Olive-Route

New lace goodies on Etsy!

2012-02-28T13:08:00.000-08:00

Thanks Courtney of French Country Cottage for posting about us on your blog! She's hosting a giveaway for our new set of paper goods on Etsy. These lace inspired cards and mini notebooks are just in time for spring!

Ashley + Ben save the dates

2012-02-19T19:05:00.000-08:00

It's a nice break for me when a client comes in with their own design. This way, I get to sit back a bit and focus on the printing. Ben is an architecture student and was planning on laser cutting their save-the-dates himself on a piece of wood. Super cool. I love mixing wood with paper...

They just needed me to letterpress the enclosure and envelopes and to consult with them on production. It was very thoughtful of them to send me a complete set, I love how it all came together. Great job!

Cavallo wedding #2

2012-01-31T22:11:00.000-08:00

Finished these Save-the-dates for another Cavallo wedding this time in August. Vintage/Americana themed paper goodness with a folded map and custom pattern inside. Lovely calligraphy in gold by Neither Snow with an assortment of vintage stamps collected by the bride.

Envelopes were hand-made, just folded text weight navy paper, glued the seam in the middle and ran one side through a sewing machine. We closed by folding the other end and sealed with custom letterpressed address labels.

We came across this envelope addressed to the White House while assembling. Apparently if you send the president an invite you will receive an official congratulatory letter. How fun, right? The bride and groom have a great sense of humor. I love this notion :)

Will be walking these up the street to the post office tomorrow. After spending so much time designing and crafting a set like this, letting them go is always so bitter-sweet. But the idea that people will be receiving these lovelies in the mail always makes me smile. So all the hard work is always worth it.

Cavallo wedding #1

2012-01-31T21:49:00.000-08:00

Just delivered this Japanese-inspired wedding suite for clients Rachel and Blake who are getting married at Cavallo Point this spring. When we first met a couple of months ago the gingko trees just started to shed their pretty leaves and the image resonated with me. This design is organic from it's conception to final product. Love it when things just happen naturally :)

Stitching by Mira Aster -- Anne's attention to detail is exquisite.

envelopes were individually hand stamped

These were my setups, trying to get the yellow just right. The top ones were too dark for the job but I still really love the copper color base.

belly band with their monogram double "SS" that created a heart shape. cute.

Occupy Shop!

2012-01-20T12:58:00.000-08:00

My good friend Camille (who used to intern here and is on my speed-dial of go-to people when I'm in a bind) came in this week to print signs for Occupy Wall Street.

Protest event info can be found here. (brave the rain if you must!)

Cam's posters were inspired by: Marie Antoinette. Cake. Revolution. (she's too awesome)

And was listening to this song while printing: http://youtu.be/auzfTPp4moA (and she's also a badass)

On Style Me Pretty today

2012-01-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Edyta & Kaella for putting this inspired photoshoot together. All the vendors did an awesome job make sure to check them out here. Thanks SMP!

(part 5): Printing lace

2012-01-18T00:08:00.000-08:00

One of my goals this year for the shop is to produce more goods to sell online on my Etsy shop. I think this would be a fun way to explore creating things I haven't yet found the right custom project for. So why not make it for myself?

Julia and I were brainstorming one day and were inspired by lace. She remembered seeing a friend print it before so we decided to re-visit and try for ourselves. So with a bit of lace, a lino block, some hot glue, and a couple of hours later on press, we made ourselves a collection of notecards and mini-notebooks!

Products coming soon on my Etsy store, stay tuned!

(part 4): Vintage paper fair

2012-01-17T23:52:00.000-08:00

For all you paper geeks out there, this antique fair cannot be missed. You need to make sure to eat before hand, stay hydrated and don't be in a rush. It takes time to dig through piles and piles of paper ephemera but trust me it's SO worth it. I hit a wall after 3 hours of sifting and was a walking zombie afterward-- definitely need to up my game still. Here are pics of some of my loot.

(part 3): LA bound!

2012-01-17T23:40:00.000-08:00

I'm realizing that even when things are busy at work, it's really important to take mini-breaks to recharge your batteries. This sounds like a New Year's resolution doesn't it? I think I will add this to my list :)

Some quick faves from the trip: shops at Silver Lake, home-style Korean food, Gjelina at Abbot Kinney, drinks at the Viceroy and Bruno Mars ;)

(part 2): Hannah's tea party

2012-01-17T23:29:00.000-08:00

My good friend Hannah hosted a ladies tea party at her house this past weekend and I was completely impressed with her spread. Actually Hannah hosts the best parties and I make sure to not miss any of them. Look at all this goodness!

Max even dressed up for the occasion :)

First 2 weeks (part 1): Colophon Club meeting

2012-01-17T23:20:00.000-08:00

To say the least it's been a busy January so far and we've only hit the half-way mark. I wonder if this is a preview of how 2012 will be? If so, I'm ready for more fun things so bring it on :)

In no particular order, here's my first post from our first Colophon Club meeting of the year. This club is a collection of printers, book collectors, artisans, people of the trade and friends of. We meet once a month at The Berkeley City Club to talk shop, have a few drinks and enjoy each other's company over dinner and a guest lecture. Fun times...

Happy New Year!

2011-12-31T15:28:00.000-08:00

It's been an amazing year at Olive-Route, thank you for your continued support. I'm looking forward to the new year, more fun projects ahead that I'm eager to share. I'll be launching a new website and blog format soon, ready to shed the old and bring in the new.

I'm going into the new year with renewed spirits, fired up by my birth animal The Dragon, I'm hoping 2012 will bring good things to all of us. Here's to health, hope, and happiness.

Cheers! Olivia

Play time!

2011-12-30T18:25:00.000-08:00

My cousin Paula and my 2 nieces Izzy and Emma spent the day at the shop this week to play with the presses. So fun...I gave the girls a lesson in printing, color and composition, and the value of making things with your own hands. They came away with quite a stack of printed goods to show off to their dad! They were busy little bees :)

Here's Emma cranking on the Vandercook.

and Isabela on the feed...

They picked their own letters and plates from our collection at the shop.

And voila! Look at all their loot. Impressive, right?

My Pinboard: No. 6

2011-12-06T23:29:00.000-08:00

Looking to give my shop a mini-facelift. Checking out some store-front designs on pinterest to gather some inspiration!

Palm Desert Suite

2011-12-06T23:19:00.000-08:00

Kyla and Michael's invites from this past spring, more to come from my website currently in the works...

This design inspired Kelsey (The Whole Cake) to make this 3-tiered interpretation during our spring soiree in April:

In progress...

2011-11-29T23:04:00.000-08:00

Sorting through my new portfolio photos for my website re-design--so much to do still! Just a sneak peek of what's to come from Christine & Jeremy's wedding this past May. (Thanks Design Lab for taking such great photos!)

Anthology Winter Gift Guide

2011-11-25T13:25:00.000-08:00

Check out a recent article on Alison Hotchkiss (of Alison Events) on this month's digital issue of Anthology Magazine. Great interview of her and tips on entertaining. I love working with Alison and her team, they produce such amazing events. Lots of great pics included in the article, a couple of them I've worked on too :)

If you haven't heard of Anthology, it's a beautiful quarterly shelter magazine that's worth collecting. And I love that it's born and bred locally too. More info here.

Top photo Leigh and Andrew's Dawn Ranch wedding
Bottom photo escort cards from Jodi & Jon's Sundance wedding

This photo was from Dana & Adam's Lake Michigan wedding, calligraphy by Nancy Hopkins

Dog + Letterpress

2011-11-10T08:43:00.000-08:00

I'm so excited to announce two of my favorite things brought together this month! My art print collab with Natalia of Design Lab Creative Studio is now up on my etsy just in time for the holidays. A portion of the sales will benefit The National Disaster Search Dog Foundation. Nat also has the print up on her online store, buying from either place will benefit the same cause. We're all about sharing the love :)

In more dog+letterpress news, the current issue of Bark Magazine features a great article about my two favorite topics of convo. I was lucky enough to be brought into the mix as my shop was the backdrop for the photos in the article (how cool is that?). Nat and I were serendipitously brought together as she and her husband Bill took the photos and designed the article. This small creative world keeps getting smaller. Max even makes a cameo (that's him in the center on the right page)!

More info of the process can be read on her blog post here.

This is a really special tribute to our four-legged-friends, I'm so proud to be a part of the print and the article. Thanks for your support! xo

New biz cards!

2011-11-09T16:28:00.000-08:00

After 7 years of not working on my own business identity, I finally got around to making myself some new cards. Now time to work on re-designing my website to match. I feel like I opened up a can of worms!

Julia & Dan

2011-10-29T16:15:00.000-07:00

My intern Julia Neises just got married recently and I thought it would be great to share her wedding invites. They turned out absolutely amazing, so proud of her :) She started planning early this year around the same time she started her apprenticeship--Julia splits her time at my shop and nextdoor which gives her a unique blend of both worlds.

All the text was set in metal, the image carved from linoleum blocks then hand-printed on the Vandercook. Definitely labor-intensive but worth all the work!

What's great about this project is that she was able to take it from concept to production and learned quite a bit during the process (i.e. what makes a design suited for letterpress, basic typography and composition, how to mix inks, trim and prep paper, etc..). And her hard work shows. This wedding suite is classic and beautiful, you can tell she poured her heart into this one. Good work lady!

Found object

2011-10-28T13:21:00.000-07:00

Richard found this gem laying on the street. Wow. The person who discarded this beautiful book didn't know what they had. Finders keepers, now it's in good hands! Great addition to the SHP library...

Instagram!

2011-10-28T13:06:00.000-07:00

I joined yet another social networking place called Instagram. I know, who needs another one, right?! But I find this one to be fun. Great place to share photos with fun filters. If you're on it let's be friends :)

My Pinboard: No. 5

2011-10-17T12:26:00.000-07:00

I've been into pinning restaurant design lately. No particular reason besides the fact that I would love to work on more restaurant projects! Maybe hopefully soon :)

Production Extravaganza!

2011-10-05T08:47:00.000-07:00

This wedding job was a doozy. But I'm almost fully recovered from the exhaustion AND and I got to see everything come together this past weekend! I joined the AE team for all the setup fun which I never get to do as an invite designer. Typically, once I produce and deliver all the wedding collateral, I never get to see how my designs get integrated into the space so this was an exciting opportunity for me.

My first wedding setup experience did not disappoint! If anything I feel extra lucky since this event was on a grander scale than most. To honor the privacy of my clients, I can't really say much more about it or show any event photos. But hopefully soon I can share more once I get the green light. In the meantime, here are some production photos from the shop to give you an idea of what we were dealing with. As you can see, I was able to spread my design wings a little and experiment with different materials such as wood. This is only about half the stuff I produced, I didn't get to take photos of most of the paper goods so in time I hope to show you more!

I had rounded up the best possible team to help me during production, I can't even thank you gals enough! Team "Day-Of": Anjel, Christine, Jane, Julia, Lauren A, Lauren H --you rock.

Prints + Jewelry

2011-09-30T07:52:00.000-07:00

Join me and Hillary Huffard next Friday Oct 7th as we show off our latest collaboration being held at Marisa Haskell's Oakland boutique. Deets here:

To Japan with Love

2011-09-26T07:33:00.000-07:00

I donated a few special edition prints that I published here at Olive-Route to bluemoon letterpress in Japan. They are putting together an exhibit called Letterpress of Pray to help raise awareness and funds to aid tsunami and earthquake relief efforts.

The exhibit site is up, I know it's mostly in Japanese! But please take a moment to check out my artists as well as the other exhibitors in the show. Thank you Nat, Jane & Hillary for the inspiration!

My birthday thanks

2011-09-14T08:37:00.000-07:00

Today is my 35-th birthday which is considered a milestone. I wanted to take a minute this morning before I leave for my mini-getaway to write something personal. First, to say how lucky I am to be doing what I love--I own this business that lets me be creative and earn a living at it, it truly is the American Dream. Second, to acknowledge how blessed I am to be surrounded by the most amazing and talented friends and mentors who are so supportive and caring, my heart will burst from it. Third, to have such an inspiring family who by example keeps me motivated and looking forward and to always get up when I fall.

Lastly, and definitely not least, to the two loves of my life--one man and one canine (you'd have to guess from this photo which one's which :) who have been there for me through thick and thin. Chris, who has been my center, my rock, my life and my biggest fan for almost 15 years (!) and Max, who is my silent partner-in-crime, always there when I need him, loyal and true. I love you.

So at 35 years old, I have to say that I feel exceptional. How I got here is anyone's guess and I wouldn't change a thing. I'm here to appreciate it and most of all say THANK YOU, thank you. Till the next milestone...

On Press: Animal art prints

2011-09-08T08:48:00.000-07:00

Hot off the presses...These are some process pics of some art collaborations I have coming up!

This 3-piece set of animal prints were illustrated by good friend Hillary Huffard who has been part of the Olive-Route team for the past couple of years. I'm producing these prints to help promote her as the amazing artist that she is :) Hillary will be watercoloring each print by hand and we're hoping to show and sell them locally soon. Details to come!

The first 2-colors of a 3-color print with artist/photographer/designer/dog-lover and another good pal Natalia Martinez of Design Lab Creative Studio. She and her husband Bill do amazing work photographing animals and are really able to capture their unique personalities. Check out their website here my little Max makes a cameo :)

Will let you know when and where these prints will be available.

Thanks ladies for sharing your talents! xo

Chez Panisse 40th

2011-09-06T23:16:00.000-07:00

Recently I had the pleasure of being a part of the preparations for Chez Panisse's 40th anniversary by helping assemble these beautiful menus printed by none other than my friend & shop neighbor Richard Seibert.

It was great for me to offer my help even though I've never assembled accordion fans before! With a little patience, humor and lots of prototypes, we finally figured it out. All my production experience assembling for weddings came in handy :)

There was so much buzz and excitement in the air during that week, I loved being a spectator to such a milestone event and listening to alums reminisce about their days at the restaurant. Congrats Chez Panisse, here's to 40 more years! The proceeds of the event were given to Alice Water's Edible Schoolyard Project. Check out the site for more info on the foundation and how to make a donation.

They're finally here!

2011-09-06T22:50:00.000-07:00

After a couple of months of talking about it and another few months of slowly getting this through my production queue (held up in between wedding projects)...The Jenny Pennywood notebook collaboration project is finally ready!

We only produced a very limited edition (less than 100 sets) and we're working on getting them into some of our favorite stores. Keep checking back for more info on where to purchase these puppies!

French Country Cottage

2011-08-29T18:03:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Courtney for posting some beautiful photos of the business cards we made for her on her blog! She posts about interior decorating and styling and anything that has to do with Shabby Chic-ness :) Lots of great eye-candy on her site!

I've known Courtney for many years and she's always had a knack for thrifting one-of-a-kind pieces and re-purposing them into something fresh and new. She always has some great finds and ideas to share on her blog so make sure to check it out if you're looking to get inspired by some French Country...

Thanks Court! xo

On Press: Harbour Island wedding

2011-08-28T10:47:00.000-07:00

We're at it again! Busy getting this awesome wedding suite together. Chock-full of beautiful beachy letterpressed colors and of course, more book binding!

Off the Press: Jenny Pennywood notebooks

2011-08-20T00:12:00.000-07:00

I'm super excited about this collaboration with Jenny Pennywood!! Just looking at these notebooks makes me happy...Will keep you posted on where these can be purchased soon.

My Pinboard: No. 4

2011-08-20T00:06:00.000-07:00

Inspired by a lot of type and pattern lately...

Pray for Japan

2011-08-19T23:59:00.000-07:00

These letterpressed prints I made a couple of years ago in collaboration with artist Jane Kim will be exhibited in Japan at the at Books Kubrik Gallery and Paper Inn Gallery in Fukuoka this fall, hosed by Bluemoon Press. 100% of the proceeds from this exhibition will go directly to earthquake child support group in Iwate prefecture.

They will host another exhibition of letterpress work in the winter at the Nagasaki Prefectural Art Museum and I will be submitting new artist print collaborations for it which are currently in the works. Will keep you updated.

More info regarding these exhibitions can be found on Bluemoon Press's FB page here.

These prints entitled The Elements are currently featured on my Etsy shop.

OllyDog

2011-08-19T23:15:00.000-07:00

Our friends at 35 Summers took this photo of the OllyDog booth a couple of weeks ago when they attended the Outdoor Retailer's trade show in Utah. They designed packaging for a new running leash where Max and I made a little cameo :) Here we are in life-size form! You'll see us soon at your local pet retailer and REI stores. Coolio.

Do you know how to wax seal an envelope?

2011-08-01T17:23:00.000-07:00

...well, let us tell you how! Ms. Camille was gracious enough to do this for me, what a sport :) We sent this how-to video to our client to help with her invite crafting. This just shows the extent of my OCD and how far I'll go to try and control a situation ;) Enjoy!

P.S. Thanks to my brother, Carlos for filming the vid! It took a while to stop the giggling but he and Cam eventually pulled it together.

Jenny Pennywood notebooks

2011-07-24T15:51:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite parts of the job is collaborating with other creatives. I have a few fun projects brewing this year and am super excited about this one coming up with another good pal Jen Garrido of Jenny Pennywood! I'll make sure to post more once I have them ready (shooting for sometime in August) and expect there to be lots of bright color, fun patterns, and hand-made goodness :)

For now, here's a quick pic from her website of a custom card we made.

Chewing the Cud cards

2011-07-24T15:25:00.000-07:00

I recently printed a set of letterpressed cards designed by my pal Viola of Chewing the Cud which she debuted at the National Stationery Show this year. She's got lots of other goodies (bags, wraps, rubber stamps...) so make sure to check out her site. I have more CTC collabo stuff coming up soon so stay tuned!

Love is a Battlefield

2011-07-24T14:54:00.000-07:00

This print I made with Camille is now available on my Etsy.

I own a press, therefore I can make books!

2011-07-24T10:12:00.000-07:00

This past week has been one of the most production-heavy I've had in a while (if not ever). We hand bound 175 booklets that I made for an upcoming wedding...

But it went so smoothly, thanks to the awesome team I recruited to help me. I couldn't have planned it any better. Thank you Hillary, Stephanie, Maya, Julia & Ofri. Yep, it took six of us to get this shit done in record time ;)

Here are some process pics! Hopefully I can share more after the wedding in a few months.

My Pinboard: No. 3

2011-07-18T14:22:00.000-07:00

Looks like I'm in a bright and colorful mood (with hints of navy) these days :)

Design + Print: Sonya & Micheal

2011-07-15T20:48:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately! Up to my neck in wedding production and other various projects that I can hopefully blog about soon. In the meantime, enjoy this Healdsburg wedding invite I made last year for clients, Sonya & Michael :)

Off the Press: Feldman identity

2011-06-19T09:42:00.000-07:00

The production on this was a doozy--letterpress front on white cardstock, white foil on grey chipboard on back, duplexed together! Also came with a matching notecard with the same specs. Definitely proud of how they turned out :) Designed by my pal Anjel.

Interesting shop tidbit: this was the job I was trimming that got me sent to the ER.

A quick reality check...

2011-06-15T08:36:00.000-07:00

I had asked Camille to write this post because I wanted to hear the story told from a different perspective. I've repeated it one-too-many times in the past couple of weeks! I also wasn't sure how to go about writing it but knew I had to share--it's a good reminder of how we always, always need to respect these machines.

------------------------

A print shop is letterpress and lead type and vibrantly colored ink and creativity and fun. But it's also very dangerous. Everyday we are dealing with old, powerful machines and chemicals, so it's always important to pay attention. But even in the most controlled environment, accidents happen.

About three weeks ago, Via was trimming a bunch of business cards on the hydraulic paper cutter when she cut her thumb on the upswing of the blade. Luckily, Richard, who works next door at St. Hieronymus Press, came to the rescue. After a rush to the emergency room and three hours until the cut finally stopped bleeding, she was shaken up but okay, with a very tender thumb wrapped in a blanket of gauze.

Via loves her job and she loves to print, so the last few weeks have been really hard! She is also a little sensitive and squemish, and as of this moment she has not yet seen her thumb ;) Her caretakers, Chris and Anjel, think it won't be long until she is back to printing again.

In the end she's really lucky! The funny thing about the printing business is every printer at one time or another has a story to share about some accident or incident like this. From broken bones, the loss of the sense of smell, or going to the grave with a few less fingers, every printer who loves their job will say, the risk is always worth it.

by Camille

Jen & Karl at Playa del Carmen

2011-06-05T17:16:00.000-07:00

It took only about a year and a half for this post--sometimes it just takes that long for me to get my act together and gather the photos! Without further ado, here's my reveal of one of my most fun (and production-heavy) weddings. Jen and Karl put together a wonderful event, I enjoyed their enthusiasm and love of adventure--they even own and fly their own plane!

Viola of Chewing the Cud designed their invites and I printed them. She was also very pregnant during this time and had to go on maternity leave mid-project. Super-sweet Viola decided to hand off the project to me to finish off, so I did and continued on to design & produce the rest of their wedding collateral...

Her design was based on a travel ticket, complete with itinerary for the weekend event:

I thought it would be nice for the guests to have a little takeaway gift from the wedding so I turned the program into a pocket notebook. Their logo was letterpressed on a velvet cover and they were individually hand-bound by Anna Ji with a leather twine. All photos below were taken by the talented Jennifer Skog.

The travel theme from their invites was carried onto their escort cards & menus.

I designed some custom "papel picados" with their names on them and an image of the Mayan pyramid in Tulum, Mexico to give some local flavor.

Their guests received a customized welcome bag with some fun swag like this mini tequila set. I provided the graphic which was etched into the wood and carried the same theme onto their welcome brochure and luggage tag.

Fun, huh? Wish I was there to partake :)

My Pinboard: No. 2

2011-06-04T13:36:00.000-07:00

link here.

Carolyn & David at the De Young

2011-06-01T09:14:00.000-07:00

Lush and sophisticated museum wedding designed by Gloria Wong and photographed by Lisa Lefkowitz on Style Me Pretty this week! Lots of eye-candy...

Paper goods by yours truly--and I even got the chance to design some awesome large-scale installation panels (see below) as well as the graphics on the custom pillows. Gloria orchestrated the whole thing along with Jubilee Lau Events. Props to everyone involved!

For more pics and vendor info, click here.

Stencils for Mexico

2011-05-22T17:39:00.000-07:00

I have a huge love for making stencils--they're quick, easy, affordable and have that distinct handmade look. I find them really useful for one-off signage, perfect for events. A couple of weeks ago we made these for a client who just got married in Tulum, Mexico. The ladies over at AE looped me into the project and they will eventually post pics on their blog. In the meantime, I thought it would be fun to share our process in making their wedding-day signage.

This was a joint effort between me and the girls: I designed them, Lauren cut the stencils out (I think this was her last task before leaving the shop--thanks Lauren!), and Camille spray painted.

Here's a look at one of the stencils.

Lauren made these little pocket monsters from the cut-out shapes which we ended up keeping. They were just too cute to throw away.

Here are the signs in hot pink on grey poster board, and there were others in a complimentary cyan color. Yes, I have the same name as the bride ;)

Camille used these rocks from our planter box as paper weights when spray painting and ended up with these beautiful little accidents. We kept these around too :) I love that this project left us little keepsakes.

My Pinboard: No.1

2011-05-21T13:19:00.000-07:00

For the past few months I've been obsessed with Pinterest which is a website where you can bookmark or "pin" your inspirations. Genius. I started using it for personal interests, trying to give myself a break from work. But I find that work and play go hand in hand for me :) so naturally I started gathering inspiration for my work designs as well (thanks Kelsey of AE for the tip on how to mix business & pleasure!).

So I thought it would be fun to share what's inspiring me from time to time by making these regular "My Pinboard" posts. We'll see if this really happens since I seem to be inconsistent with the blog updates. In the meantime, enjoy these images and if you would like to see more of my boards you can check out my profile here.

Design + Print: Ellie + Pete

2011-05-18T23:20:00.000-07:00

I just found out one of my wedding clients just got featured on the blog Green Wedding Shoes! This was one of my favorite projects last year and I've been meaning to ask my client Ellie about the photos. She and Pete got married on a ranch in Utah last October, and I'm a total sucker for ranch-y rustic weddings :) You can check out the post here.

She was sweet to mention me in the article, thanks Ellie! So I thought I'd include pics of her paper goods here on my blog. She had some great ideas and got me excited about designing, I really loved their traditional yet laid back vibe and I think the invite suite captured their style well.

Here's the inspiration board I put together for them, lots of Aspen trees and yellows with woodsy touches.

I carved an image of the trees on a linoleum block for their Save-the-Dates which set the tone for the rest of the invites pictured below. Ellie likes to ride horses so I added the horseshoe and rope motifs to personalize and bring in the ranch setting. These little details make all the difference :)

From Max's Perspective...

2011-04-28T16:59:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the lack of posts lately. April has been a very busy month and I've been tied up with printing, design work, wedding season, shop happenings, etc...

I've been meaning to share some fun photos that my friends Nat & Bill took from my cake party a few weeks ago. They are the awesome husband+wife team behind Photo lab Pet Photography and they do beautiful work. So naturally, a lot of their shots of the cake party were of Max! I thought it would be nice to share the event from his perspective. And why not? He's a huge part of Olive-Route--he meets and greets clients, guards the shop, gives good cuddles, and just an overall awesome companion :)

My friend Anna nicknamed him Mr. Mustache and it stuck! We now call him that along with the official title "Director of HR for Olive-Route Press."

His infamous "wall of shame" where all the toy remains are displayed like trophies--all gutted and mangled from too much tug-o-war.

His "fashion pose"

You'll often find him staring out the door and he gets as much attention from passersby as the vintage presses do.

I love this photo! He's a very social pup and I feel he gets frustrated that he's so short and gets overlooked at parties. That's what this look is about.

Need I say more?

For more photos of the cake party, check out The Whole Cake's Facebook page here as well as this sweet post by Alyssa from Alison Events here.

Move over, Britney ;)

2011-03-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

I was having a typical afternoon one day, headed over to Richard & David's shop to ask some random printing question like I always do. I walked through the door and Richard was on the phone and asked me a question "Would you like to be interviewed by someone from the Chronicle?" Again, very random. But I said "Sure." He handed me his phone and I spoke with Edward, the journalist who ended up interviewing me for an article for his weekly column called "What I Do"....

Richard declined to speak with him, so I ended up talking shop with Edward. This worked out great because asking me about how I started printing and why I'm still here means that he would get an ear-full about Richard & David. So even though Richard decided to not tell his story, they were still being exploited because my story wouldn't be possible without them.

To my pleasant surprise, when I bought the paper this past monday, I saw that my article shared the same page as Britney Spears! My picture, underneath her's in all her popstar glory was really pretty epic. I couldn't have picked a better day for this. The reason why it's so funny is that we always joke at how I'm the pop-culture know-it-all around the shop. Now how fitting is that!

The printed version is always better (of course!) but for those of you who weren't able to get a copy of the paper, here's the online version by clicking here.

Who wants cake?

2011-03-24T16:41:00.000-07:00

Doing our best to battle the gloomy weather recently so we're arming ourselves with some of our favorite goodies to bring your way! Olive-Route and The Whole Cake will be joining forces on April 7th (2 weeks from today) to host a Cake Tasting Party! Take that rain.

Kelsey will be designing 5 cakes inspired by some of my wedding invites to showcase for the evening. I'll be throwing down some letterpress giveaways. We'll have cake bites and some bubbly to get us all hype. What else can I say?

Hope you can make it! Please rsvp here so we know you're down: kelsey@thewholecake.com

On Press: Scandinavian Design-Inspired Invites

2011-03-10T09:04:00.000-08:00

I had a great time printing these envelopes...

that I decided to make notecards out of the motif!

Richard at the Zoo!

2011-03-02T21:54:00.000-08:00

Have I mentioned lately how lucky I am? Well, I'm quite blessed being nextdoor to St. Hieronymus Press and some of my favorite people who have helped build my career as a designer and letterpress printer. The apron strings haven't been cut off (and probably never will). So any opportunity I get to talk about them and boast about how wonderful they are, I will gladly take!

One of my great friends and mentors from nextdoor, Richard Seibert, will be having an art opening for his beautifully letterpressed series of art prints based on our other favorite topic besides printing: FOOD! You can check out the prints on his website letterspressed.com and can purchase directly from his site if you can't wait to get your hands on them.

Or you can come by Book Zoo in Piedmont this Friday, March 4 at 7pm to see them in person and meet the man himself (and eat some amazingly delicious food which he will prepare--trust me, eating his food is an absolute delight). More info about the event here.

Please pass on and I hope to see you there!

XO

Off the Press: St. Lucia invites

2011-02-18T09:07:00.000-08:00

Just finished these! Caribbean colors makes me miss the beach. Sigh...Stitching by Mira Aster.

Roger A. Plumb

2011-02-15T10:39:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd introduce you to one of my printing mentors, Mr. Plumb--sorry for the blurry pic! He's quite elusive and camera-shy. He's now retired but worked as a pressman pretty much all his life and is the definition of "old-school" printer. He taught me how to run the C&P, the invaluable qualities of tape (yes, the adhesive), the importance of putting things back to where they belong (this is key esp. when dealing with lead type)...just to name a few things :) Every printer has tricks up their sleeve when running a job and I was lucky enough to learn a thing or two from Mr. Plumb who has loads and loads of information and stories to tell.

And his stories...almost always tangential but if you keep following, I swear there's a valuable lesson or punchline at the end. They can sometimes be summed up into one-liners which often make you smile (sometimes in wonder, other times because it's just plain brilliant). I've decided, as a personal project and as a thank you to him that I would immortalize his sayings or "Plumb-isms" by letterpress. So I asked him to write down on a piece of paper as many one-liners he can come up with and so he did!

The first one is actually a re-print of one of my favorites. It was printed on off-cut paper with straight out-of-the can warm red and some indigo ink that was laying around the shop from a previous press run. This is Mr. Plumb's style--never wasteful, always use what's already available. These prints will not be sold, only given away as ephemera for the love of letterpress.

Uppercase Magazine published a recent issue dedicated to letterpress and I only found it fitting to give them some of these as tribute to Mr. Plumb. It's a wonderful heartfelt publication and I urge you to pick up a copy! They took this great picture of the print and ours even made a cameo in the magazine :) Check out more here.

Pink & Red Love

2011-02-14T10:14:00.000-08:00

I wanted to celebrate Valentine's Day today by sharing one of my favorite collections from one of this year's Ready-to-Wear Fall fashion designers. Prabal Gurung's line that debuted this weekend is full of luxe, romantic textures and colors--feminine but with an edge. (Those ribbon tights are pretty killer if you ask me).

I don't normally gravitate to reds and esp not reds and pink together. BUT like everything in design, if it's done well (and in this case REALLY well), it will change your outlook. So fittingly, I find myself liking this palette and hope you do too!

Happy Valentine's Day!

All photos taken from style.com. Check them out for more designers from this season's RTW Fall shows.

Wedding Day: SF Map

2011-01-23T21:07:00.000-08:00

Almost exactly a year ago, I made this custom map for SF couple Marina and Wayne. I'm happy to report that they are still in wedded bliss and will be expecting a baby in the spring! So very exciting :)

Here are some shots of the map on display courtesy of their photog Mark Kuroda.

Off the Press: Ragazza Postcard

2011-01-21T15:05:00.000-08:00

Just finished these postcards to benefit a good cause. Ragazza restaurant in SF is hosting a silent auction starting today (runs through Monday Jan 31st) and a benefit dinner on Jan 24th to help a friend in need. Please check out what they are auctioning off--there are some amazing items on the list! I'm auctioning off a set of custom letterpressed notecards so hurry and check out what else they have before it's gone!

Design + Print: Healdsburg Garden Invites

2011-01-16T18:57:00.000-08:00

Here's another August wedding from last year for clients Laura & Thanh. They got married at the Madrona Manor in Healdsburg, CA which has such a specific Victorian feel. We went with this theme but wanted to keep it from feeling too dated. So we went with the non-traditional stitched vellum pocket design with the postcard tear-off for the rsvp. The color palette also had a fresh, California vibe to it--neutral browns paired with summer berry hues. This was a fun collaboration with the couple and it's really rewarding to see it come full circle with the final wedding pictures which can be seen here.

These wedding days photos were taken by Wendy Richardson.

Here's the initial inspiration board:

Behind the Scenes

2011-01-16T00:33:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd share some production photos of the New Buffalo wedding I worked on last year. I find that sometimes the process is just as interesting to see as the final design. This invite in particular was very involved in terms of assembly. Almost every piece was custom, down to the postage stamp. The envelopes were handmade, I had a monogrammed wax seal (in hot pink!), a hand-bound booklet, stitching on the invite (by Mira Aster), calligraphy in yellow ink (by Georgia Deaver)...You name it, we made it work!

Hello Camille + Bird Loves Bee Event

2011-01-15T23:39:00.000-08:00

Camille is my other lovely intern who has been a great addition to the Olive-Route family recently. Besides helping me at the shop, she keeps very busy with other things: keeping a full-time job, freelance writing, starting her own small press, publishing her first set of art "zines," producing and curating her first art show coming up...just to name a few things on her plate. Geez, this girl is one busy bee!

Speaking of bees...Camille has been hard at work all season for her upcoming show next week titled "Bird Loves Bee" where she will release the 3 art zines she's been producing as well as showcasing some local talent in the art and music industries. To read more about this event, please visit her pages:

Birdlovesbee
One Red Delicious Press
FB Event Invite

Here are some photos of her recent work for the event. Hope you can make it! Your support of small business and all things crafted by hand and heart is always, always appreciated. What Camille is putting together is quite an undertaking, I'm very proud of her and wish her the best! You can purchase copies of her zines as well as the limited-edition letterpressed poster at the event.

The event is on Friday, January 21st from 8-midnight (free admission).

Off the Press: Botanical cards

2011-01-03T17:35:00.000-08:00

I ended 2010 with a bang! 12,000 cards deep in printing, I made good friends with the Heidelberg Windmill press. Definitely felt like a bad-ass after I finished ;)

Lake Michigan Wedding

2010-12-23T09:12:00.000-08:00

More posts and photos can be seen from this dreamy Lake Michigan wedding I had the pleasure of working on on the AE blog this week! Make sure to check out Part 1 & Part 2...

Photos by Thayer Gowdy

Lake Michigan Rehearsal Dinner

2010-12-11T15:42:00.000-08:00

A couple of months ago I blogged about this chalkboard project I worked on with calligrapher Nancy Hopkins. The ladies at Alison Events just posted pics of the event on their blog--thought it would be nice to share the final outcome with ya'll :)

Full post can be seen here (there are 3 parts to the post so make sure to check them all out). And just to be clear, this is just the Rehearsal Dinner--the night before the Big Day! Such an amazing display, every detail is worthy of the actual wedding dont'cha think?!

Photos by Thayer Gowdy

Inspiration: Portland Livin'

2010-12-04T19:52:00.000-08:00

Just got back from visiting my sister in Portland for Thanksgiving last week and didn't need to go very far for some design inspiration. Actually didn't even need to step foot outside! Besides the freezing temps we experienced, her house was just way too cozy and warm that I ended up spending most of the time indoors.

Thought it would be a great post to share some pics of how she decorated her home. I feel like it could easily fit into a cool design/shelter magazine--clean lines, pops of bold color, and just the right amount of knick-nacks to personalize a space.

Sheepskin throw to soften a lucite chair...

Great minimalist children's toy rocker...

We listened to a lot of vinyl records, nice change from all the Pandora music we've grown accustomed to. You put more thought into the record you want to play, my fave was probably Michael Jackson's Thriller :)

I loved seeing this old t-shirt in her bathroom from our high-school days--would this be considered vintage??

Nice pop of color with this non-traditional aqua sink and paired with the grey soapstone countertop makes a lovely combination.

Her husband Brandon is a photographer and had these beautiful prints laying around--these are called wet-plate prints. The photos look vintage but aren't! This is almost like the letterpress-equivalent of photography. The old-school-art-craft bug definitely runs in the family :)

Another cool chair from my sister's amazing collection, she has a bit of an addiction...

This was probably one of my favorites--simple tree painting against a white wall is a nice accent piece next to the front door.

Hope you enjoyed these! Thanks to my sister, Tricia, and Brandon for letting me exploit--er, I mean explore-- their house :)

A writer in New York: Printing and Pressing in the Big Apple

2010-11-22T16:52:00.000-08:00

by Camille

As a writer and an aspiring book artist, I had a great opportunity to participate in the Letterpress Printing & Fine Press Publishing Seminar at The Center For Book Arts in New York in November. After submitting a portfolio of my writing, I was invited, along with seven other writers, to spend a week letterpressing and printing in the Chelsea District of New York City. For five days, I had the opportunity to meet with writers from a range of diverse backgrounds--writers teaching in art programs for youth to recent graduates from some of the top MFA writing programs in the country--who shared their insights and experiences from different cultural and social perspectives.

Taught by poet and master printer, Barbara Henry, we spent the week learning about the history of printing, handsetting our pieces of writing, and printing them as a part of a limited edition collection. We heard lectures from professionals in the field--printers, fine press publishers, book artists, and dealers--to get a practical overview of letterpress printing and fine press publishing. This included visits from book artist Sarah McDermott of The Kidney Press and editor Emily Brandt of the Brooklyn-based publication, No, Dear. This experience was invaluable, as I am currently publishing my own limited edition zine, Birdlovesbee.

It was nice to spend some time handsetting type again--a truly time consuming and detailed task. I like how, in a world that is constantly filling every free moment with something to do, it forces you to slow down and indulge in the art of typography and something old world. Opportunities like these are rare, and I love how programs at The Center For Book Arts, as well as local-based San Francisco Center for the Book, continue to inspire and teach the craft of letterpress.

Design + Print: Wedding Menu

2010-11-20T18:18:00.000-08:00

Here's a sneak peek of the menu I designed for a wedding reception this past summer. More paper goodies to post about from this New Buffalo wedding for next month so stay tuned!

The shop will be closed all week for Thanksgiving--I'm off to visit my sister in Portland with the whole family in tow! Thought this menu seemed appropriate so Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours!

xo

Calligraphy by two of my favorites: Nancy Hopkins & Georgia Deaver

Holiday Ornaments at Poketo!

2010-11-18T09:31:00.000-08:00

Anjel and I met up with Ted and Angie of Poketo about a month ago when they were in town. We enjoyed a fantastic dinner at Kirala (their almond crusted shrimp tempura is to die for) to celebrate Angie's birthday and to catch up on each other's busy lives over the past year or so. Lots of talk about travel, inspiration, food, and all things that make life good :)

Ted mentioned that he enjoyed receiving my valentine's card this year-- a letterpressed heart on coaster board that I made into an ornament with a hand-written note on the back. The act (or art) of receiving (and giving) a special note and sending by normal post is still not lost among us. The fact that it's tangible, purposeful and thoughtful makes that piece of ephemera that much more meaningful--a true keepsake! So with this thought in mind, we all collaborated on a special item for the holidays, Letterpressed Ornament Cards. You can use them as holiday cards, gift tags, or to decorate your tree...

Patterns by Anjel (inspired by her travels), letterpressed by yours truly and can be purchased at Poketo. There's only a very limited run so get them while you can!

Inspiration: Cool Ranch, Dude!

2010-11-14T14:50:00.000-08:00

This weekend we took a nice day hike behind our house along the foothills of Mt. Diablo in an area called Shell Ridge. This area is one of the reasons why I love where we live--vast areas of open space, trails leading to ridges and valleys with scenic views, lots of nature and wildlife to observe--literally just minutes walk from my front door.

We hiked up over the ridge to the other side where I sometimes like to visit the pygmy goats at Borges Ranch. If ever you're in Walnut Creek, I would definitely recommend a visit to this place--it's open to the public and has a lot to offer: picnic grounds, a collection of antique equipment and tractors, super cute farm animals, and they even offer classes like clay-making and leather art...

Here are some pics I took from our hike, enjoy!

Hello Lauren

2010-11-13T14:15:00.000-08:00

Just wanted to write a post formally introducing Ms. Lauren Aczon. She's been an intern at my shop since the beginning of summer and came to my rescue during peak wedding season when I was in over my head with production work. She started out doing some assembly work and was up for some non-glamorous tasks at the shop--organizing samples, trimming paper, archiving, and even spray painting!

But since then, her internship evolved into something closer to an artist in residence so-to-speak but without the living in my shop part :) Lauren expressed interest in letterpress from the get go, and had some previous Vandercook experience in college which always helps. She's also a fantastic artist and after perusing through her sketchbook, I could easily see how her style of linework would translate well into letterpress. I harnessed my inner mother-hen and encouraged her to print her own work and see where it takes her...

Well, after 6 months of learning to print at the shop, Ms. Lauren attended an art Expo showcasing some of her prints, opened up an etsy site to sell paper goods, and will be exhibiting some artwork coming up at her local cafe! All this is documented on her blog here--and yes, she started a blog too. Not bad for a newbie :)

Here are some images of her work which can also be seen on her online profiles:
site: http://laurenaczon.carbonmade.com/
blog: http://quickeningforce.blogspot.com/
etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/Quickeningforce

Looking forward to seeing what else she comes up with!

p.s. Hilarious how she calls me "Mistress" as opposed to "Master" which would be a term an apprentice would call someone in my case. But I don't think either term would really work since I'm far from being a master of my craft. Funny none-the-less! :)

Design + Print: Shelter Island Invites

2010-11-08T22:06:00.000-08:00

The temperature dropped a lot today, it was a brisk morning and now a chilly evening (at least by my standards--I get cold pretty easily!). So thought I'd warm things up a bit by posting this summer wedding invite for clients Jackie & Mike. They got married this past September in Shelter Island-- a town at the eastern end of Long Island in NY.

They were inspired by Moriya & Jon's invite design and wanted to use similar elements (map, stitching, monogram...) and infuse their colors and east coast-beachy vibe into it as opposed to the original country-farm look. They have the same initials as Moriya & Jon so I was able to reuse the existing monogram for the most part and only ended up tweaking the letters with the new font they chose.

Flat-printed map on the pocket and stitching by Mira Aster.

Here's the whole set--both invite and response card slip into the pocket w/ matching outer envelope. The pocket is a great way to keep the cards intact. The rsvp card is perforated and can be sent out as a postcard--less postage and no need for an envelope. The only caveat is that postcard stamp options were very limited and when these were sent out, only the polar bear stamp was available! Didn't really go with the summer-theme. The other option is getting custom stamps from a place like Zazzle which costs a little more. This might defeat the purpose of saving on postage but gives you more freedom to coordinate with the look of the invites...

Here are the inspiration boards that I used to kick-start the project. The bride's style was definitely more delicate than the original version of this invite set and I love the color combos we used of lavender and earthy tones. Designing for custom doesn't necessarily have to start from the ground up and in this case, no need to mess too much with a good thing :)

Inspiration: Re-imagining Holiday Giving by Making Old Things New Again

2010-11-06T11:24:00.000-07:00

by Camille

Every time during this time of year, I am inspired by how creative people are. Sometimes, in the hubbub of our busy lives, we are just waiting for an excuse to make things and be creative with our hands, and the holiday season seems to make that possible. Since we are at a time when saving and reusing is very important, I though I would share some inspiration from artists/crafters that really take the art of 're-imagining' to a new level. Something old can really be something new again in the eyes of a designer who sees beyond a piece's functionality and makes it part of something that crosses the line of what it was originally designed for. The best seem to find ways to make something 'useless' into something timeless. I wanted to share some designs that I found especially inspiring for the holiday season; the pieces I found I feel are aesthetically pleasing, charming, and in some cases, really functional as well.

I admit, terrarium fever is running rampant, and I wasn't spared the sickness. I love love love how the possibilities are endless with terrariums. This is a cool little terrarium design by a local SF blogger, Ann of The Hipster Home: the terrarrium in a lightbulb. Here an old lightbulb houses a little bit of life and light again. Terrariums are great gifts because they are all kinds of pretty, they are living but don't require a lot of work to keep them alive, and they make great gifts and centerpieces for the holidays. Also, with a bit of ribbon or string they would make great holiday ornaments, too!

The folks over at Wiley Valentine have come up with some classic terrarium inspirations, creating worlds within a world with recycled mason jars and old vases...

...while Shopground takes a more modern approach with its simple and sleek orbs!

Repurposing with old furniture is also another way to come up with creative, new, and functional pieces for your home, especially with holiday decor. I find that old drawers are great for creating 3-dimensional display spaces on walls, and depending on the occasion, can house whatever you like. Eversunny over on Etsy has created this simple drawer wall decor, which I think has endless possibilities.

And in the theme of letterpress, old type cases seem to be inspiring crafters as well. This type case drawer over at Blue Bird Heaven is shown here as a way to display your jewelry. But it could be used for special events as well: Perhaps a countdown to Christmas, with little tags showing the number of days until the big day? Or, a great way to display seating numbers for guests at a wedding reception? Or maybe a beautiful way to store spices and herbs in your kitchen? Or..0r..or....

In the end, letting your creativity manifest through old, repurposed things can bring about a wealth of new light and life into your home this holiday season. What better way is there to start the new year?

-Camille

On Press: Holiday patterns!

2010-11-04T09:34:00.000-07:00

Holiday printing started yesterday at the shop :) Will keep you posted on what these are for soon!

Martha Stewart feature Kathryn & Jeff

2010-10-27T00:28:00.000-07:00

This past spring I worked on a wedding with the AE team for Kathryn & Jeff. The event took place at the Solage Resort in Calistoga and was featured today on the Martha Stewart website! Kathryn had a specific style in mind--something in between traditional and modern, graphic but not ornate, simple but with a little bit of unexpected thrown in. Inspired by bold patterns with a cool palette of blues, greys and pops of yellow, I was definitely up for the design challenge :)

Here are some photos of the entire wedding suite taken by B&N photography--some of the paper good shots were styled by my sister :)

Invite & thank you card suite (calligraphy by Nancy Hopkins)

Here's a close up I took of the debossed herringbone pattern on the backside of the invite as well as the border stitching done for me by Anne of Mira Aster.

Save-the-Dates

Day-of paper goods (menus, table numbers, escort cards)

Programs

Design + Print: Ski lift Save-the-Date

2010-10-25T17:58:00.000-07:00

Can't believe that it's almost November and winter is upon us! To prep, here's a snow-themed Save-the-Date for you. Getting ready to start the accompanying invitation design for this couple where they will wed atop a mountain in Tahoe...

Off the Press: AE biz cards

2010-10-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

Super fancy cards for the awesome ladies at Alison Events! I love the simple design they gave me--minimal and no fuss typography--goes perfectly with the letterpress and painted edge detail. Love.

Off the Press: Kelly & Edward Invite

2010-10-22T17:38:00.000-07:00

I printed these over the summer for a lovely couple from Berkeley. I letterpressed the invite and rsvp cards and they screenprinted the envelope and digitally printed the enclosures themselves. I think this is a great way to create an invite if you're hands-on like they are or are on a limited budget but don't want to lose any of the beautiful details of your design. If you're crafty enough, there are many ways to make a set look cohesive without having to letterpress each piece. I encourage you to talk to your printer and ask advice on different options--mixing printing techniques isn't against any rules of etiquette. I think if anything, it gives it a lovely, handmade look when done right like Kelly & Eddie's invites. You can definitely tell when something is made with TLC :)

These enclosures were printed on their inkjet--it's impossible to match inkjet colors with real pantone inks but I think these are pretty close.

They used a home screenprinting kit for the envelopes. I think these gocco sets are discontinued but another way to get a similar look/feel is by getting a custom rubber stamp made of your image + return address.

Charmaine & Jack Website

2010-10-08T15:04:00.000-07:00

Over the summer I posted about an Italy wedding that I'll be working on for the next few months. I already made the Save the Dates which were sent out this month--the wedding is in July of next year. My client Charmaine loved the save the dates and asked if I can design their wedding website and give it the same look.

Here's a little look into the process...

Charmaine forwarded over her sketch of what she wanted the main page to look like along with some photos for inspiration:

I was also inspired by some of the travel illustrations that my intern, Lauren, had in her sketchbook and I thought her style would pair well with this project. So I asked her to sketch some potted plants and archways to use for the site:

Then I took all these pieces and composed them together into Photoshop, added color, texture and wording. Voila!....The gates open up and reveal the view, cute!

Jon of Braincloud Media put the website together and was very patient with my lack-of web experience. He applied the design to all the other pages and did the tedious back-end work. All in all, I'm happy with how it turned out esp. since all this needed to happen in only 2 weeks...Go team!

To view their site in all it's glory, click here.

Off the Press: Ragazza poster

2010-09-25T09:09:00.000-07:00

This post is brought to you by the newest addition to the Olive-Route family, Camille, who will be a regular on this blog. I thought I'd mix things up a bit and bring in a new voice, new perspective on the shop. Enjoy!

--------------
On the first day of my apprenticeship at Olive-Route, I had the lucky chance of working on a project that Via was commissioned to do for the opening of Ragazza, the sister restaurant to the already established Gialina. The new pizzeria, which opens this week, keeps with the traditional family-oriented decor of Gialina, but this time celebrates life and youthfulness. With photographs from her youth scattered around the restaurant, chef Sharon Ardiana captures life at its most fruitful.
It is no wonder then that the poster we printed for the opening encapsulates the joy of being young and free. A little Ardiana, bright-eyed and happy!

Over two days of printing, we finished the project and were very happy with how they turned out. What a great way to start...jumping right on the Vandercook press and celebrating pizza. Two of my favorite things.

Design + Print: Big Sur Wedding

2010-09-22T17:42:00.000-07:00

This was a simple and sweet invite done in 2-colors with a halftone screen of a cliff photo provided by the client. I love the neutrals we used for each piece, not matching to the exact color but all very complimentary.

The bride sent me this picture of her dress for inspiration and thought it would be nice to share! How amazing is her train of feathers? Lovely.

Off the Press: AE mixer

2010-09-22T16:49:00.000-07:00

Fun, quick project for the Alison Events team--a folded notecard for a mixer they hosted over the summer. Pattern was designed by awesome lady Jen Garrido of Jenny Pennywood who also does custom work for weddings and events...

Writing process

2010-09-18T12:15:00.000-07:00

Thought I'd share these process pics of Nancy writing on the chalkboards for a menu project. She used a chalk-pen (as opposed to actual chalk) which you can purchase at any art store. The writing needed to be semi-permanent so it wouldn't get erased during shipping--it comes off with windex or soap and water.

She drafted the wording on paper first to get the proportions right and made pencil lines on the chalkboard to keep the lettering straight. Lots of prep-work to get it perfect!

Off to Guerneville!

2010-09-14T12:12:00.000-07:00

Headed to Dawn Ranch for a couple of days for birthday week! Woohoo! I'll be celebrating with my favorite peeps (and Max in tow of course!). Also sharing birthday-cheer with my good friend Connal. Virgos rock :) Literally. I mean, we'll be bringing our instruments up there and will have quite a jam session with our sweeties :) See you when I get back!

Pics of Dawn Ranch courtesy of Jesse Leake.

Inspiration: The Dub C on design

2010-09-03T08:59:00.000-07:00

This architecture-related post is brought to you by my hometown of Walnut Creek! I know most people think I live in Berkeley since I spend most of my time there. But everyday, I go home to this amazing place just east of Berkeley, through a tunnel and down one of the most beautiful stretches of freeway scenery in the Bay Area. The majestic view of Mt. Diablo serves as my compass where home sits, nestled in the foothills--sunshine always beaming. Sounds fantastic, right? Yep, that's why I live there.

Walnut Creek isn't really known for cutting edge design, although I don't fault it for that. I typically go downtown for a relaxing stroll, stop off for a gelato somewhere not really expecting to see the latest trends. Although one day, I did! On my way to our neighborhood bar, I saw this sleek wood-paneled building (where an old piano store used to be) and was quietly surprised and impressed. I've since checked out Vesu and enjoyed the interior and some of the artwork that was displayed (although not so into the $12 cocktails).

When I was perusing through my daily design blog reads today, again, I was pleasantly surprised to see this same exact restaurant featured on one of my favorite architecture websites! Very surreal to see Walnut Creek on the design map, but there it is.

For more photos, check out The Contemporist.

Design + Print: Yosemite wedding

2010-08-31T18:50:00.000-07:00

I posted about the production process of this invite set sometime over the summer. I finally got around to taking some pics of the final outcome!

Here's the inspiration board and some more close-up shots. My clients were really into vintage ranger posters so I went with the idea. I love the color palette and the mix of playful fonts we used...

Published!

2010-08-31T17:53:00.000-07:00

Just want to send a quick plug for the shop. Olive-Route can be seen in 2 books that came out this August! The first one is called Little Book of Letterpress and features loads of lettepress shops all around the country. Written by Charlotte Rivers and has a great intro about the history and practice of letterpress. The second one is called Letterpress (with some Japanese text I can't understand). Actually the whole book is in Japanese so I unfortunately can't tell you much more!

Both are published by Chronicle Books.

Chalkboard menu

2010-08-30T19:18:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite calligraphers, Nancy, rolled up her sleeves and worked at my studio a couple of weeks ago for a rush job. She did some hand-lettering on these giant chalkboards for an event. It's amazing how steady her hand is when writing. So fun to see her in action!

Botanical numbers

2010-08-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

I had a great time making these wood laser-cut table numbers for a recent wedding. I love them so much I'm considering selling them on my etsy! Will let you know as soon as that's up. In the meantime, enjoy these production photos. We ended up painting them black to create a dramatic silhouette--hard to decide which I like better...

The complete set of numerals:

And here's my intern Lauren spraypainting!

Wedding logos

2010-08-29T17:54:00.000-07:00

Fun logo project I just finished for one of Gloria Wong's wedding events coming up...Can't wait to see what she does with them!

Stephanie for Sarah & Ezra

2010-08-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

Definitely proud to see my previous intern, Stephanie, show off her first official wedding invite design & letterpress! She worked on this for her friends' wedding during her stay here at Olive-Route which gave her the chance to see what it's like to work on something from design to production.

To see more pics, visit her blog here. And make sure to check out the rest of the work she's posted up--lots of fun letterpress inspiration!

Poketo interview

2010-08-20T10:58:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Angie & Ted of Poketo for their recent Olive-Route q&a! I had a quick post about printing their business cards a few weeks back and they were generous enough to interview me about the shop on their blog. You can read the full article here. Thanks guys :)

You can also check out some of the letterpress prints I made for them here. AND if you feel like more art+shopping, they just recently launched a collection for Target. Score!

Mi Corazón

2010-08-08T10:15:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Natasha from floral design company WaterLily Pond for sending me images of Virginia & Jorge's wedding from this summer. She contacted me to design some paper goods for their day-of based on inspiration from their Puerto Rican & Colombian roots.

We played around with super vibrant colors and images of a winged-heart specifically requested by the couple. Since I didn't design their invites I was a little dis-oriented when starting the project but eventually found the couple's groove. Everything came full circle once Natasha sent me the images courtesy of Erin Beach photography.

Here are some fun pics from Erin's website, more can be seen here (along with some mambo music!) .

This wedding is currently featured in the Real Weddings section of the Fall/Winter 2010 edition of Northern California Brides magazine. Thanks for the mention!

Production mode

2010-07-21T22:47:00.000-07:00

It's been a very busy year to say the least. But it's also been a very inspiring one--I've been lucky to work on some amazing projects, experiment a little with my craft (did someone say laser cutting??), and collaborate with some uber creative talents. Can't complain!

Here are some shots of what I've been up to lately. Hopefully sometime soon I can post a full entry on each project, but in the meantime...Enjoy!

Super cute, and one-of-a-kind table numbers for 2 different wedding events. Original artwork by Hillary Huffard (top), 3-dimensional laser cut numerals that i designed (bottom):

Hand-bound journals:

Some assembly shots of an invite set for a wedding this August. Hopefully I can show you the final product soon. More binding, wax sealing, finishing, and all that jazz...

Save the Date linocut:

Another fun weathervane monogram logo:

Sample calligraphy for a menu by Georgia Deaver:

Ski lift ticket inspired Save-the-Date for my first same-sex wedding job. (Real photo to come, haven't had time to take pics!):

More posts to come as things progress and projects wrap up...

Off the Press: Poketo cards

2010-07-21T22:40:00.000-07:00

Printed these cards for the dynamic duo that is Poketo (aka Ted & Angie). They'll be featuring Olive-Route on their blog coming up soon, will keep you posted!

Open Studio: Lucinda Walker

2010-07-12T13:46:00.001-07:00

My friend Lucinda came by a couple of weeks ago to hang out at the shop. She's a textile/pattern designer and was finishing a personal project at the time--a hand-painted botanical print in gouache. It' so stunning, I have to share!

The background looks black but it's actually this really deep navy color. I love the delicate shape of this bird...

The details are fantastic, it's hard to believe from these images that this was painted by hand but it's true! I saw it first-hand! Labor of love for sure...Amazing craftsmaship, Lu--can't wait to see what you come up with next :)

Design + Print: Marin Kristine cards

2010-07-12T11:49:00.000-07:00

Wanted to share this cute custom die-cut biz card I printed for local photographer, Marin Kristine. We met through a mutual client and loved the idea of letterpress for her cards. We took the customization a step further by cutting the shape to match her logo. Love it!

Happy long weekend!

2010-07-02T09:01:00.000-07:00

Graphic c/o Friends of Type.