Category Archives: Fresh Ink

Fresh Ink

Holiday Cards from Stumptown Coffee, illustrated by Tim Root

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 25, 2010

We were pleased to print another round of holiday cards for Stumptown Coffee this year, featuring illustrations by the off-the-wall Tim Root of Crappy Comics fame.

This duo of four-color cards was printed by Brent on our two-color Shinohara offset press on a crisp white 100% post-consumer recycled paper from Neenah. After being trimmed, scored, and folded, these cards went out to Stumptown employees and friends to celebrate the holiday seasons.

Two styles went out this season; the laugh-out-loud and borderline inappropriate joke to employees and the dancing hippy Santa to customers. Thanks to Stumptown and Tim Root for making us chuckle this season! Now go get down with your loved ones.

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Fresh Ink

Concert ticket by Mike King for Stumptown Coffee

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 21, 2010

When Mike King and Stumptown Coffee collide, beautiful things emerge.

Stumptown Coffee has a history of working with an expansive cast of artists, designers and illustrators, making for a varied aesthetic that has room for all types of creative work. Counted in the roster of Stumptown creative collaborators (among many others) are Tim Root, OMFGCO, Jesse Whipple Vickery, and the ever-prolific Mike King.

Though you might be most familiar with Mike King’s screen printed poster work (Editor’s note: we interviewed him here on Bangback a few months back) he’s a skilled designer whose work spans medium and method. He created these concert tickets for Stumptown’s anniversary show, an epic line-up of metal bands booked to celebrate 11 years of good coffee.

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Fresh Ink

Letterpress calendar from Studio on Fire

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 20, 2010

12 months of letterpress.

Studio on Fire‘s 2011 calendar is now available in their shop, and this year’s impressive cast of contributors includes Studio On Fire, Adam Garcia, Brian Gunderson, Jessica Hische, We Make It So, and Aesthetic Apparatus.

Letterpress printed in four ink colors, the calendar’s illustrative theme is “Letter Form Genus,” and each artist contributed work incorporating lettering and typography. Gear up for the new year with an exquisitely printed desktop calendar!

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Fresh Ink

Other People’s Music: Screen printed poster from Kate Bingaman Burt

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 14, 2010

The newest print from Obsessive Consumption reads like a poem.

Designer and illustrator Kate Bingaman Burt is a longtime Pinball friend, and we crush pretty hard on her projects. A lover of print and tangible design, Kate consistently rolls out prints, posters, zines, and books of her work. The latest confluence of ink and paper from the Obsessive Consumption library is poster number two in ongoing project called Other People’s Music. For this project, Kate lovingly illustrates other people’s mix tapes (Editor’s note: including mine!), celebrating the ultimate personal artifact, exploring gift culture, and mulling over the significance of objects in our daily lives.

These two-color posters were printed in Austin, Texas by the talented Rand Renfrow and feature a grid of 18 cassettes crowd-sourced from Kate’s friends and internet acquaintances.

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Fresh Ink

33Coffees tasting journals lead the way

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 14, 2010

From the mastermind behind the popular tasting journals 33Beers and 33Wines comes another pocket-sized gem: 33Coffees.

33Coffees is a pocket-sized tasting journal designed to help you keep track of the coffees you love—and remember to avoid the ones you don’t.

Portland designer Dave Selden developed the concept for his 33Books tasting journals using the Scout Books publishing platform, a customizable format that allows anyone to create custom notebook and book projects. His top-notch graphic design and proximity to the microbrew-loving Portland community propelled 33Beers into infamy and paved the way for new tasting journals on different beverages. His successes led to a profile in the Oregonian and a growing base of loyal customers.

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Fresh Ink

Chipboard holiday friends from Tad Carpenter

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 13, 2010

Screen printed little homies that will make your heart melt.

In case you hadn’t noticed, we’re a bit obsessed with chipboard. Its thickness and speckled texture make it a favorite in our print shop. That, plus the fact that it’s 100% recycled and made from 85% post-consumer material, mean we use it a lot. Like, a lot.

Kansas City, Missouri-based illustrator and designer Tad Carpenter is also a fan of chipboard. He screen printed these absurdly charming Holiday Homies on the recycled stock, in navy blue, red and opaque white ink. Each comes with a little stand so they can keep you company on your desk, kitchen counter, fireplace mantle (etc.) all season long. Cute overload. Print made fun. We approve.

Item: Holiday Homies
Artist: Tad Carpenter
Method of Printing: Screen printing
Paper: Chipboard
Ink: Red, blue and opaque white
Available: Online, $10

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Fresh Ink

Nudity in Groups

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 8, 2010

A mostly-annual collaboration of artists on paper.

Nudity in Groups is a collaborative publication that is released on a somewhat regular basis. Described as both “mostly quarterly” and “semi-annual,” the publication contains art work curated or created by its contributors. Now in its second issue, Nudity in Groups is orchestrated by Portland artists Alex Felton and Kevin Abell, published by Fast Weapons, and features contributions from a rotating group of artists.

Its atypical format at once limits and accentuates the content: one side features artist contributions and the other is an oversized poster image. The content speaks to no overarching theme other than the restrictions of dimension. Screen-printed in a numbered edition of 250, the first issue of Nudity in Groups was released in conjunction with a sculptural installation called Bleach Party at Vestibule.

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Fresh Ink

The latest from Container Corps

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 7, 2010

Take a Snake from Corey Lunn, a full-color offset artist book from micro-publisher Container Corps.

Our goal here at Bangback is to celebrate the best print projects out there. We do our best to have an expansive scope, looking at people, publications and ideas from around the globe. That said, we really can’t argue with or ignore the consistent quality of projects coming out of Portland’s community of publishers and printers! Later this month, a collection of Stumptown’s finest will converge on the Ace Hotel for the annual Publication Fair, an event presented by the Publication Studio. To gear up for that confluence of creativity, we’ll be highlighting Portland-based publishers and printers for the next two weeks, checking in on new projects and sharing the stories of our vibrant print community.

First up, Container Corps.

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Fresh Ink

Bracket, Volume One

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: November 25, 2010

It seems that a new independently-published, unique-format publication hits the streets (or the internet) every week. And this, friends, is exciting to me. Print is dead? Maybe the print that should have been put to rest long ago – phone books, classified ads, unsolicited junk mail – but not the culturally relevant, collaborative content that continues to emerge in its its tangible, inky glory.

From Singapore comes the inaugural issue of Bracket, a newsprint publication conceived to highlight “ideas, voices and processes that are overlooked and under-appreciated.” Craft, volume one, features contributions from an international cast of talented individuals and firms. A number of Portlanders round out the list, including Aaron Rose, Frank Chimero and Duane King.

Judging by the looks of this first issue, the next seven that are planned to roll out over the next two years will feature well-designed and expertly-curated content. Order issue one in their shop, and keep an eye on Bracket’s blog for content from contributors as well as information about upcoming issues.

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Fresh Ink

The U.S. Constitution, Scout Books style

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: November 23, 2010

"These words shaped history. They belong to you. Know them."

This Scout Book is the synthesis of many things we get very excited about: metallic inks, historical documents, recycled paper, democracy…the list goes on.

Scout Books is proud to introduce a pocket-sized edition of the Constitution of the United States of America. Containing the Preamble, the seven Articles and the twenty-seven Amendments, this tiny book packs the content into 32 pages and is wrapped in a two-color chipboard cover printed in black and metallic gold inks.

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