My Baby, Lily!

In one of my earlier blogs, I briefly spoke about the Chandler and Price, New Style letterpress, I purchased from a wonderful couple in Brookline, MA. I'm really excited about getting this press - in spite of the many torturous attempts to have it moved, which I've yet to be able to get done. I have been told that I'm crazy for getting this press. My friends thinks it's archaic, my mother says that it's a monster and others say it's a risky first press. I don't care. I haven't even seen the press in person and I adore it. I saw one up and running at a printer in the Bronx, NY and I was mesmerized by the way the thing works. It's like a dance between you and the machine. A continuous rhythm of movement to create beautiful work. What's not to love?! I've never been so invested into something like this before. The whole prospect of learning about something that was once considered a dead practice, and being able to start my own business, is all very overwhelming. However, quite fulfilling as well. I'm hoping to be able to have a studio setup by next summer, where I'll put a lot of elbow grease into making my Lily blossom.

Jon Burgerman - the Coolest Gift Wrapping Ever!!!

At my job, AreaKids - a boutique children's store, we started carrying a small collection of Jon Burgerman gift wrapping paper. I was so psyched when I saw them for the first time. Unlike your traditional, flowery or plain wrapping, the British artist and illustrator penned these fun, colourful, graffiti-like images filled with incredibly quirky, goofy, cute characters.

Though childlike, they can certainly appeal to adults as well.
As an adult myself - I only claim this on rare occassions - I absolutely adore his work. He also creates these designs for clothing and accessories, as well as on canvas to use as creative wall art, and many other cool merchandise. He also just created a superb line of figurines for KidRobot - another favourite of mine - entitled, 'Heroes of Burgetown'.For more insight on his work, check out his website, www.jonburgerman.com, or his book, Pens Are My Friends, www.jonburgerman.com/book. I am certain you'd love his work as much as I do!

Ruffles & Bows

Classic in White!

There is something about the simplicity and elegance in the colour white that I love. Classy, pure, sophisticated, minimalistic are just a few words that come to mind when I choose to describe it. In the months I've spent researching and finding inspiring items for my business venture, I've come across several accessories, stationery, etc..., that beautifully exemplify this. Etsy.com, an e-commerce dedicated to marketing handmade items, is one of my favourite places to to find such things. Here are a handful of those items from my scrapbook that are artistic, stylish and classically, white.

Top clockwise: Eden, beaded felt brooch by Accessoire.etsy.com; Inkless Letterpress Mini Journals by girlmetro.etsy.com; Custom Dove Tiny Text Bowl by Palomasnest.etsy.com
Bottom counterclockwise: Orchid Necklace by nervoussytem.etsy.com; Radiolaria Silicone Necklace and Bracelet Set by nervoussystem.etsy.com; Porcelain Fortune Cookies Set by YogaGoat.etsy.com

My Press, Lily!

I just wanted to introduce you to my baby, Lily!

A 12"x18" Chandler & Price, New-Style letterpress that I've adopted to begin doing my work. Though she needs a bit of tender, loving care, she is a beauty in my eyes. I cannot wait to get her to Brooklyn and set up my studio and see her in action.


Like I've mentioned before, I have never in my life operated a letterpress machine. I only became interested in letterpress-ing about six months ago when I came across an article about it. I don't know what it was about the article, but it sparked an interest in me that made me want to seek out everything I could know about this antiquated machine. Described to be "like a kiss", the chunky metal arms move in graceful unison, pressing ink covered type to paper, making beautiful, unique indentations on paper. I love how each print can possess its own individuality. Unlike the precision of today's laser printers, prints on a letterpress can vary in ink coverage, placement, depth of the indentation, etc. I have been amazed by so many of the lovely designs many artists have created on these machines. With a few classes and a ton of practicing, I'm excited to see what I too can create with my baby, Lily.

Invitation by Dolce Press

Cake Lovely

I've been browsing a lot of wedding magazines, websites, blogs, etc... to find inspiration for creating pretty invitations for my business venture. So far, I have found a lot of extremely beautiful inspiring things, that I have decided to start sharing on my blog. Since I'm still pretty excited about my cooking/baking adventures - I made oatmeal raisin cookies last night, from scratch by myself - here are a few cakes that look chic and just as yummy as the cookies I made!

Images courtesy of www.ModernBride.com

Timely Ambitions

In about two months, I'll be twenty five years old, which means that in no time at all, I will be thirty! I'm not scared, I'm just panicking. I feel like I'm in a mad dash to accomplish something by then. When I migrated from Trinidad, I was a year away from completing what is the equivalent of junior college and only two years away from finishing a university education. Which means I would have been out in the working world at the age of seventeen!!! Coming to New York set me back eight years, seriously. Most of my friends back home in Trinidad, are well into their careers and settled down into familial life, all under the age of thirty. Me, I haven't accomplished a damn thing! No college degree - though I was ambitious and wanted to earn one - the more I attended school, the less enthused I was about the fields I was studying and the path I was on. Soon enough I 'gave up', deciding not to continue wasting thousands of dollars on something I no longer had an interest in.
I'm now investing my money into a new goal, another sprint toward accomplishment. I'm hoping to open my own business - I am a dreamer by the way. I had this brilliant idea - one among millions - that I could start my own invitation/stationery/printing/publishing business, on my own! I have some experience in invitation and stationery printing, but none in publishing, at all, but how hard can it be?! I'm not naive in thinking it's an easy task, but I believe I can do it. I'm determine and stubborn enough to make it work.
It's crazy almost because the first piece of this ambitious quest is a 2200lb ancient letterpress machine that I need to move from Boston to Brooklyn. It's a beauty but it's a bitch trying to make schedules and hire people to move it. It has been a headache I've been dealing with for months but I'm not giving up. I can't wait to get it here and setup my studio and start working. Oh by the way, I have no freaking idea how to use a letterpress machine - remember, I said I was a dreamer ;)