giveaway alert!!

are you interested in letterpress printing? do you want to hang out with me for a few hours? do you like the One of a Kind Show? Here is a giveaway that I hope you will like - unfortunately this giveaway is only open to those of you who can get to my studio. To celebrate my love for letterpress I invite you and a guest of your choosing to come and print in my studio for a couple of hours (no experience required) as well you will get two complementary passes to visit the OOAK show. Please leave a comment before 10pm on Friday November the 13th. Good Luck and look forward to sharing this experience with you!

it is the season for wholesale - so we've been busy catching up with orders - one of the orders we sent out today is going to a lovely shop in Maine called Chelliswilson - there is a wonderful exhibition there right now called "Come Darkness" an array of wonderful work. Above is a wonderful print by Yu-I Chan done with block print and letterpress.

I am very fond of lliam's photos - he took these late last night as we were closing up the shop. He captured all of us and the last image you can see his shadow - I was too excited to wait for the press and we went to get it today - will show you pictures later of it's new home - Craig from Don Black is truly amazing and generous - a great person to buy equipment from- I look forward to future trips to build on my type collection. We took the press for a test ride when it was all set up and it's simply beautiful. To celebrate my excitement and enthusiasm - I will have an amazing giveaway that unfortunately will only be for those of you who can get to my studio. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

the middle of the week is always so busy since I spend three days out of my week teaching at OCAD - so when Thursday comes along I feel like it's my weekend. Next week is going to be exciting, because my new friend the C&P Pilot platen press will be making it's home in our studio. I have so many things planned for it and will share that with you later. Last night we went to the opening of necklace - it was a great turnout - the department and Marina did a wonderful job - worth a visit! Above image is some work by Aganetha Dyck - she does wonderful collaborations with honey bees.

cute card from little circus shop.

here is my new friend waiting patiently for me.

if your in the area please check out this show that I am a part of.

imagine living here-found this in john's folder of interesting things - not sure the source of both images.dyeing is on the brain - image above is an indigo bath. I missed out on the workroom's natural dyeing class.

hope everyone had a very spooky Halloween - we are all exhausted and sugared out. It was a bit chilly yesterday, but nice enough to enjoy ourselves. You can see in the photo piper is just not sure what to make of all this and lliam is happy as can be. Hand made costumes are the best.

I like collaborating with john - we made this tray 3 years ago and I want to produce it, but john refuses - he says it's too time consuming there is multiple layers of maple veneer - we used this thin air press that was designed by one of my colleagues designed for making skateboards.

I found this image that I scanned - I really like the look of the way the teeth are drawn - like old wood cuts and playing around with photo effects of lliam's image - this one is film grain. I've been sitting now for the past two hours on lynda.com teaching myself illustrator-what a wonderful website!!!

I went to school with Kristiina Lahde back when we were both doing ceramics - although her cut envelope work is her older work I was reminded of them when I saw these envelopes. I love the intricate details and the meticulous cutting involved in both these works.

on the weekend we visited TIAF - it's been awhile since I visited - I always forget about it and it's too late - but this year I was a bit more organized and we planned a visit - I enjoyed it and the work we saw was very interesting - this show is not for independent artists rather its for the galleries that represent them - above are some highlights.

our next featured artist is Barbara Di Lella - you can find more of her work here.

one day screen printing workshop

Spend an afternoon screen printing your designs on paper and fabric using photo emulsion. All printing supplies will be provided - all you will need to bring is your own designs - blank cards, notebooks, t-shirts, tote bags, fabric etc. No experience required.

Class limited to three people

Class dates:

Saturday November 14, 11-3pm FULL

Saturday November 21, 11-3pm FULL

Saturday December 12, 11-3pm

Sunday December 13, 11-3pm

Price: $95

a non-refundable 50% deposit is required to secure your spot

please email me if you have any questions.

the posters by smash are up on our bookhou at home etsy shop - as well there are two set sales left that have been reduced. Enjoy your weekend!

work by Richard Storms

work by Estela Saez.

pine cones - what is there not to love. Not sure where I found this image.

I am sorting through photographs of an interior shot of the shop to send to a magazine - I like the light in this one.

so after an hour and a half subway ride to Tanya's studio - I was introduced to a new method of creating images that made me instantly fall in love. What a wonderful medium and great piece of machinery to work on. We mostly worked with type - I can never tire of the beauty and simplicity of type - but knowing that you can create your own designs using polymer plates opened my eyes to many more possibilities with letterpress printing. Tanya's workshop was a lot of fun and definitely worth the trip to Scarborough. So after class I immediately checked out Don Black's site and checked out Briar Press in search of my own little press - I know I'm nuts - good thing I have a husband that loves old presses and type just as much as I do. Ohhh the possibilities - thanks Tanya for sharing your love of letterpress. *more images on Tanya's blog

we have a few screen printed posters from smash recoveries - we will have them in the bookhou at home shop very soon they retail for $40. The above one is a helvetica alphabet and we also have an eye chart and the Ontario coat of arms.

I like this note book by davis - nice product shot as well.

Doris Salcedo I'm a big fan of Doris Salcedo's work - the only way I can describe her work is moving and haunting. The stories behind her work is really worth the exploration. Here's a taste of what she does.

I still need to rework it a bit - but so far this is what happened to the little bird drawings - the print will be showing up soon in the repeat line.

I've been working on this piece for an upcoming group exhibition curated by Marina Dempster at The Department. This piece is constructed by punching holes from tracing paper and stringing them together to create the neck piece. If your in the Toronto area please check it out next month - there is a wonderful group of artists.

roisin's jars print it ever so popular - here is a new one - grey on royal blue.

Congratulations the winner is #28 - Danielle - please email me with your shipping address. thanks so much to everyone for your kind comments - as always I wish I could give something to everyone who took the time to leave a comment. Of course there will be more giveaways in the future to show you my appreciation for visiting. Have a great day!!

there was a union meeting amongst lliam's mini dinosaurs on his window sill - hope everyone celebrating thanksgiving had a good one.

giveaway alert!!

please leave a comment to enter the giveaway - you have until Monday October 12th at 11pm - a winner will be announced on tuesday morning - you will only have till the end of tuesday to claim it or else another winner will be chosen - good luck and have a great weekend!!*sorry forgot to mention items in the giveaway - cloud field bag, house print cahier, tissue holder and dandi snap wallet.