Category: Sneak Peeks

Teeing up

Process image of "Title IX Iron" Dead Feminist broadside by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

Jessica and I are releasing a new broadside in a week or so, and I thought I’d show you a snippet of what we’re working on. No, the broadside won’t be in black-and-white, but every design goes through a black-and-white phase before it goes on press in living color. It’s actually a good thing to do, even if it weren’t necessary to the production process: viewing a design in shades of grey is a lot like showing it to a pair of fresh eyes. Without color to distract me, I can look at the design objectively and make one last call to make sure it’s working as a whole. And besides, the color separations for the new piece are really, really complicated (as you’ll soon see). I’ve spent two days staring at this greyscale version of the design in Photoshop, checking and rechecking that I did it right and all the layers line up correctly. I don’t want Jessica to be in for any nasty surprises when this thing goes on press tomorrow.

Wish us luck! More soon.

Tabula rasa

Studio photo by Chandler O'Leary

Jessica and I are working on the next broadside right now—our process begins with choosing a quote and hammering out a rough concept, and then I do a bunch of thumbnail sketches to puzzle out the design. Usually, by the time I start lettering in pencil, I have a really clear picture in my head of what the finished product should look like. Even so—even 22 broadsides later—I’m still intimidated by the proverbial blank page. That’s why all those thumbnail sketches come in handy: they help illuminate the next step, and the next, and the next. And if I’m really lucky, I’ll be so wrapped up in blocking out the composition that I’ll forget to worry about whether or not the design will be any good.

Fingers crossed…time to start in.

Bit by Bit

Process photo of "The Veil of Knowledge" broadside by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

It’s that time again—Jessica and I are hard at work on the next broadside. Actually, we’ve been hard at work on this piece for months already. I think it’s safe to say that this piece has the most research and labor behind it than any we’ve done so far.

Process photo of "The Veil of Knowledge" broadside by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

There’s a lot at stake this time, and we want to get things right. And besides—as you can see, the piece is chock full of teeny tiny bits, and the registration is going to be tight. So we’re doubling down on the proofreading skills and triple-checking every detail.

Now the design is done, I just sent out the finished files for the plates, and we’ll be on press starting this week. More soon!

Process photo of "The Veil of Knowledge" broadside by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

Just our type

Process photo for "Veil of Knowledge" broadside by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

Jessica has our new broadside on press as I type this, lining up the colors and doing one last check for typos. But this week also holds another kind of “typo” for us, the kind we actually encourage: typophiles.

While our schedules prevent us from actually being there in person, I’m happy to announce that many of our broadsides will be exhibited this week as part of TypeCon 2014 in Washington, DC. Since it began in 1998, TypeCon has been a major gathering point for designers, typographers and letterers—as well as a nexus for typography as an art form. So we’re incredibly excited and honored to have our work featured among so many talented artists. So if you happen to be attending TypeCon this week, stop by the gallery and take a gander—and tell everyone hi for us!

Version 10.0

In-progress carving of "Park Place" steamroller print by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

Here we are: year ten. Since the time Jessica founded the Tacoma Wayzgoose all those years ago, it’s become one heckuva beast—and a veritable Tacoma institution.

So here are a few sneak peeks of the giant linoleum block she and I are carving—and we’ll reveal all on Sunday:

10th Annual Tacoma Wayzgoose
Sunday, April 27, 2014
11 am to 4 pm, Free!
King’s Books
218 St. Helens Avenue, Tacoma, WA

In-progress carving of "Park Place" steamroller print by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

If you’re new here and don’t know what a Wayzgoose is, or you just want to relive the glory days of old, here are links to all the Wayzgeese (gooses?) I’ve been a part of:

• 2009 (Tacoma)
• 2010 (Tacoma)
• 2011 (Tacoma)
• 2011 (San Francisco)
• 2013 (Tacoma)

Itching for more? Well, then, see you on Sunday!

Hand-lettered holidays

"Dome-inatrix" letterpress mini print by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

Even though it’s nearly as late as it could possibly be, here I am thinking, “Already?!?” But it’s true—even if you don’t do Black Friday (as you can probably guess, I’m partial to Small Business Saturday myself), today’s the “official” opener of the holiday season. And for perhaps the first time ever, we’re actually ready for it! (Well, mostly.)

We have some new additions to the shop to kick off the holidays—starting with a small letterpress keepsake version of the Birth of Venus steamroller print we did earlier this year.

Hand-bound, letterpress "Lemonade Journal" by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

And we’ve finally restocked our supply of mini letterpress journals (you folks cleaned us out last time we had them in the shop, and it took quite awhile to make and photograph more!). We call ’em “Lemonade Journals,” because we made them from the “lemons” that crop up during printing—misregistered prints and tiny flaws that otherwise would have ended up in the recycling bin. But with some cute stitching and fun colored paper on the inside, Jessica turned them into perfect little stocking stuffers.

Hand-bound, letterpress "Lemonade Journal" by Chandler O'Leary and Jessica Spring

Be sure to get your orders in early!  We’ll be shipping holiday orders daily until 4 pm PST on Tuesday, December 17 (when the shop will close for the holiday break).

In the meantime, I’m raising a virtual glass of eggnog to you: happy holidays!