Tag Archive for 'minneapolis'

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Open Studio For MAPC Attendees

Lots of printmakers are sauntering about Minneapolis / St Paul this week for the Mid America Print Council conference. We welcome these attendees to visit our studio during the conference on Friday this week from 5-8 PM. Studio On Fire is one of the largest and most vibrant commercial letterpress shops in the Midwest. We produce custom letterpress work from designers around the world. Join us during these hours to talk shop, see the presses and ask questions. Sorry, our production schedule will not permit other visiting hours.

Our Address:

Studio On Fire, 1621 East Hennepin Avenue Suite B10, Minneapolis MN 55414

phone 612 379 3000

Note: make sure you map us for EAST Hennepin Ave. – We are on the edge of Northeast, at 16th Ave SE and E. Hennepin. It’s about a 10 minute ride from downtown Minneapolis.

Published on October 13, 2010 in News. 1 Comment Tags: MAPC, Mid America, minneapolis, new world, old world, open studio, Print Conference, printers, printing, printmakers, studio on fire, university of minnesota, uofm.

Letterpress at AIGA MN Design Camp Workshop

This post is a recap of the fun we had this last weekend leading a press free, hand style letterpress workshop at AIGA Minnesota Design Camp. We were located in the wine cellar at Grandview Lodge in Nisswa, Minnesota. Over 300 designers attend this event annually. We did three sessions of this 1.5 hour long workshop with over 120 total attendees.

The process was about putting down lots of ink quickly, creating textures, layers and happenstance in the layout and printing. No press required, no two prints alike.

Studio On Fire brought in lots of good stuff:

10 large cases of our woodtype collection (about 400lbs of type, mostly Hamilton faces)

Tape and cardboard (served as the bed of the press, tape held type in rough position)

A wadded up paper towel was the “printing press” (used with hands to burnish the back of the sheets)

Several dozen CSA images supplied on photopolymer plates (permission of CSA archives)

Wood grain background textures (blasted with a powerwasher, then relief carved)

Lots of good ol’ French Paper to print on (poptone sweet tooth and many many remnants)

Ink and brayers (oil based inks and soft rubber rollers)

It was a fluid process and a good chance for everyone to step away from the computer. A huge thanks AIGA Minnesota for having us and to the AIGA volunteers that supplied a steady stream of nature wash solvent to clean up and redistribute the wood type and images. And thanks to Phong Tran for his photo contributions.

If you would like Studio On Fire to do a workshop with your group, let’s talk. Please do contact us for more information.

Published on October 9, 2010 in Letterpress, News, Posters and Printing Tips and Tricks. 2 Comments Tags: AIGA, brayers, cases, CSA, design camp, french paper, grandview lodge, hand, hand style, hands on, images, ink, layers, Letterpress, making, minneapolis, minnesota, nature wash, nisswa, paper, photopolymer, polymer plate, poster, powerwash, press, print, printing, printmaking, solvent, studio on fire, tactile, texture, wine cellar, wood, woodgrain, workshop.

Space150 V26 Business Cards

Just launched this last week was the 26th version of the Space150 identity. These guys change up their identity every 150 days. They designed this business card with lots of production love. Here are the production steps:

1. Custom pasted triple layer stock. Black with a white middle, 330lb total weight.

2. Black foil on the logo side

3. Letterpress printed metallic ink on the info side

4. Die cut with little “snake bite” marks

See previous Space150 card versions we’ve printed here and here and here.

Published on September 24, 2010 in Business Cards and Letterpress. 1 Comment Tags: black, business card, Design, die cut, die cutting, duplex, foil, heavy, layer, Letterpress, metallic, minneapolis, paper, ply, snake, space150, stock, thick, three, triple, triplex, v26.

50 Years Letterpress Invitations

We think getting letterpress printing is even better than a gold watch. It is a great production option for special corporate occasions too, not just weddings. This invitation to celebrate Dunhams 50 years in business was designed by Riley Hayes Advertising. The type driven design is accented with a matching bright red matching edge color.

These pieces were inked with 3 color on one side with a tonal varnish on the other. We printed an invitation and map card together on a new favorite sheet – French Poptone Sweet Tooth White 280lb Cover. We like it enough that we are now custom making it to keep on hand as a house sheet. The thickness is about 40 points (.038 inch) which is a matching thickness to Crane Lettra 220lb. The good things are that it is less expensive than a cotton sheet like Lettra and smoother in surface, not as toothy a finish. It takes a great impression and works great for edge coloring as well.

Published on September 17, 2010 in Invitations (non wedding) and Letterpress. 0 Comments Tags: 220lb, 280lb, 50 years, anniversary, brushing, cards, color, coloring, crane, custom, dunham, edge, french, heavy, ink, lettra, minneapolis, minnesota, paper, poptone, red, riley hayes, staining, sweet tooth, thickness, tipping, tonal.

Custom Hand Lettered Wedding Invitations

These are some beautiful wedding invitations designed by Anchalee Chambundabongse just letterpress printed here at Studio On Fire. The variety of the hand drawn type in this invite is super well done. Mixing up lettering like this looks deceptively simple. The texture of the diverse type styles in this layout maintains simplicity without looking cluttered. The format is fun too and keeps the type big so the lettering details come through. The invitation unfurls as a long trifolded card. A nice punch of blue color with an acorn printed slip sheet and matching blue rsvp envelope. The blue paper stock is French Poptone and the invitation is Gruppo Cordenons Canaletto 111lbC.

We’ve had the pleasure of letterpress printing some other beautiful projects designed by Anchalee you can check out on our blog – coasters and cigar bands and cd packaging.

Published on August 31, 2010 in Wedding. 3 Comments Tags: acorn, anchalee, blue, blue on blue ink, canaletto, chambundabongse, custom, folded, french, hand drawn, invitation, lettering, minneapolis, minnesota, poptone, RSVP, tonal, trifold, type, Wedding.

Neve Sportswear Business Cards

These cards were designed by Brew Creative as part of a brand upgrade for Neve, a premium ski and fashion sportswear company based in Boulder, Colorado.

We letterpress printed these cards on two sides using Neenah Classic Crest Solar White 165lb cover with red and gray inks. The cards are finished in a matching red edge color.

Published on June 24, 2010 in Business Cards and Letterpress. 0 Comments Tags: 165lb, boulder, brand, brew, Business Cards, CO, color, colorado, creative, edge, fashion, Letterpress, minneapolis, neenah, neve, print, red, ski, solar, white.

Taiga – Douglas Quin Letterpress LP

Fathom, the recent release LP from Taiga records, is a subtle and textural object of beauty and a sensory experience. The drawings were perfectly suited for letterpress and translated crisply to the printed edition. This is the description from Taiga:

“Douglas Quin’s Fathom brings together four extended underwater soundscapes—two each from the Arctic and Antarctic. The recordings have been gathered over a period of 15 years, capturing an extraordinary palette of sonic voices, events, spaces, and textures. To the human ear, these soundscapes are haunting and otherworldly; yet they are very much of this world—out of earreach. The tracks are minimally edited and are his first field recordings to be archived in vinyl. Included with the release is a sealed envelope containing an insert with specific locations, animals, and other elements heard, giving listeners the option to absorb sound with or without association. The envelope is printed with liner notes and comments from Dutch journalist and music critic René van Peer. Mastered by James Plotkin, cut direct to metal and pressed on 200 gram virgin-vinyl, Fathom comes packaged in custom letterpressed materials and is presented as a limited edition of 1000.”

There was clear, white, and black vinyl versions released. Only the black is still available.

The packaging is pressed in gray and a tonal white ink. We letterpress printed the outer sleeve on a custom duplexed stock – gray on the interior, white on the exterior. We were able to print on a preconverted inner envelope which accompanies the vinyl and containing the insert.

Published on June 17, 2010 in Letterpress and packaging. 2 Comments Tags: black, converted, cougar, die cut, diecut, douglas quin, drawing, duplex, envelope, fathom, field, gray, Letterpress, LP, minneapolis, music, print, printed, printer, printing, record, recordings, records, sleeve, sound, soundscape, taiga, texture, tonal.

Tune Posters – Split Ink Fountain

These two posters came to us from agency friends at Bailey Lauerman, illustrated by the ever fabulous Rilla Alexander of Rinzen. This TUNE project was sponsored via federal grant by the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services. Bailey Lauerman launched TUNE which uses music to inspire young women to make better choices and live healthier lives. There are 8 selected artists out of 150 entries, and their music was written and recorded specific for this project. Songs are free to download from the TUNE website.

We printed the posters with a split ink fountain using florescent pink and blue inks which blended to a nice purple in the middle. We kept the lateral ink distribution setting at maximum spread for a good blend in the poster. It was printed on French Paper Poptone Whip Cream 140lbC.

This is an iphone video of the job on press. Lo res, but you’ll get the idea of how the fountain looks.

Published on May 10, 2010 in Letterpress and Posters. 2 Comments Tags: 140lb, 140lbC, alexander, bailey lauerman, berlin, blue, fountain, french, ink, Letterpress, minneapolis, minnesota, nebraska, paper, pink, poptone, poster, printer, printing, rilla, rinzen, split, studio on fire, tune, whip cream.

Come Visit Us – Open Studio Invitation

On Friday, April 9th begining at 4 PM we are having an Open Letterpress Studio. Come and visit, get out of the office early, bring a friend for a delicious brew of design and letterpress here at Studio On Fire. If you like grilled butchers shop hot dogs, some local brews and other treats, than this is good way to start your Friday night. See all our letterpress beasts and the now famous wall of beer cans. Our “new” 1950′s Swiss Geitz Platen press is suppose to arrive from Germany just in time for the event. We’ll have lots of letterpress samples to look at and a project on press with a print for you to take away. Plus we will have a new tee shirt for sale. (preview below) Hope to see you there.

We are at:

1621 East Hennepin Avenue #226 Minneapolis MN 55414

Enter the building on 16th Avenue SE and proceed to the second floor.

Call 612 379 3000 if you get turned around.

Drop a comment if you are excited to visit.

Published on March 31, 2010 in Letterpress and News. 9 Comments Tags: beer, brew, Design, hot dogs, Letterpress, minneapolis, minnesota, open studio, party, t shirt, tee shirt, tshirt.

Katie Kirk – Office Letterpress Print

Katie Kirk illustrated this fantastic little print to celebrate the fifth anniversary of Eight Hour Day. You can buy one of the edition in their etsy shop.

We printed it in two color letterpress on French Paper Muscletone Pure White 140lb C, at an 8.5 x 11 size.

Published on March 9, 2010 in Letterpress and Posters. 0 Comments Tags: 140lb, Design, edition, eight hour day, eighthourday, french, gray, illustration, illustrator, katie kirk, Letterpress, minneapolis, minnesota, muscletone, office, press, print, two color, yellow.

Feast Mpls Poster – Split Fountain Ink

Feast is a recurring public dinner designed to use community-driven financial support to democratically fund new and emerging artmakers. We did a poster for the upcoming event here at Studio On Fire. The size is 18 x 24. It was a hand drawn sketch, scanned and converted to a bitmap tiff to preserve the sketch texture. It was printed with a split ink fountain. Our split fountain had fluorescent orange ink on one side of the press and light blue ink on the other side, creating a nice purple gradient in the middle.

Published on March 8, 2010 in Design, Posters and Printing Tips and Tricks. 1 Comment Tags: arts, blue, community, day-glo, Design, drawing, drawn, effect, feast, feastmpls, fluorescent, format, fountain, gradient, ink, large, Letterpress, minneapolis, minnesota, orange, poster, print, printer, seward, size, sketch, split.

Iron Beast Poster – Toys In The Attic Show

This is our letterpress poster for the Toys In The Attic show opening at the Soo Visual Arts Center on Dec 4th from 6 to 9PM. The show features both custom toys and toy inspired posters. Proceeds benefit Toys For Tots. Hey, that’s tomorrow night! We hope to see you there.

These beasts are in fact our toys. The graphic beasts are constructed from various press parts and form into a crest that commemorates ten years of printing here at Studio On Fire. The dog latin phrase reads “Iron Beasts Make Great Beauty”. It is printed in fluorescent and dark silver inks on Crane Lettra Flo White 220lbC at 13 x 13 size.

It was ten years ago this month back in 1999 that the first C&P was lowered into the then basement studio. More to come on our own ten year anniversary party soon.

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