Join Me on a Studio Tour

I've been planning this for a while and FINALLY got the papers tidied enough to welcome you, virtually, into my studio.

The studio is in the converted carport of our house, and previous owners seemed to have used it as storage. One chainsawed-out section of a wall and one french door installation later, and inviting moved in. There are been slight improvements since then, of course, like colorful curtains (and thermals to help with the summer heat), some white paint, some near-black paint, a place to sit, a rug (it really ties the room together) and a little feng shui thanks to my mom.

So let's go!

From the Door:

When you walk though the door off the front porch, this is what you see
You've got some type cabinets on the left, a HEAVY composing stone on the right, and Vera the press in the back right corner. The studio isn't air conditioned so near the french doors is my wee cooling unit which gets wheeled over to the window during the hot months, where it makes a difference until about noon, and then I have to call it a day. One day I'll get the place properly insulated and have a small unit installed, where that little pink shelf is.

From Vera's End

This is what you see when standing near the black composing stand. The front door, little seating area for tea, taking phone calls while I'm working, and instagramming. (Sometimes Hobo Cat #3 sits there- he'll come in and watch me work). The composing stone, with all it's wonderful wooden tools, is from the San Jacinto College, which is where I took some art classes as a kid- small world! On it are three boxes of printing plates. There's also a little space heater, and some display items for craft shows by the window.


And this is standing next to Vera. You can see more of the type cabinets and paper storage drawers. I'm always envious of printers who have their press next to a window for the natural light, but that corner has a tendency to flood on really heavy rain days (not a lot, but two of those cabinets are up on bricks for a reason), plus, the outlets are on the opposite wall.

From the Window area

Here's Vera, our lovely, green, small, beast of a press. She's a Chandler & Price New Style platen press, 8x12. There are some folding tables near her for any shows that I do, or if I need extra work space in the house or office, our inks, the mirror that previous owners up had which is convenient for looking out the window without having to stop printing, my little A/V spot for watching netflix or listening to pandora, and cleaning/maintenance supplies and tools.

So that is my little studio. It smells of metal, wood, ink and oil (trust me, it's wonderful), the flooring is cool, ceilings are high (and therefor not painted yet), and it is a happy little corner where I am thrilled to spend time printing lovelies for you. It's not much, but I love it. What do you think? Is it what you imagined my small printing studio to look like?

There's a 360* video on instagram. Check it out @shopinviting

Cheers,

Oh the Studio... what a mess summer makes of you!

Now that the temperatures are starting to drop, it's time to refresh the studio!

During the summer months, studio time goes like this:

• turn on a/c unit and return to the house for 15 minutes while it cools off
• bring in rollers from their kitchen cabinet (if left in studio during the summer, they could melt. it's happened and it's not pleasant!)
• set up the press and print project as quickly as possible, while watching the temperature on the a/c unit creep back up
• clean the press and return rollers to the kitchen cabinet
• grab the printed items, turn off a/c, and race back to the house before melting

It's not a glamorous time, that's for sure.

But in the Fall, the glorious Fall, it is so much more pleasant! Plus, because I'm not racing out of the studio to beat the heat, I can linger and actually put things away when done! It's amazing.
 
It's also the time that I rearrange things to make the studio a little nicer and more efficient. (Near the end of Spring, a mega-tidy-session occurs, preparing for the Summertime Heat.)
October's projects for after printing sessions:

• move ink shelves closer to the press
• shift the pegboard to make room for the new shelving spot
• repair and re-hang the type drawer to store/display the vintage printing blocks
• gather polymer plate scraps to send to the recycling service
• go through stack(s) of scrap/used paper for set-up or recycling
• dust, sweep & clean studio
• unplug a/c and put away for the winter; get space heater ready for November
• add items to portfolio wall
• swap out light bulbs for winter lighting
• finish painting walls with primer, and maybe decide on an actual wall color

I'll be sure to share pictures once it's complete; so excited!

Hobo Cat #3 in the studio. He likes to watch me work.

Cheers,
ashley

Missing New Products?

Me too!

I haven't had much time to create new items but any new items will show up in the shop update on January 1st, as well as all Valentine's Day cards. And once I'm all done with shows for the year (two this week and 1 home show next week), I'll get back into my schedule of designing twice a week and creating new products. Until then, though...

We've been busy with lots of weddings & business cards. Some of them I share at The Beauty of Letterpress so you can see them there. This week I'm printing a large order of our Texas Wreath holiday cards, personalized Texas flats, business cards for wedding photographers, and holiday cards for a designer. I also need to squeeze in some time to print our little item to send out to this year's clients. And the international ones need to go out early next week, so no pressure there, ha!

At inviting HQ, we celebrate christmas with lots of holiday lights and candles. I don't do much for decoration except for lighted garlands, the decorated tree, and a poinsettia here and there. I even bought a little one for the studio, since I've been in there so much:

Little sitting area in the studio for instagramming and sipping tea in between jobs.

Evenings and weekends are being spent in preparation for the holidays- crafting handmade gifts (on my new salary there's not much leftover for holiday gifts!), creatively wrapping them, and planning the cooking. We'll be having christmas eve at my mom's, and hosting christmas day dinner with my dad, stepmother, brother, his girlfriend, and my paternal grandparents. Last year I made a croquembouche as the holiday dessert but sadly I'm not feeling quite as ambitious this year.

2013's dessert, a custard-filled croquembouch, drizzled with crispy caramel whisps.

If you have any suggestions for a holiday dessert, please let me know in the comments? Pie has been vetoed by Mr Inviting.

Stay warm!
Cheers,
ashley 

Lots of New Colors...

Before working on a job today I brought my "new" inks into the studio. Had to rearrange a few things to make room!

Their previous owner had similar ink-taste to mine- we have a few duplicates! I've always printed with oil-based inks (it's what I was taught with) but now have some rubber-based and even a soy to print with.  Looking forward to the cooler weather so I can finish painting the studio, get things reorganized, and try out these new inks! If Friday's project is delayed, I may spend the morning in there. At the moment it should be in the 80s and t-stormy. Perfect!

Ordering a plate tomorrow so expect to see some new designs soon!
But until then, our latest birthday card is now available at the store:

Cheers,
ashley

Show & Tell Friday: The Imposing Stone

Today I thought I'd share one of the pieces in the print room, the imposing stone.

The Museum of Printing says this about it:
After basic composition, type must be assembled into galleys for first proof and then “imposed” pages and multiple-page forms in preparation for printing. The table upon which the type is organized into one or multi-page forms is called the imposing stone, and often is made of marble. Later industrial models are precision steel. Marble and steel are preferred to ensure flatness and levelness of the surface when a form is prepared for the press. Forms are stored temporarily and long-term tied with page-cord (strong fine waxed string) on a galley in a galley rack. Forms that are going to or from the press for proofs or corrections will be stored in chases that fit the press, which are stored on edge in special racks and (in larger sizes) wheeled about on special “trucks” or dollies.

This thing is HEAVY. Took me hours to push it over a few feet, and it's on sliders!!

Like they say, it has great storage- the side up against the wall is all galley trays, plus the wooden furniture storage and storage for chases, which are all in use right now but would normally be in the top right section.

Good "junk drawer" storage, too- deep enough to use a big sorter and still have room for ginormous composing sticks underneath.

But I use it as a big work station. : )

Pardon the mess!

Perhaps the coolest thing about this, though, is where it came from: San Jacinto College.

When I was in elementary school, my parents would sign me up for children's art classes at San Jacinto College. And 23 years later, here we are.

Hope you enjoyed the little peak into the workshop. One day I'll introduce you to Vera. A day when i have time to take a decent video.

Wishing you all a great weekend. Mother's Day cards coming up!
Cheers!

Do You Know What's Great?

Almost EVERYTHING in inviting's inventory is listed on Etsy! There's a small stack next to my desk that needs photo-editing and listing, and an even smaller stack that needs photographing, but I think I can have it all done this weekend.

Can you spy the small stack that needs listing? It's so small!

Silly things about my desk:
: I still haven't finished switching out my drawer pulls. I consider it amazing that I finally finished painting the walls!
: Yes, I was drinking prosecco. You can't drink while printing, but no rules against drinking while editing photos and listings
: On the ipad, streaming X-Files. It's great background and netflix had better never pull it off streaming; i don't know what i'd do!
: SMENCILS
: I like year-round halloween decorations. Skulls are 24/7 at our house.

Been working hard in my study getting it organized and tidied. Still have a ways to go, but with such a tiny desk

What's New?

You know that when you're bending your wrists in funny positions to use your laptop b/c you've got crafting supplies and projects taking up the entire desk, it is time to get a proper work space / crafting table. I had ribbons, bakers twine, scissors, circle cutters, corner rounders, paper samples, paper scraps and about ten other projects taking up space on the tiny vintage writing desk that I use.

So I ordered this.

Which, after ninety minutes, turned into this.

So far, so good.

Of course, to make room for it, I had to move the cabinet out to the living room! But with the paper that I covered the windowed cabinets with, you can't even tell.

Also, does this count as working on my branding?

Don't forget - Craft Riot next month!

Poor neglected blog...

Sorry for the lack of posts. Every free moment has been spent in the printshop, and not even printing! I've been tackling all those "rainy day" projects- bags of miscellaneous type leftover from er three years ago, a dump tin of misc. type from the previous owner, etc. Cleaning, re-labeling, re-sizing, also. 
It's been wonderful.

There's still a lot to do, but one corner is complete.

Paper drawers, organized. Space drawers, organized. Tops of cabinets, wiped down. Items on shelves, labeled.

I've also discovered that we had some duplicate fonts- same exact type but different names- Flash and Highspot in both 18 and 24pts. Uh, let's consolidate? Yeah! Those are done, so now I'm saving type that is stuck in large, heavy, broken drawers, transferring them to the newly emptied drawers. It's messy, but will be very helpful in the end.

Found a brand new, never taken out of it's original packaging, 6pt font, which I will be selling on etsy later. It's lovely, I just don't like dealing with 6pt unless I have to. Personal preference.

Tomorrow is Oct 1 (Happy Bday, Grandma P) and that means time for another Shop Update!

Do check it out, Saturday afternoon. We'll have some new items up and it'll be great. Don't forget to get your Halloween cards while at the shop.

Moving Day!

Today the press get hauled up on a tow truck and makes the journey from Kyle to Austin. And then it will sit on the driveway until a machine arrives later in the afternoon. Cross your fingers that everything goes smoothly...

Here are some pictures of the new workspace currently.

New Workshop!

The goal is to use the converted carport as the new printing studio but there's quite a large problem- the press won't fit through the door. Thanks to the help of a wonderful uncle, that is no longer the issue! He came down from Dallas and in one evening and added some french doors to the side of the studio. In one evening!

Before- Solid wall and no way to move the press in
(See those empty type trays? They're waiting on their friends)

Good price on a door, $150 less than I expected!

Measured the width of the door and sawed away at it

Sawing the vinyl siding, which was messy- the stuff popped and shot out like hail!

Almost through...

Busting out the wall

Much more natural light

Looks nice, right? Add some trim and it'll be done!

Now we can schedule Moving Day. : )