Category Archives: Print Matters

Print Matters

Reading Frenzy + Crap Hound #5

By Laura Whipple | Published: December 13, 2010

Reading Frenzy is not merely one of Portland’s beloved bookshops and art galleries, it is also an independent publisher. Chloe Eudaly launched Show and Tell Press in 2005 with the release of Crap Hound #5: Hearts, Hands and Eyes. Issues #4, #6 and #7 of Crap Hound followed, as well as a zine titled Alien Boy about James Chasse. Fast forward to December, 2010 (that’s today, friends), and Show and Tell Press is poised to release the third edition of Crap Hound #5. Thanks to a successful Kickstarter campaign, the project has officially received the green light. We can expect to see the new edition roll off the presses in the very near future. Perhaps even before Christmas.

Editor’s update: You can pre-order Crap Hound #5 here!

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Print Matters

Little Read Writers: a writing collaborative

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 10, 2010

The debut title from this Portland collaborative is called With This Line.

Little Read Writers is a Portland writing collaborative that incorporates experimentation and play into their shared practice. They “cleverly arrange” words–on screen, on paper and in conversation—for their pleasure and ours.

In the short time since their inception, Little Read Writers have produced an impressive series of booklets of collaborative work, all self-published, hand-bound, and printed in black and white.

They share their work through lectures, workshops and panel discussions for the Portland community. Each publication grows out of each member of the collaborative responding to a prompt—in the case of With This Line, the writers respond to a directive from Mark Searcy. For Legends of the Swifts, the men of Little Read Writers spent some time responding to the phenomenon of the annual flock of Vaux’s Swifts that descend on Northwest Portland’s Chapman school each summer.

Find their titles at independent retailers like Reading Frenzy and Clawhammer and Clothespin, and in their online shop.

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Print Matters

Ooligan Press and the sustainable publishing revolution

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 10, 2010

Coming soon from Ooligan is a re-release of their booklet, Rethinking Paper and Ink. The first edition was released in 2009.

Ooligan Press operates out of Portland State University’s Masters program in publishing. Releasing a wide variety of titles—from fiction, non-fiction, poetry, young adult and educational titles— each year, Ooligan is dedicated to quality content and sustainable practices. Their upcoming release, Rethinking Paper and Ink is a re-release (above left) of a booklet by the same name from 2009 (above right, printed by Pinball Publishing!). Part of Ooligan’s Open Book series, an imprint dedicated to highlighting sustainable choices in the printing and publishing process:

Each book in this series includes an audit of all choices made during production, from design through distribution. Efforts to produce these books as sustainably as possible are focused on paper and ink sources, design strategies, efficient and safe manufacturing methods, innovating printing technologies, support of local and regional companies, and corporate responsibility of our contractors.

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Print Matters

Printed matter abounds at Stand Up Comedy

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 9, 2010

Artist publications with rich and varying content fill the shelves at this East Portland shop.

Stand Up Comedy is a shop on East Burnside in Portland, with a catalog of merchandise that includes clothing, printed matter and art objects. Located in the 811 E. Burnside cluster of creative retailers (home to gems like Nationale, Golden Rule, and Sword +Fern), Stand Up Comedy runs an operation that straddles the conventional distinctions of art gallery, clothing store, and book shop. It’s more of a center for culture, standing atop a firm foundation of curation, experimental art contexts and content.

Beautiful garments and objects aside, their carefully curated selection of printed matter is what caught our eye. Stand Up Comedy states that their interest lies in “content as a form of inquiry, rather than as a specific aesthetic,” and the array of publications available in their shop is beautiful, diverse, inky evidence of that statement.

Diana from Stand Up Comedy was kind enough to let us know about new selections available in their shop. These can be found at their brick-and-mortar shop, online, and at the Publication Fair coming up later this month. Read on!

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Print Matters

The Power of Print

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: December 3, 2010

A classic short from Sesame Street reveals the communication power of print media.

Print has the ability to start riots, break controversial news stories, influence important political elections, and drive our consumer decisions.

It can also help you find your lost dog.

Another morning huddle ensued around the computer to screen this print-tastic video, a classic short from Sesame Street that captures charmingly grainy shots of a platen press in action. (“We’re totally working, it’s for Bangback!”)

Watch it here.

(via theOKBB)

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Print Matters

Will the iPad Save Zines?

By Clifton Burt | Published: November 29, 2010

Nieves introduces an app for iPhone: device-based reading for independently-produced publications is becoming a reality.

I’m buying zines today in an unlikely place: the bus. I’ve just downloaded the newly released iPhone app from Nieves, an independent publisher in Switzerland, and on the app have been reading zines from their catalog such as Drinking Baileys from a Skull by Jody Barton; Grid Sewing by Lizzie Finn, and Untitled by Tobin Yelland.

As I’ve purchased and downloaded the titles, there are calculations taking place in the value-tradeoffs part of my brain that silently outputs go/no-go purchasing decisions. I’ve had my eye on the print-version these zines for years now, but hadn’t yet pulled the trigger because shipping costs attached to online purchases feel like a tax to me; but now in one bus ride I’ve bought three zines at $0.99 each.

The Nieves app behaves exactly as it should. The reader’s library is displayed as a grid, the zines’ covers facing the viewer. The navigation is intuitive iPhone UI as it should be. For example, when a zine is being read, holding the iPhone upright displays a single page while rotating the phone horizontally changes the display to a two-page spread. Swiping the screen turns the page in the appropriate direction. These behaviors can also be found in other apps such as Zinio and are certainly part of a new set of expected behaviors for screen-reading applications.

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Print Matters

Object Focus: an Artist Book exhibition at the Museum of Contemporary Craft

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: November 19, 2010

The accessible beauty of artist books on display.

The Museum of Contemporary Craft is a cornerstone of Portland’s creative community and an institution that enriches the city’s cultural landscape. Self-described as a “center for investigation and diaglogue” surrounding the place of craft in our modern world, the MoCC continues to impress us with their outstanding curation led by Namita Wiggers. And so we’re pleased to report that the Museum just opened an exhibition dedicated to the celebration of the artist book.

The exhibition, titled Object Focus: The Book, presents a multitude of artist books from international artists. The artist book is a compelling format that draws on traditions of artmaking and publication, pulling fine art out of a gallery setting and thus making it more accessible to viewer and maker alike. Often made in editions, artist books utilize a full spectrum of print and assembly methods and enable creative practitioners to circulate and distribute creative content outside of traditional art systems.

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Print Matters

Moveable Type, a cross-country print project from Power and Light Press

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: November 18, 2010

A mobile print shop? Yes, please.

Portland’s own Kyle Durrie of Power and Light Press wants to take letterpress printing on the road. Won’t you help her?

The project is called Moveable Type. The plan is to build a mobile letterpress studio in the back of an old delivery truck and zoom through the lower 48 next summer, bringing the power of print to the people. Currently up for funding on Kickstarter, this project is the perfect combination of adventure, education and inky fingers. Kyle’s motivations for taking her love of letterpress to the public are varied. She writes about letterpress as a “powerful contrast to today’s computerized world,” and stresses the empowering nature of printing. Her love for travel doesn’t hurt, either.

Take a moment and consider pledging to fund this project. The pledge gifts are worth it alone—a promise of $100 or more gets you 50 custom business or calling cards, plus lots of other printed goodies—but the true reward is the satisfaction of knowing you supported a young artist’s goal to move, educate and print at the same time.

Image courtesy Kyle Durrie.

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Print Matters

Woodblock printing on old maps

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: November 10, 2010

Best Made shows us how it's done.

Yeah, okay, so by now you probably understand that we’re kind of obsessed with Best Made Company. And we know we’ve already posted about their woodblock prints made onto vintage maps (twice, in fact).

But THIS is a VIDEO. It’s a lovely little glimpse into a process that requires ink, paper, wood and a pair of able hands. Printmaking at its essence. Couldn’t help but share. Watch it below.

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Print Matters
Printing

Field Notes Raven’s Wing: a peek into production

By Nicole Lavelle | Published: November 8, 2010
Printing

Letterpress printing pocket-sized notebooks in Illinois.

The creative team behind Field Notes has done it again, delivering quality content that shares the story of the rich human power behind the production of their signature notebooks.

This video takes us into the production process of Field Notes’ latest edition of their COLORS series. From the family-owned shop of Freeport Press/Flywheel Letterpress to the mega-warehouse finishing shop, we’re excited to watch the full spectrum of printing processes combine to create the sleek black-on-black Raven’s Wing notebooks.

Letterpress, offset, scoring, folding, saddle-stitching, corner rounding, belly bands: the team of printers and production wizards behind the Raven’s Wing books provide a good balance of shop talk and plain speech that pleases us print nerds yet allows anyone to easily understand the processes. We’re delighted to see continued efforts to demystify the printing process, and this video certainly does that. Plus, it’s charming. Who can resist the nostalgic allure of antique printing machines? Not us!

Watch the video below, or check it out at the Coudal Partners website.

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