hair cut at home

I got a haircut at home today. First time. The doer is Bettina Zaga, who owns www.running-with-scissors.com—which I found through my old barter community, Dibspace. She is super and she also comes to office spaces. Imagine not having to wait or deal with all that salon crap. Check it out if you live in the greater Seattle.

a winter hootenanny

Our Holiday Craft Sale Hootenanny happened last Saturday and Sunday, from noon to five—a.k.a., this shop first official open studio. It hit the roof. The weather, the people, the goodies. Even the presses cooperated dearly. No trouble whatsoever; and we know that one press only can be a handful sometimes. Not these ones. I had two jobs running (never done that before!). It was so wonderful to get a complete broadside printed in a matter of minutes, both passes with their respective colors, within a couple of steps from each other. Usually I have only one job going per pair of hands: always just mine.

But, there were many pair of hands this last weekend inside Miss Cline Press shop. The presses got full attention. From neighbors that I got to know and friends and their friends, which become my friends among metal type and paper talk.  

The sweet deal was to get to see the space of the studio AND all my work live AND get to see the presses in full operation as well as run them with your own right foot (what I noticed about everybody used). It was quite whimsical: I saw people looking at the already printed keepsake broadsides with normal interest and then I saw their faces lit up when they printed their own, same design, same paper. It was as they just now looked at it for the first time. That's the magic of getting your hands dirty, rarely can your brain resist the engagement.



Specifically for this, I put together a small broadside, to be taken as a keepsake. "Miss Cow" is probably about 100 years old, made out of lead, a little damaged, but, OH, printing still so well! What a personality. MISS COW itself is written with my old wood monotype set, a condensed and elegant but informal typeface, I was told made by hand, the actual letter carved out of the block, forming one piece (instead of having the face of letter attached to the block). The rest of the text was set in old metal type. Not sure it was all going to work. It did graciously.

On Saturday, when the sun bathed the shop all the way, and with some friends who graced us with a long visit, we relaxed into the vibes of the studio. Somebody told me these old presses have a soul, having been around so long. Perhaps. Something mellow but strong was sensibly there with us. Maybe if they could speak, they'd say "cheers" and go on printing, celebrating in rhythm their re-awakening.

More photos here.

You can acquire tags, broadsides, stationery, bookmarks, frames, Little Shirleys vases and a special edition of MISS COW from our craft sale at www.missclinepress.etsy.com or contact me and come by.

I love pottery!

I was gifted a big batch of Little Shirleys from some work I did for a non-profit in Seattle, Material Good. I designed their logo, business cards and product tags for their main product, the Little Shirley (I will share the design soon). Needless to say, I fell in love even before I saw them. The thought of small ceramic vases of various earth tones with gracious little flowers lit up the craft side of my brain. While I want to keep all of them (gee, it's hard, so many pretty colors!) I decided to share the love. I'm selling some of them at my Etsy store. For the folks in Seattle, feel free to come by my house and pick straight from my batch (yeah, yeah, mine are hidden already). I tell you right out: the choosing is no easy job.

Here's more on how Material Good mixes philantrophy and pottery:

A Little Shirley is a small vase, weighing no more than a pound, that fits comfortably in the plan of your hand. Each one is made by hand, making no two alike, in small batches.

They are simple, timeless, and carry a brilliant message of remembrance, hope, and generosity. An unexpected outcome of the Little Shirleys has been how they seem to foster a dialogue between individuals. They themselves carry a powerful story, which inspires people to share their own. Communication is crucial in making positive change in our community, creating understanding and personal healing from difficult experiences.

The goal of this non-profit is to honor lives lost, inspire conversation and healing among those affected, while raising money for cancer research. To create a simple, effective pathway for people to make a positive change in their community, while taking home a product that promotes social responsibility, honors individuals struggles past and present, and gives hope for a brighter future.

A large portion of the profits from the sale of Little Shirleys go directly towards cancer research. Other local change-making organizations will be also receiving proceeds in a near future.

As for my own Little Shirleys, I love to put herbs or just-cut flowers from the yard. They look adorable about anywhere in the house or even in the yard. I see myself changing them from place to place to see how they look. Windowsills are good one. They look adorable in groups of 3 or more. They will probably be my favorite Holiday gift.

By the way, Shirley was my client's grandmother, who's battle against cancer inspired her to start this project. Shirley loved daisies, hence the logo.

hootenanny: day 1

A happy sun-bathed bazaar kicked off today at noon at Miss Cline Press print shop. Being on the right side of the street, our friend the sun comes in cherished and strong, warming our eager faces. Friends, neighbors and just-made acquaintances were over. I chatted with many nice folks while helping them print a keepsake or pick delightful gifts. An enjoyable day it was. More tomorrow!

cortona café

Steve and I always talk about when urbanities are going to start to pop here and there on Union St. and adjacencies. Well, finally. There comes Steve from the new addition to our neighborhood life: Cortona Café. They opened about 2 weeks ago and we are so happy to have a coffee shop by our house now. We're probably going to remember with nostalgia in a far future the day when there was nothing happening by our street, and everything was residential and calm, but for now we actually love it. The building where Cortona is located was built for "live and work". It has 5 spaces below, 4 are occupied by the Café, some sort of office, a hair waxing studio (Browlick) and a rug/paint artist.

For me it is handy because I like to have a super close place for meetings, as I am always late in good old Latin-American fashion. They have a lovely mezzanine equipped for meetings (this coffee shop is all about being a space for the community). The place is small and cozy, but bright (with huge windows that catch the morning sun), with great recycled pieces, wi-fi and loads of outlets for all of your laptops. Open from 6 to 10 every day, it has already become the place for the locals. They reached 200 fans on Facebook in a week. Were we all Central Districters desperate or what?

The picture was taken from my door step.

morning gold

Beets
lettuce
ginger
celery
lemon
beet greens
carrots
apple.

And color for the soul.

vermelion cubes

The cubes we ordered finally arrived. Gee, we've lived in this house for 4 years and have that table for maybe 3... and no decent chairs. The ones we had were restored, reused, recycled by me, after I bought each for $1 in a garage sale in... in the woods, like Monroe -- somewhere by Lake Stevens, on my red-neck years. Man, I just now saw how those chairs sucked! OK, not true. I put a LOT of work on them. But they did not make any justice to this table, right? The cubes (or Ottomans in Americano English) made the table actually look smaller, or it gave it correct proportion. I always thought the table was too big, it doesn't look like that anymore. They also match the girth of the couch, low and blocky. It's a different area now. We had dinner on them yesterday. Steve cooked a banquet, totally a coincidence with their date of arrival. A whole chicken French way. Foodie-goodie!