Ashley + Ben save the dates

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

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

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.

(part 5): Printing lace

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!

Production Extravaganza!

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.

Chez Panisse 40th

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.

On Press: Harbour Island wedding

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!

I own a press, therefore I can make books!

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.

Stencils for Mexico

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.

Behind the Scenes

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!

Charmaine & Jack Website

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...

Off the Press: Ragazza poster

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!

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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!

Writing process

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!

Chalkboard menu

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

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...

Production mode

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):

Playing with color

This invite was on press for 2 days, just finished the last run yesterday. Yay! Mixing color isn't an exact science. There are days when it takes 5 minutes to match a color. Other days, it can take me all afternoon--you just never know. Plus with letterpress, inks tend to print less saturated and may show up lighter even when you've mixed the color to the exact value. So, you have to calibrate for this (some clients like the look others prefer the color to look more dense). You can over-ink the press, but you have to be careful not to compromise the type. Or you can trip the press and ink the plate twice before printing--this gives more control but will take you twice as long to finish the job.

On Press: Yosemite invites

One color down, 2 more to go...

On Press: Wedding Programs

I'm in crazy production-mode for the next 2 weeks--creating all the wedding day collateral for my clients who will be getting married at Playa Del Carmen in Mexico on the 23rd of this month. We are going all out!

Here's a sneak peek of the program covers. They will be hand-bound with a leather string saddle-stitch bind. The cover (shown here) is a faux suede paper with a blind deboss letterpress of their logo. The idea is to make the programs like a travel journal/notebook to give as keepsakes for their guests. There will be a bunch of blank pages in the end for them to jot notes, scribble, etc. during their travels.

Can't wait to finish these...

On Press: Just Moved Postcards

First press run of SF based custom cards. Two more colors to go, will post final soon so check back in!