Calligraphy Flourish Friday - Field Trip

Don't you just love the look and feel of letterpress? This past Saturday -- along with fellow calligrapher, Kathy LaPorte, and stationer, Ghega Scolari -- I took a two-stop field trip to Franklin, Indiana.  It was a beautiful day, and our first stop was the Event Crashers open house.

Jay Williamson is the owner of Event Crashers Letterpress.  Above, Jay explains the process of printing on his original Heidelberg press.

I've worked on many wedding jobs that incorporated Jay's letterpressed pieces in their invitation suites.  He takes great pride in his craft and does excellent work.  

Although Jay has been in the offset printing business for many years, he didn't realize until a few years ago what a big demand there was in the wedding industry for letterpress. (Above left to right) Kathy, Ghega, and Nikki Pulfer discuss letterpress printing.  Nikki is a talented graphic designer and the one responsible for convincing Jay to blow the dust off his family's 120 year old Chandler & Price press. 

Jay demonstrates the letterpress process by printing some sample notecards on the Heidelberg.

Pretty!

Jay explains this press has been in his family for generations and is over 120 years old.  It was originally steam powered. 

It is a Chandler & Price and was converted to electric power in the 1920s.

Last year I hired Jay to print these notecards for me.  He letterpressed them on his Chandler & Price. I love, Love, LOVE them. 

A new generation begins.  Jay's son, David, prepares to print notecards for their open house guests. 

My name in type. Upside and backwards. (Somedays that is exactly how I feel!) :)

I love that the Williamsons take such pride in their family's craft and have passed it down from generation to generation.  In the photo above, David measures to be certain the type is properly centered prior to printing on their handpress.

Gifts are my Love Language!! Thank you Jay and David for the lovely notecards.

Event Crashers also does foil stamping.

Elegant!

Sample table featuring Event Crashers Letterpress products, many of which were designed by Nikki Pulfer.  

The second stop on our field trip was at Dolphin Papers.  I had not been to Dolphin Papers since they moved from the Fountain Square area of Indianapolis, and it was wonderful to see all their beautiful papers in person again.

Ed Funk of Dolphin Papers relieves Kathy and Ghega of their money. :)

So many beautiful papers all organized by color.

Most of Dolphin Papers' business comes from their webstore.  They sell a variety of paper for artists: decorative, watercolor, digital, and printmaking papers are their specialty.

Ghega, Ed and me in Ed's studio space.  He was working on some amazing, large canvases. Thanks to Ed for making us feel so welcome and giving us an inside look at Dolphin Papers.  

I've always loved field trips!

To learn more about letterpress and Event Crashers, CLICK HERE.

To learn more about Dolphin Papers, CLICK HERE.

To learn more about designer Nikki Pulfer, CLICK HERE.

To learn more about stationer Ghega Scolari, CLICK HERE.

To learn more about calligrapher Kathy LaPorte, ask me, because she doesn't have a website. :)

Go forth and flourish!

xo

Jane