Bowerbox Press will be showcasing new Porthole Books at ACC.
Brown with clasp enclosure, Pennsylvania map:
Brown Porthole Book
Black handmade paper with magnet enclosure and Cape May nautical charts:
Black Porthole Book
Brown with Birmingham map:
Brown Porthole Book
(as long as the next snowpocalypse passes Baltimore by!)
Check out a link to photos showcasing some of the work you can see at the American Craft Council show this weekend in Baltimore:
My Best Peacock card is the first photo! It’s exciting to see my work on other sites 
Not all was wasted during the Snowpocalypse- Bowerbox Press was lucky enough to be snowed in with the new little letterpress, which is up and running. These notecards are printed from a woodblock in dark brown, and then each card is imprinted with text in blue or yellow, from various styles of hand-set type. The great thing about making little cards is that I can show off the odds and ends of type I have- many cases of which are missing letters, or are too sparse to set more than a sentence or two. With these cards I get to use the Craw Clarendon condensed that I only have in lowercase, from Paul Duensing’s shop; the italic Baskerville from Mark Carroll; and the italic Bulmer (soon to be joined by brand new (old) Bulmer still in the foundry packages. Plus I can play around with fun little cuts like the telephone.
"hello"
"thank you"
telephone
"tweet tweet"
Come see me at AltCraft Booth #7 at ACC next weekend and pick up a set of Talking Bird Notecards!
Joining the winter birds notecard set are some happy reminders that warmer weather does exist. After the snowpiles have melted, Baltimore will welcome these birds back to the area-
Baltimore Oriole
Robin
Mockingbird
Eastern Bluebird
Visit me at ACC to see the entire cards! A set of 4 cards, digitally printed on 100lb cover, is available for $10. You get one of each bird to remind you of spring!
Bowerbox Press is pleased to represent Baltimore at this year’s American Craft Council show! Running for 4 days this year, the retail section is open Feb 25-28 at the Convention Center downtown. Discount tickets can be purchased online at www. craftcouncil.org/baltimore. You’ll be able to find Bowerbox in the AltCraft section, which is set up straight back from the entrance (by the food!), along with other Baltimore crafters Elisa Shere, Sherry Insley, Danamarie Hosler, and Juliet Ames.
Check back for sneak peeks at new work I’ll be bringing to ACC!
Last weekend when we got snowed in I decided to get the new press working. We inked it up in a nice brick red ink, taped up the rails to raise the rollers to the proper height, slowly built up the packing to achieve a nice even impression, and got busy!
Test impression with a big piece of lead type went well,
so we locked up the text for a new card and printed about 250 cards. (One’s leg does tend to get tired after a bit, kicking the treadle for hours- but once I got into the rythym of it, I was able to hand-feed easily and turn out all those cards in roughly an hour.)
Chad also gave it a try- he needs a little practice but soon he’ll be printing linoleum blocks on CD sleeves for his band, Bear & Walrus.
Bowerbox Press is proud to announce the arrival of a new press- this little guy!
Purchased from the studio of Nancy Reinke in Alexandria, this press came to its new home in the middle of January. At only 345 pounds, it was a much easier move than the Colt’s (1800 lbs, 2 strong, experienced riggers, and a huge truck.) We took the flywheel off and removed the press from its stand for easy transport in the family’s minivan.
After a quick cleaning and repainting, it’s ready to go in its new home- hello, living-room-studio!
As far as we can tell, it’s a “United States Press”, manufactured in New York after 1887 by Joseph Watson. His company was purchased by the Kelsey company a little later, which may explain why the treadle looks just like the treadle on Kelsey’s floor model presses (seen at briarpress.org). A couple of non-original chases came with it, included the spider chase seen above- great for doing small areas of type!
If anyone has more info about this press, please email me! val (at) bowerbox (dot) com
A new limited edition woodcut is available in my Etsy shop!
Heart
This block will be sealed and framed, so no new edition will ever be printed. Get yours while they last!
Doesn’t that look tasty?
I meant to post this earlier, but better late than never. A few months ago I designed a chocolate for Artisan Confections, in Arlington VA. It’s ready to eat now, and I can’t wait to taste it. All of their chocolate varieties sound yummy- I wish I could have made it down to the shop before winter got dumped on my head, but with the roads I’ll have to postpone my trip.
(check out that first chocolate too- by fellow CCCM member Rachel Bone!)
Bowerbox Press will be taking part in the
thrown by Saramar Studios (connection: my middle school art teacher is one-half of Patrinkets Jewelry!)
PATRINKETS and SARAMAR STUDIOS present
AFFORDABLE FINE ART GIFT SHOW
Local Artists share their works with easy price points for the Holiday Season
OPEN HOUSE RECEPTION
FRI NOV 6TH 6-9PM and SAT NOV 7TH 1-5PM
Shop in the privacy and comfort of our home studio, Refreshments and lite fare provided.
Available works from your favorite local Artists:
Val Lucas - Roger Miller - Mary Walsh Reynolds - Cathy Leaycraft
Carol Jean Bertsch - Theresa Novak - Katie Fisher
Michelle Dwyer - Thea Osato - Ben Ruble
Frank H. Simmonds IV - Patti Battaglia - Sara Murphy
Saramar Studios is located at:
3371 Saint Benedict Street
Baltimore Maryland 21229
(Directly behind Rheb’s Candies)