BAGGU

Loving these colors, from BAGGU as on Poppytalk's Pinterest board

Ladies of Letterpress Conference: Social Media

If you have been following my blog, facebook, or twitter accounts - you are well aware that I attended the first Ladies of Letterpress conference two weekends ago in Asheville, NC. 


The organization is relatively new - it was started a couple of years ago by printers Jessica C. White and Kseniya Thomas and now has over 1100 members. The conference took place at the Renaissance Hotel in Asheville for panel discussions & a trade/printer's fair, and also at Asheville Bookworks, a community printshop. Experts demonstrated various techniques related to printmaking. 


Ever the nerd, I took lots of notes on the discussions and demonstrations that were particularly relevant to me. I took a few photos, but ended up more frequently opting for pen & paper to scribble comments instead of reaching for my camera. 


I'm still trying to wrap my head around social media and I found the "Tweeting in Lead" panel very helpful. I've typed out my notes for anyone who's interested.




Social Media & Letterpress
Nole from Oh So Beautiful Paper graciously shared lots of tip about blogs. She addressed the importance of keeping your own blog with your own work, but also submitting to editorial blogs (like hers, or others).


Blogging for yourself:
- Let your client & potential clients get to know you better: post recent work that displays what kind of work you do. Also post about things that let them know who you are: design influence, color palettes, food, music - but keep it related to your personality & brand. She pointed out that a blog is basically a virtual interview. 
-  SEO (Search Engine Optimization): Nole recommends choosing a few key words that describe your brand, or words that people would type in a search engine to find you. These words should be sprinkled throughout your posts and also image names should include there words. Also, for better SEO results, your blog should be apart of your website (ex: website.com/blog)
- Blog on a regular schedule: clients may assume you have switched gears with something else if you haven't blogged for three months or so. Also, its generally better to have consistency in the frequency of your posts. 
- Build blogging into your work schedule. If you keep a blog, it should be given its own time slot, just like responding to emails. 


Getting featured on editorial blogs:
- PR = free editorial media, Marketing = paid media. With PR, it is a case of quality over quantity. A well done editorial blog post may be more beneficial than a paid small advertisement on a blog. 
- Read the submission guidelines & submit a complete package.
- Nole does NOT recommend sending a generic introductory email that says "Hi here's a link to my website" - blog editors don't have time to poke around your site.
- Make sure your work is in the aesthetic of the blog you are submitting to. Find appropriate blogs to match your style.
- Know your goal for submitting. Is it to get more clients? Enhance your SEO? More brand visibility? 
- Submit to one blog at a time. Quality over quantity. That said, its ok to give the recipient a deadline for which to respond to you. If you don't hear back, follow up once and then it is fine to move on to the next blog. 
- Use their real names (ex. Hi Nole, not Hi Oh So Beautiful Paper). It shows you know the blog and have done a bit of research.
- Never send press releases to blogs. A press release says "Here is some news about me" not "Here is something worth blogging about."


Allison Chapman from Igloo Press gave some social media insight from a printer's perspective. A few points & suggestions that I found helpful:


- Consider having 2 twitter accounts, one for yourself and personal comments, and one for your business and studio updates.
- The number of twitter followers is not important. What matters is how engaged your followers are. Are they making purchases? Coupon codes are helpful for this purpose. 
- Use Facebook & Twitter to explain what letterpress is by showing recent projects and works in progress. Give a sense of what your studio feels like - make it a destination.
- Split your facebook posts & tweets between informational, fun, and sales pitches. 


Happy tweeting! 

Julia Child: My Life in France

I finished reading Julia Child's My Life in France last week and wow, what an inspiration. I picked it up a few weeks ago, at the same time I was beginning to edit the text for my website. I was a little self conscious about my tone - I'm pretty happy go lucky, and tend to overuse the word "lovely." I wanted to be myself but not be over the top. As I was reading Julia, it dawned on me that she had her own unique, happy voice and I doubt it ever crossed her mind how she came across to others - she was strong in who she was. 


In addition, Julia has inspired me in so many ways. Her curiosity to research and experiment - when she wanted to teach Americans how to bake French bread, she didn't just throw together a recipe. She tried every possible flour, yeast, water combination. When she still wasn't yielding the results she wanted, she went to a Parisian baker who gave her some pointers. Months later she figured it out, due to her dedication to her craft. 


Another moment that stood out: after her book Mastering the Art of French Cooking was such a success, she dove in to write Volume II and also was just getting the TV program going. She and Paul were super crazed and debated putting off plans to visit friends in Provence. They looked at each other and said nothing is more important than friends; work can wait. As I am busy building my own career, I take this piece of advice to heart. 


To me, the book is about a woman filled with love - love for cooking, for learning, for teaching, for working hard, for her husband & friends, and love for her life. Thank you Julia! 

Greetings from Asheville, NC

Down south in the Tennessee & North Carolina Blue Ridge mountains for the weekend. My parents have moved from the charming, historic Savannah up to vibrant and exciting Chattanooga. I've always felt at home in the mountains, and the view during my flight to Chattanooga was just breathtaking. Mom and I took a little road trip up to Knoxville to visit YeeHaw Industries Letterpress Studio (pictures to come) and had a great lunch at the Tomato Head. We are in Asheville for the weekend for the first Ladies of Letterpress Conference. I'm so excited to learn and to meet other ladies in the industry. Mom and I are sitting in my favorite bookstore/coffeeshop, Malaprops, catching up emails, but are about to poke around Asheville before the letterpress festivities start.  I likely will be tweeting during the conference so feel free to follow my tweets. Happy weekend! 

The Cone Sisters & Henri Matisse

I went to the Jewish Museum yesterday afternoon and was blown away by the exhibit about the Cone Sisters & their art collection. They were from Baltimore and very revolutionary in their interest in Modern Art. Their brothers were in the textile industry and when their father died, asked them to go to New York City to spend $300 on items to enliven the family home. They spent the money on 5 pieces of new modern art, which began a lifetime of collecting. This thoughtful exhibit showcases their exquisite art collection, but what fascinated me was their friendship with Henri Matisse. Seeing his work in this context really struck a chord with me - the colors seemed louder & purer & more beautiful than ever before.

"Colors have a beauty of their own which must be preserved, as one strives to preserve pure tones in music. It is a question of organization and construction that is sensitive to maintaining this beautiful freshness of color... What counts most with color are relationships... No doubt there are a thousand different ways of working with color. But when one composes with it, like a musician with harmonies, it is simply a question of emphasizing the differences." - Henri Matisse, 1945

Pony Swim by Marissa Textor

I love this graphite drawing so much: Pony Swim by Marissa Textor.

Summertime Stationery Special

Line-dry colors

When I lived in Cortona, Italy for a fine-art study abroad program in the fall of 2005, we washed all of our clothes in the bathtub by hand, and then walked them outside to the clothesline behind our dorm room. This meant doing your laundry not only depended on when you had the time, but also on the weather. I learned the Italians especially do not believe in driers. Our professor told the story of an Italian friend who came to visit him in the States and how the friend found any branch outside to hang his wet laundry on, because "driers are the devil, don't you know!"


As summer rolls on, I am trying to remember part of my intention for leaving the corporate world. My intention for a calmer, simpler, more beautiful life. I did my laundry this morning at the local laundomat (not quite as convenient as a washer in my house, but better than washing it all in the tub!) but decided that any piece that I really loved, I would take home to line dry. Imagine my delight, as I was hanging, the beautiful palette of blues, grays, greens, and whites.. perfect for summer. I dream of the time and space when I can hang everything outside in my garden to dry, but in the meantime, my bathtub will do, and I will be grateful for the beauty that is there. 

Wednesday Breakfast

Ha may as well keep the breakfast thing going. Its been so fun! 


Today's menu: chopped scallions, zucchini, and spinach in a skillet with some olive oil & salt until soft & yummy. I put those in a bowl while I fried 2 small local farm eggs & cut up some small heirloom cherry tomatoes. Greens in the bowl, then the tomatoes, then eggs on top. 

Meanwhile I'm waiting for a big fancy paper/envelope delivery. Excited to spend this afternoon letterpressing wedding stationery for a friend in Santa Barbara, and also moving announcements for my parents. Finishing up a website design for a friend, and also for myself. Busy, busy but loving the self-employed life!! 

Time for Breakfast

I'm a morning person by nature. I'm really just not a big sleeper. Though I no longer set a morning alarm for work, I find that I'm still waking up with the sun. The joyous part though, is instead of racing to work, I am really enjoying a leisurely morning before starting my day. Yesterday I made toast with dijon mustard & a fried egg with an iced Americano. Today, a spinach/strawberry/banana smoothie with a cold raw/vegan breakfast salad consisting of heirloom baby tomatoes, thin cucumber slices, avocado, and olive oil with fresh dill. 

Looking at inspiring blogs, writing in my own blog, jotting to-do lists for the day... I'm still busy as ever, but now its my own busy, with time for a good breakfast, and I like that.

Sunday Evening

After a total insane week at work (and another one coming up - albeit my last at MSL!), I also spent all day yesterday & today working on my website, various letterpress design jobs, and trying to get all my files from my MSL computer. 


Home now from a yummy sushi dinner & Blue Marble ice-cream. Malbec in hand, feet up, the Discreet Charm of the Borgeiouse on Netflix streaming.. what more could I want?

PS - How awesome would this be for a Halloween costume?!

Willing to be Lucky

It is with a joyful heart that I announce to you, my dear readers, my big news. I have quit my job from Martha Stewart Living, from the publishing industry, and from the corporate world. I am now officially a starving artist, and nothing could make me happier. I am free.

I moved to New York City in August of 2007 with a simple dream in my heart: to be a graphic designer at Domino Magazine. With some good luck, that dream worked out for me. In my truest heart of hearts, I believe in what E.B. White is quoted to have said some years ago: 

Here is New York. It can destroy an individual, or it can fulfill him, depending a good deal on luck. No one should come to New York to live unless he is willing to be lucky.

The combination of great luck and much hard work also landed me incredible jobs at New York Magazine, and most recently as an art director at Martha Stewart Living. I have been SO LUCKY! 

I have been blessed with an optimistic outlook on life. Its sometimes borderline comical and almost always cheesy & hopelessly romantic. I credit a lot of my good luck to my optimistic outlook.  I also grew up with the understanding that:

For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall, much be required. 


(Which, apparently is from the BIBLE, as I just learned from a quick google search - Luke 12:48. I always thought that came from an American President..)

In other words, I've always felt like I owed it to those less fortunate. Those who may have the same drive & vision I do, but not the opportunity to see it to fruition. I am so blessed and therefore, I owe it to myself and to the world to be the best that I can be, and chase my dreams as honestly as I can. If I may be so bold to stand on a soapbox for a second, and declare that so much of my generation strives to get by on as little work as possible meanwhile feeling entitled to countless luxuries, I find it utterly fulfilling and creatively satisfying to truly work as hard as I can creating my own work. 

It is with this in mind that I have left the corporate office to pursue my own work and my own direction. Working at these three amazing magazines has taught me so much - both design skills, professional etiquette and how to be successful under pressure. Ha I will stop now before this starts to sound like a cover letter.

Below is my first page I designed at domino, and in a few weeks my website will be up & running & displaying my favorite pieces work I've done in the past several years. 

Father's Day Cards

I made these colorful Father's Day Cards a few weeks back. They are available for sale in my Etsy shop. Show some love for dad - Father's Day is June 19. Still plenty of time to order!

Cool paper idea

Love this image from American Songwriter Magazine. Such a cool idea to use textured, colored paper to add to the silo'd photograph. 

Boycott Urban Outfitters Inc.

This spring I finally decided to see what the fuss was about and joined Twitter. Its pretty fun - its like facebook but instead of seeing status updates of high school friends sharing with the world their work/gym schedule or a million photos of babies, I read cool bits of news from designers that I admire. I saw this retweeted yesterday but someone that I follow and retweeted as well:

Here is the link: http://imakeshinythings.tumblr.com/post/5855716317/not-cool-urban-outfitters-not-cool


I was upset to see that Urban Outfitters was blatantly ripping off an independent designer. I thought of my shopping cart at anthropologie.com and decided, you know what, I'd rather source only local/vintage goods instead of anything from them. I've always challenged myself to buy used/vintage whenever possible out of the spirit of reuse/recycle and but of course, like many of us, new, shiny (and usually cheaper, made-in-China) things are always a temptation. 


This morning I looked on twitter and saw this post:

http://www.myaimistrue.com/2011/05/urban-outfitters-ripoff-trending-topic/


Pretty incredible! My first thought yesterday was "Man that's such a bummer, but what is she going to do? Sue Urban Outfitters?"How amazing that social media could stir up so much fuss and made Urban Outfitters take the item off their site!! So cool! Go crafters! 

Christopher Baker

Wow, I just want to dive into Christopher Baker's breathtaking, romantic photographs. 

Pineapple farm

Stumbled across this photo today in the January 2007 issue of MSL. Pineapple harvest day in Maui. Shot by John Kernick. Amazing.

Rake Jewelry Display

Love this jewelry display idea from the Feb/March 2011 issue of ReadyMade. What a delight to see that it was styled by my friend Diana Yen! 

Work Spaces

I was telling my friend Catharine over g-chat how messy my desk space and took a picture with my phone and emailed it to her. (Don't you love technology these days?). But then I thought, you know, there's something beautiful about the messy, current, working state - not as clean & tidy as I'd like, but just as is.

Catharine sent me pics back of her own desk. She's a copy writer at an advertising firm in LA: 

Then I had the idea to ask a few more friends to participate. 




Meredith works in Brooklyn at an Art Studio Space - she works on the administrative side and also as a painter. She kindly sent me pics of both of her work spaces:

Emily works in Tulum, Mexico as a photo producer & also as head server at a top tourist restaurant. 

Sally is in Washington, DC and works for a political strategy, consulting and fundraising firm:

Ashley owns and runs a pearl jewelry business out of Atlanta, GA:

Thanks to my pals for sharing. Possibly more to come! 

Summer Veggies

Flipping through old copies of MSL. Can't wait for summer & grilled farmers market veggies! Photo by Victoria Pearson, MSL June 2004