repeat has work at volksfaden and I thought this image they put together was so sweet.

here are some process shots of our sweet little press in action- I am loving how the lino prints - I think it will give an added touch to the students work along with the type - we will be preparing some small blocks to carve your own designs as well I will have some interesting images already laser cut to use in the letterpress workshop. The OOAK show is going amazingly good - thank you! to all you wonderful people who read this blog and the wonderful people for coming to the show and supporting handmade - I appreciate it so much - have a wonderful weekend.

the next week will be all a whirlwind - with classes ending and the OOAK show being over - I manage again to take pictures from the AGO class I teach - this student is working on a mono print using watercolours - he's painting on plexiglass and using the black washi paper as a chine colle- what you didn't see is that he wet his paper and blotted it before running it through the press. The dampness of the paper helps to pull the print off. The word mono (means one) so in theory you can only get one print from this painting. I am also excited - I was asked to do a series of screen printing workshops for the students at Havergal College next week - I am very excited and interested in what they will print.

we are gearing up for the one of a kind show - set up is tomorrow - I don't imagine I will get much sleep - we were busy today building up inventory. We were mentioned in NOW this week and it brought a lot of customers to the shop. I am happy that we are selling so great in the shop - but I kept thinking - oh I have to make more of that and that. Please come and say hi if you come to the show!

here are a couple of lino pieces I've been experimenting with - the lines are so crisp with letterpress printing. I will be holding letterpress workshops in our studio/shop. The workshop will introduce you to letterpress printing on a C & P Pilot platen press. You will be able to make your own stationary or cards using wood and lead type - as well you will be able to carve your own lino block or use the ones we have pre-carved. No experience required.

class limited to two people

class dates:

Sunday December 13, FULL

Saturday January 16, 11-3pm (1 spot left)

Saturday January 23, 11-3pm (1 spot left)

Saturday January 30, FULL

price: $120

a non-refundable 50% deposit is required to secure your spot - please email me at arounna@bookhou.com if you have any questions.

there are days around here when these two don't allow us to do anything - maybe that's not such a bad thing - bad timing with all the work that needs to be done before the One of a Kind show. every time I pull out the camera one wants their photo taken and the other just wants the camera. Have a great weekend!

Last night I printed the lino pieces both hand cut and laser cut - will take pictures this morning and post it later today- I am so exhausted - I was awake at 7am for my thurs. am class and I didn't go to bed last night till 3am - I was trying so hard to get a ton of printing done while the kids were asleep - I get people asking me how I do it - having a part-time job and kids and running two businesses - I tell them - I don't sleep. I will also be posting info on new printing classes here in the studio. John is at that point where he needs an extra pair of hands. Our friend Pia will be coming to lend a hand - she is also a wonderful artist - the above image is her glass and felt work. Pia is also going to be January's featured artist.

I got an email from Cybèle regarding her two person exhibition at Forum Gallery in New York - wish I could see it in person - all of her work is delicately constructed with Japanese paper and the images are done using the etching print process that I showed you here earlier. The piece above reminds me of how jars are such a wonderful image - I am fond of Roisin's take on jars.

I am working on new bags for the OOAK show and one of them being a play on the bag I did with a round bottom - one of the things I get asked a lot is that there be a zipper - so this bag design will have a zipper closure/inside pocket/and a D ring to hook your keys or mobile devices. I am really happy with the changes. Also I picked up the laser cut lino for the letterpress printing and it looks fantastic - such wonderful detail. I will make some prints tomorrow and will show you later on. As well I've been getting a lot of emails regarding the letterpress workshops - as soon as I work out the details (pricing, materials etc.) I will post the dates - yes there will be one before the holidays.

work by Michelle Gay at Birch Libralto Gallery

some sweet new gift bags for the show and in the shop - inspired by Magritte's work. Translated it says "this is not a gift". I am also in the midst of getting magnesium dyes of our images to do our new letterpress stationary - I was really torn on what to get - polymer or magnesium - I found a local source that will do it for a very reasonable price. I am also finalizing the details of the letterpress workshops and will be including lino cuts along with wood and metal type - you will be able to carve your own designs as well I will have some already cut - so you can use them in your layouts - it will be so much fun - I am currently experimenting with getting a lino cut done using the laser - this will be an alternative to both the magnesium and polymer plates. Will be picking it up tomorrow - I will show you the results later.

the workshop this weekend was a lot of fun - I'm always amazed how much the students get accomplished - and how about this weather were having. We missed the Santa Claus parade.

Congratulations to #10 - Wing-Yee - please send me an email and we can arrange a time for you and a friend to come and print on my new press. Thanks to everyone who left a comment - in the near future I will be holding some special workshops that will include silk screening and letterpress printing. wood block image from parcel post

work by Sun Koo Yuh

on weds. nights I teach an adult printmaking class at the AGO - it runs for 10 weeks and it's an intro to several printing techniques - I keep forgetting to take pictures - I finally had my camera with me. This process is similar to etching (dry point - we don't use any acid)- they scratch into the plexi-glass to create a line drawing and the coloured bit is done using washi paper (called chine-collé). The class is a lot of fun - will try to take more photos - there are only three weeks left.

on monday we went to the royal winter fair - a yearly event that we enjoy - this year I remembered to wear my rubber boots - lliam is thinking - why are they putting me on this fake horse. The royal is at the same building as the One of a Kind show - I couldn't help but slightly hyperventilate knowing the show is only a few weeks away.

some print mentions - we have our popular alphabet and wood clouds in the One of a Kind Show gift guide - john's chair designs are in the Gestalten publication of Once Upon a Chair (will show photos later) - and we are also in the Toronto Life gift guide (thanks Janet for letting us know)-will have to pick up an issue and show you photos later.

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.