yesterday i celebrated my ahem "24th" birthday {sure... i wish, add a whopping 10 to that number!}  i have realized as the years pass, the lower key the celebration is, the more i like it!  gone are the days of dressing up to the t's and having a night out on the town.  instead, i spent the early part of the day working on files for photopolymer plates for some new designs and custom projects. the husband took a half day and gave me a break from my normal routine of juggling the kids and penelope's press.  then, the husband, children and i ate lobster {at red lobster, haha, let's keep it real}, put the kids to bed, and spent the remainder of the night on the couch catching up on dvr'ed episodes of our favorite shows.  i also treated myself to a birthday gift {the husband's gift to me is the new ipad, woot! i cannot wait for it to arrive} and finally splurged and bought some fonts that i've been pining over for some time now... here are a few that i purchased.. i cannot wait to use them on some designs that we're conjuring up here.  you can pick up some awesome fonts for yourself or a friend at myfonts.com  

{thank you lynda of greenstar creative for introducing me to "samantha"... love it!} 

well folks, i did it... i took a photo a day {with the exception of 4 days, because it was allowed} of a-z for the entire month of february.  here are my final 4 photos that i took.  {i'll let you know when the next class is so you can join in on the fun}

in case you've just started following the blog... i am participating in souvenir foto school and will be posting all of my photos.  

the assignment:  to shoot a photograph a day for 30 days, using the alphabet as your guide

my theme:  close up shots of print/book/paper related items

W for wood type

wood type from my collection placed on top of more wood type

X for xylograph

xylograph is an engraving on wood.  in collecting all of my letterpress paraphernalia these past few years, sometimes things just get thrown in because the seller wants to get rid of it.  these are the only engraved pieces in my collection.. an "s" and a really large percentage sign symbol.  engraved blocks differ than milled wood type because the engraving is done by hand... you can see the marks and nics left by the engraving tools {no, i did not know the word xylograph until this class} 

Y for yesteryear

i took this picture with my iphone and instagramed it because i am clueless on how to use filters or presets in photoshop and wanted to give it that sepia-ish look.

Z for zig zag

a zig zag border from my collection

here's my souvenir foto recap from the weekend...

in case you've just started following the blog... i am participating in souvenir foto school and will be posting all of my photos.  

the assignment:  to shoot a photograph a day for 30 days, using the alphabet as your guide

my theme:  close up shots of print/book/paper related items

T for tuscan floral type

i purchased this pretty and ornate set at the annual midwest and great northern printers fair this past year and cannot wait to print with it!

U for uppercase

just a few capital letters from my collection of type

V for  vandercook

so yah, snore.  i think this photo is so, so boring.  i took an unplanned nap on sunday which ran right into my evening plans so i literally assembled the paper model in the car on the way to our party and took this photo in the parking lot on top of the hood of our car as the sun was going down.  BUT, it did take care of my "V" word!

this is a tiny paper model of a vandercook proof press - a cylinder, flatbed press.  the vandercook is unlike the presses that i use regularly {i own platen presses w/ flywheels}.  the vandercook is like a porshe, range rover, bentley {what have you} of the letterpress world.  everyone wants one.  they cost an arm and a leg so this paper model is the closest i'm going to get to owning one, ha!  the paper model was in our tote bag of goodies from paul moxon at the ladies of letterpress conference i attended this past august.

{i should've placed something near it to show the scale of the model, the paper vandercook is a little longer than the length of your hand}

that's it for now folks.  only a few more days left of photo goodness.  have a productive {and creative} week!

only 7 letters left! 

R for redington counter

you can see a splash of yellow ink on the press {a blog post to follow}... wedding season has begun {for me}!  

S for spokes {on a flywheel}

this is the flywheel on my 8x12 old style chandler and price, circa 1903.

today, my younger brother asked me where my "klmnop" was?  confused, i said, "huh?".  he was referring to the photos that i am supposed to be taking for the alphabet challenge that i'm participating in.  i am in fact taking a photo-a-day, but not blogging everyday about it.  i thought i was perhaps boring people with posting them everyday.  my brother said he was expecting it everyday.  whoops.  perhaps you, my blog reader, are expecting it too?  here are my k-q images from the past couple of days... enjoy!

in case you've just started following the blog... i am participating in souvenir foto school and will be posting all of my photos.  

the assignment:  to shoot a photograph a day for 30 days, using the alphabet as your guide

my theme:  close up shots of print/book/paper related items

K for keys

these are keys taken from my "new", old underwood typewriter.  i love typewriters.  this was purchased last fall at the randolph street market. 

L for ligatures 

these are ligatures from my collection of 18pt goudy italic and caslon old style.  in case you don't know what a ligature is... back in the day, ligatures were formed when 2 or more letters were combined to form one character. 

M for monogram

i bought this cut this past fall at the l.a. printers fair.

N for nibs

O for off cuts

off cuts are the remnants/scraps of paper, fabric, wood, etc. of the main project/piece.

P for pantone color guide

the pantone color guide is a color matching system used in many industries.

and today...

Q for quoins

those metal rectangle type things are high speed quoins.  when the quoins are tightened, they expand and lock up your form {or hold a boxcar base} in your chase which is then placed inside the platen or on the bed of the press.