended up placing a hold (along with a deposit) on a 5 x 7.5 tabletop Sigwalt press at Don Black's, however due to further research and stumbling upon John Falstrom of Perennial Designs and his amazing Golding presses, I ended up changing my mind about the Sigwalt. It just so happened though that Don Black had one 7 x 11 Godling Pearl in stock, fully refurbished and ready for pick up. In order not to lose my deposit, I had to act fast and make my decision quickly. It wasn't an easy one, I struggled so much thinking about the expense and all the other things that should take precedence. But I ended up listening to my heart (and my husband) and pulled the trigger on the purchase. How amazingly exciting!

On the weekend of June 7, my husband and I drove to Toronto to pick up the press. A short visit with family ended with us stopping at Don Black's shop on the morning of June 9 and loading the press onto the back of our pick-up truck.

And then we drove back to Ottawa with the press (all 700 lbs of it) sitting nicely (and securely) in the back of the truck.

We made it back safely, but little did we know that the real challenge was still ahead of us. Getting the press off the truck, into the house, and up a steep flight of stairs proved more difficult than anticipated. Luckily, we were able to detach the flywheel and the top of the press from its base.
This is how we kept all of all the screws in order to put the press back together!

The top part posed the biggest challenge though, weighing at about 500 lbs. In the end, it took three strong man, an appliance dolly, and a lot of muscle and sweat to get the press into the house and up the stairs onto the second floor (where the infamous art room is located).

You could never have guessed what a challenge it was by looking at her now tucked away in the corner of the room. 

I'm still in total disbelief that she is finally here! After daydreaming about a press for almost a year, I can finally call myself an aspiring letterpress printer and a proud owner of this beautiful Golding Pearl.

Sometimes dreams do come true...

Such a phenomenal woman

Today the world lost an amazing poet and activist, Maya Angelou. I'm so saddened by this news. I have loved Maya's poem for a long time now and "Phenomenal Woman" is one of my favourite poems of all time. Such simple words expressing so much courage and strength. Such an empowering message!  I know Maya had to overcome so much pain, disappointment and adversity in her life. She was one phenomenal woman and she will be missed dearly. She was also one of my personal heroes.

I can't remember when exactly I came across this quote, but I remember cherishing it dearly because it reminded me to be strong during those difficult times of transition and change:

“We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty.

- Maya Angelou - ”

RIP Maya.

Practice makes perfect

This past weekend I decided to take some time to practice photographing my cards and staging little vignettes. The inspiration actually came from two types of my favourite May flowers - lilacs and lily of the valley! Ahhh that captivating smell! I still can't decide which one I like better so I decided to go with both.

And then I simply played around with the placement of the cards (product of the letterpress workshop I took back in March) and the decorative pieces. Here are some shots.

Now, the goal is to actually get a professional camera...I mean, something a bit more powerful than my phone camera. On the flip side, it is impressive that these were taken with an Android, wouldn't you agree?