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Polish Design

Friday, July 16th, 2010

Sure, I am Polish, (Can you tell by the last name?) but how incredible is Polish design? One of my favorite design blogs, Pan Tu Mie Stał (You were not standing here) is jam packed with great design and illustration – especially the vintage stuff. It also comes in an English version! Let us take a moment to just swooooon. In fact, I cannot wait for my Cześź t-shirt to arrive to the States! (Yeah, I couldn’t help myself; I am a sucker for condensed fonts and Polish characters.)
CzeszShirt

Let’s look a little more at this lovely blog, shall well?
Yes please on the vinyl!

With so much turmoil in the country’s history, Poland has shown strength with visual design – a mix of Modern, metaphors, simplicity, the past, and keeping ahead of the curve. When I came across this vintage Polish stamp collection, it was like unearthing a visual treasure! Here are some of my favorites.

PolishStamp_CCCP
Polish stamp with CCCP space program imagery. Check out that 60’s rocket blasting into orbit

PolishStampBasketball
These basketball ones from 1963 are nothing short of amazing. The figure hardly looks like any silhouette of a basketball player, but it has a nice graceful feminine quality to it.

PolishStamp_Liaka
How wonderful is this one with Laika, the first dog the Russians sent into space? Unfortunately, she was sent up there with the known fact she would not return. Despite this, her image has graced Soviet stamps and posters. There is also a monument of her in Moscow.

PolishStamp_Mistrz1958
A small and beautifully designed mid-century stamp. My font love for this little guy is IMMENSE

PolishStamps
more classical and Soviet inspired designs.

PolishStampsFolk
Folk inspired stamps

PolishStamps_Olympics1964
1964 Tokyo’s Olympics.

PolishStamp_Illustrations
Fun illustrations with the stamps. What about those amazing mushrooms and that cat meowing… maybe crying?

For more Polish stamps, visit my vintage section on Flickr. I am hoping to pay homage to Warsaw’s Wilanów Poster Museum in October. Has anyone ever been there? It looks like a place I could easily spend hours in. I think a trip to Polska is far overdue. I need some old-fashion root-searchin’ and art inspiration.

Cheers and hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!

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A Romantic view…

Sunday, June 27th, 2010

Last week I finished a huge custom order 175 two color invites, R.S.V.P. cards, and reception cards for an upcoming wedding in September. This was also the first custom job I printed on my 12×18″ Chandler and Price letterpress. It was good taking on the challenge because I learned how to work with the press Also, working with handwriting can be a bit tricky. I took a scan and cleaned it up as much as possible in Adobe Photoshop. I then brought the file into Adobe Illustrator, as I prefer vector over raster for fonts, and after using live trace I resorted to the smooth tool and pen tool to clean it up. Overall, a lot of work, but worth the final piece. Using a handwriting instead of a standard font really adds character and uniqueness to a piece.

Tina + Mark blog

Two color letterpress print on 220lb Lettra paper
Printing was a lot of work, but I loved the way they turned out! 220lb paper is like butter!

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Summer Line up

Thursday, June 3rd, 2010

I told myself last year, I would not overdo it with shows this summer, but in typical fashion – I signed up for the ones that looked amazing and got in.

First one is this weekend in the beautiful suburb of Berwyn called the Constructor Craft Fair. If you’ve never ventured out of the city to Berwyn, it’s worth the trip. The streets are lined with beautiful, old brick buildings and lots of charm. I am excited because Magnolia Photo Booth Co from Louisville, KY will be there. They usually have a photobooth at the Renegade Craft Fairs and we tend to go a little crazy with photos! Plus, their photo quality is pretty good – a huge improvement from those cheesy photobooth photos in the mall! I am a huge fan of old school photobooths and Magnolia does a superb job.

CCF_

Next weekend I wil be getting into a car and driving to INDIEana Handicraft Exchange. And if you happen to know me personally, you know I don’t drive. I drove both ways of the entire country last year and happened to luck out driving in the most remote states – Nebraska and Nevada. This is open road, straight ahead driving… So, yes, I will be driving again one year later. Bring it. I am looking forward to this show and for the mini road trip!

INDIEanaCraft

INDIEana Handicraft Exchange
Date: Saturday, June 12
Time:12:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m.
Location: Harrison Center for the Arts
1505 N. Delaware St.
Indianapolis, IN 46202

When we are full swing into summer, I will be traveling to San Francisco for the Renegade Craft Fair. I am very excited to be participating in the show for the second year in a row mostly because everyone is so darn sweet out there, I have a good core group of friends in Cali, and it’s a stunning world out there.

RenegadeCraftLogo
Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco
Date: July 31st + August 1st
Time: 11am -7pm
Location: Fort Mason Center Festival Pavilion

Hope to see some old friends on these adventures and meet new ones!

Renegade Craft Fair San Francisco

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I am still alive n’ kickin’!

Sunday, May 9th, 2010

Ahhh… almost National Stationery Show time. Wait, let’s try this again: AHHH!!!

This is the last weekend before the show, which officially starts Sunday May 16th and runs until Wednesday May 19th. This is Paper Parasol Press’ freshman year at the show. I’ve always wanted to go and actually walk the show, but I am known to just jump in with two feet. I am lucky enough to be sharing a booth with a few veterans in the Let {Her} Press collective. Firstly, I am very honored to be part of this talented pool of ladies and secondly, I probably could not have done this without their guidance. There are so many details to think of – from ordering the walls and electricity to bringing a mini stapler (I got one with orange staples – Yessss.) We also had to coordinate between all of us on show details. So, taking something as big as the NSS and making it manageable works really well! With this economy, it’s really feasible.

We did get into Stationery Trend Magazine!
StationeryTrendsMag

Who are the ladies of Letterpress? Check it out:
Paper Stories | Grayslake, Illinois
Robin Beth Designs | Haworth, New Jersey
BirdDogPress | Lyons, Colorado
Lucky Bee Press | Santa Cruz, California

Looking forward to the show next weekend – safe travels to everyone attending!
PPPbuttonsSuch

With that, see ya’ll in New York City!

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Dear Mom + Dad…

Monday, April 12th, 2010

it’s really Mother’s and Father’s Day every day, or should be at least. I can only get you one card a year though, so the love better make up for it.

MD_FD2010
New Mother’s and Father’s Day cards in the shop.

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A little game…

Sunday, April 4th, 2010

never hurt anyone – especially if it happens to be mounted on the wall.
YouGotGameWP
Know someone who has game? Why not send them this thank you card for all their kindness. These guys will soon be up on the shop, but I have to work out some odds and ends before any major updates.

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thrift store finds

Friday, April 2nd, 2010

Old Index Cards

I love coming across old index cards, yellowed by age or these alphabetical index cards in a lovely little case. One day, I will figure out to do with my French cards, index cards, and graph paper.

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Daily Candy love!

Tuesday, March 9th, 2010

DailyCandy

A few weeks ago, I got an email from an editor from Daily Candy for an interview and yesterday morning I was thrilled to see my dose of daily candy featuring Paper Parasol Press!

Check out full feature here .

Thank you for the kinds words and support on this and to Daily Candy! It’s amazing how many people subscribe to it! I had people at work come up to me and congratulate me and even random emails.

In other news, I printed out my new business cards last night and lo and behold, I don’t like them. Well, they alright. I am a bit of a perfectionist and now I am wondering if I can have time to reprint. I have A LOT of them though- lIke 1000. I figure I can pass these out at craft fairs, since they go so fast!

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my inner cowgirl….

Tuesday, March 2nd, 2010

came out and designed and printed this card:

Sweet to Boot, size: 4bar, 2 color letterpress

Sweet to Boot, size: 4bar, 2 color letterpress

Not only do I think of the cowboys and gals of the Wild West when I see boots, but Patsy Cline with a rhinestone and fringe cowgirl dress singing her heart out. This sweet little card can be a love card, thank you card, or just a “gosh-darn-it, you’re simply wonderful” card. The inside comes letterpress printed with a horse shoe and read: I’m lucky to have you.

I have lots of new goodies waiting for me to score and fold, so stay updated! I may not release all designs and printing till May, but the line is currently up to 19 designs and looking to hit 24 in the next week. Right now I am working on some holiday cards for 2010 – trying to stay ahead of the curve. I figure since there is still snow on the ground it may put me in a holiday frame of mind.

Have a lovely night, ladies and gents!

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Hello, blog!

Sunday, February 7th, 2010
Hot off the press!

Hot off the press!

Alright, we are really gettin’ the ball moving now that the blog is FINALLY up! The past two years have been a disorganized mess around here. First, I started with a web domain that I wasn’t quite sure about. Decision making happens well into the night when my brain is functioning at about 15%, so the name did not dawn on me until later. “But I wanted paperparasolpress, no paperparasol.net!” When I realized I no longer wanted this web domain I already wanted to redesign the website anyhow. Then, it was getting a line together – as I teetered back and forth between screen printing and letterpress printing. Being a pretty lousy screen printer, I chose the later.

A little background: I tend to gravitate towards things that seem to be going out of fashion (or, a revival among certain groups) or are not the most conventional ways to make a living.  “That is a dying art – study graphic design,” “Is it really worth it? All that work?” Was it worth majoring in Illustration and going to an art school? Was it worth buying an 80-year old, one ton machine? Yes, because I am able to combine the two things I love: illustration and letterpress. The two make a happy marriage and with the technology of making polymer plates, I am able to translate my illustrations to the press without much complaint.

I hope to share my love of both letterpress and illustration on this blog. It can’t wait to pack it with inspiration, process, ideas, and even a little frustation when need be, but for the most part, there is already enough negative stuff out there, so this will act as a happy place. Visit back for art giveaways as well! If you cant’ wait ’till then, visit our online shop.

cheers and thanks for reading!

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