The View from Paper Mountain

Ahhhhhhh!

A piece of a piece...

Nummer acht (Everything is going to be alright)

Guido van der Werve

I saw this piece a few years ago in Basel, Switzerland. I was completely taken aback. Even at a crowded art fair; it was so mesmerizing, the room and the other viewers fell away.

I continue to think about this piece, often. With good art, I find myself returning. The more you think about it, the more it unfolds. If you ever get a chance to see this in person, don't pass it up.

Chicken

Now before you start thinking, "why the hell am i looking at these pictures together? and isn't taking pictures of yourself in the mirror kind of myspace 5 years ago?" let me explain. Yesterday was a big day for me. I roasted my first whole chicken. Not really noteworthy for most people, but for some reason I was mighty proud of myself. You can imagine that a lady who's proud of the fact that she cooked her first whole chicken can't possibly be expected to carve it, and so, the duty was passed off to my friend Brent who came over for the occasion. (see 2nd picture from the top) Well, guess who ended up resigning from carving duty due to performance anxiety and poor knife skills (see 2nd picture from top).... Brent. So yes, I ended up carving it. It ain't differential calculus folks.

On to explaining the top and bottom pictures. The top picture is of a fork and knife I bought at Erie Basin in Red Hook that i'm kind of in love with. You have to eat chicken with something so, it kind of fits. The bottom picture is of me and my brother's cat, named CHICKEN. (see it all makes sense now, right?) I'm cat sitting for him while he is off honeymooning. Chicken is known for hopping up on Alexis' shoulder like a pirate's parrot, but she's never been comfortable enough to do it with me. Well, never say never because she spent about 20 minutes on my shoulders during coffee time this morning. Now who's a pirate?!

I-L-L-U-S-T-R-A-T-I-N'

The top two images are taken from the story Frederick by Leo Lionni. I have really vivid/ fond memories of reading this book with my dad as a kid. The illustrations struck me back then and i've been thinking a lot about them as of late. The third image comes from another Leo Lionni book entitled Tico and the Golden Wings. Beautiful. The last image is from the Regional Assembly of Text via DesignSponge. It's like a Lionni illustration for grown-ups. Also, Brown Parcel LOVES bears.

Workin' on it...

I am sure all of you have read this book. But if you haven't, a small piece of your childhood was stolen from you while you weren't looking.

All in the Golden Afternoon

"All in the golden afternoon
Full leisurely we glide;
For both our oars, with little skill,
By little arms are plied,
While little hands make vain pretense
Our wanderings to guide."
-Lewis Carroll

This version of Alice in Wonderland belongs to McDavid, c/o his mother, and it's wear and tear only increases it's beauty in my opinion. This edition was released in 1946 by Grosset & Dunlap, Inc. and features illustrations by John Tenniel. I think the rabbit pattern on the cover is just about perfect for this story. When you're designing a book it is critical that the outside and inside compliment each other. Every aspect has to pull it's own weight. I know most everyone considers this story a classic, but it is for damn good reason.

Hello Childhood.

I fancy myself a curious lady. I ask questions, a lot. Over the years, my friends have just grown to accept that about me. The questions are not really the "If you were a tree, what kind of tree would you be?" sort (although I don't mind that one so much), but more hypothetical non-realities, that I wish were realities, so I ask about them. For ex: If Cast Away actually happened to you, but before the crash you could grab one book and a lifetime's supply of one food, what would you bring? Also, you can only eat this food. That's it, no coconuts, no fish from the barrier island reefs, just this food (I find my questions often need clarification). Most of the time, I myself don't know my response before I ask them.

It just so happens that this is one of the few questions I have an answer to..... were I stranded on a desert island, I would bring an original illustrated copy of Alice in Wonderland and peanut butter.

What does all of this have to do with the picture and video above? Well truthfully not a whole lot, BUT it is one example of how much I love children's literature. Like I seriously love it. So, in honor of my building excitement for Spike Jonze's release of Where the Wild Things Are, i'm dedicating this week on the blog to all of my favorite children's books and illustrations. This is like spirit week in high school, but way better. Anybody who has favorites please feel free to share.

Yes, please.

I am missing me some France these days.

It's just a little crush.

courtesy of lescarnetsdudesign

courtesy of FFFFOUND

Found these images online while taking a snack break today. Menswear and worn in
furniture really activate my swoon reflex. I'd probably be a gay antiques dealer had a
been born a boy, but alas, we deal with the cards we're dealt right? In the studio printing a book cover for Lightful Press today. I'll post pictures of it later on
this week!

Here's looking at you kid.

This is a video that was shot in our studio, by my brother/director (who is seriously the best), a few weeks ago while we were printing his wedding invitation. It gives you a sense of what it is that we do once we are past the pre-press work. I am in no way a letterpress expert, although i'm almost positive there are no gross inaccuracies, so forgive me if your views/ methods differ. McDavid doesn't appear in the video due to a brief bout of camera shyness.

Yay letterpress!

paperless

Don't get me wrong, I make a living by making invitations, prints, etc. out of paper, but with everybody's increasing awareness oh how, why, and where earth's resources are being used, it's no wonder that people are turning to means other than post to get the word out about their big day. This is a paperless wedding invitation that I came across via Inhabitat's Green wedding guide and wanted to share it. I'm sorry if everybody's already seen this, I can be a little bit of a late comer where youtube's concerned.

I'm a sucker for stuff like this, and I thought this video was done particularly well.

American Made...

The power of Typography.

The Runts of the Litter

One of our photo shoot "props".

Micah hand embroidered one of his t-shirts with a little Brown
Parcel Press logo. BPP, represent. This shirt made my week.

Brown Parcel's studio mascot Alabee (Baby bee) working hard.

This week we're working on giving the website a little bit of a face lift, and so, it was time to break out the camera and photograph some of our more recent work. Above are a few photographs that just didn't fit in with the rest of the bunch. I really love me some good food styling/ photography, and so I think that a little part of me just wanted to see if I couldn't somehow work Peter Pan doughnuts in with our work. (If you haven't every been to Peter Pan doughnuts in Greenpoint, drop what you're doing now and go. I'm sure we'll dedicate a post to them one of these days.)

keep it simple...