Dependable Letterpress

This is Felicia Rice, artist, printer and publisher, and the founder of Moving Parts Press back in 1977. Felicia was one of my teachers at UCSC and one of the people who inspired me to become a printer, and who continues to inspire me to this day. In one of the tragedies that is becoming all too common these days, Felicia lost her home and her print studio in the recent (current?) CZU Lightning Complex fire in the Santa Cruz mountains. A lifetime of work and her tools to mak...e new work were all destroyed. I have started a GoFundMe campaign (link in my bio!) With the support of friends in the Colophon Club to help get Felicia back on her feet and able to continue to work as an artist. What inspired me about Felicia when I was a student was her connection to the very rich history of fine press publishing here in California. She had worked with luminaries like poet William Everson, printer Adrian Wilson in San Francisco, and been mentored by Sherwood Grover from Arion Press. What inspires me about her now is that she took that experience and brought it along for the ride as she charted her own path in the book arts. She collaborates with artists like Enrique Chagoya, Guillermo Gomez-Peña, and poets like Gary Young and Juan Felipe Herrera. She makes wild book work that pushes the form and yet is rooted in love of text and imagery. The GoFundMe campaign has a very modest goal of $43,000 to restore her ability to work. Her most recent book was lost to the flames before it could be distributed to buyers, and sales of that book would have funded the materials for the next one, in the great tradition of fine press publishing. Money raised with this campaign will fund new printing equipment and materials for the next book. Any donation you can make is gratefully received. Felicia is already heartened and encouraged by the support shown so far and we've only just started! There is a placeholder video up, we hope to get a more topical video up this weekend. Thank you for reading this far!

We’re super excited about this invitation suite hand lettered and illustrated by Liz Merolla @sweettarnation . Full of personal icons and references, this really gives a preview of the spirit of the wedding which will be held in a Philadelphia antique store. This went through a number of revisions and additions in the process of creating the design, but we’re very pleased with how they came out. #dependableweddings #letterpressinvitations @ Dependable Letterpress

Compatible activities on a Sunday afternoon, I’m setting type for the first in a planned series of specimen broadsides showing the wood typefaces I’ve accumulated over the years. Meanwhile, @hoelleroliver Is conducting the second in his series of Sketching 101 workshops. I’ll cop to a serious passion for wood type since my apprenticeship at The Yolla Bolly Press in 1987. Yes, that’s how long I’ve been getting inky. . Time flies! Yolla Bolly had a wonderful collection of... wood type which is now part of Stanford University’s Special Collections. I buy type when I can afford it, and look for any excuse to print from it. This typeface is Latin #6, from Day & Collins in England, identified thanks to David Shields at woodtyperesearch dot com. Next weekend’s sketching workshop is in Dolores Park for the Easter observations hosted by the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence. There is a link to sign up in Oliver’s profile. Although the workshops are a series, you don’t need to have attended earlier ones to join the later ones.

Love my new addition to the poster and print collection, giant show poster for Los Ultimos, a great new documentary by Argentinians Pablo Pivetta & Nicolas Rodriguez Fuchs, @losultimosdoc If you get the chance, see it. It’s not romanticized, it’s a very real look at what it means to keep an archaic craft alive past its expiration date. They’ll be showing it at the @hamiltonwoodtype Wayzgoose, if you’re going to that, and some film festivals in the US and Europe. Hopefully they’ll put it out on DVD after that!

Logan’s after hours project for his side/main gig as half of @dodosmusic Using leftover gradients and paper and type from our library of vintage hand set type. Go see the show! It’s coming right up!

We're super excited to host a sketching workshop in a couple of weeks, March 30, taught by illustrator and urban sketcher @hoelleroliver . If you're interested in this, check out Oliver's feed for descriptions of his process and what the workshop is about. This is the first of a series of five to be held at various locations, so if you have a good time you can keep the party rolling. A link to sign up is in Oliver's profile.

Back to my roots today, getting to print from handset type. Jonathan Richman came to me for these cards years ago, wanting them printed old school because that’s how he does his masonry. It really is a parallel process, I had to kern the ‘W’ in ‘Walls’ and hand file the ‘a’ to make them fit, visually, much like fitting stones. We’ve made little changes every time we’ve printed these over the years, which makes movable type an efficient way to create these business cards. Nicolas Cochin for the body text, Latin CT for the Arcane Masonry and the little ornaments next to Garden Walls is a new line for this run. #handsettype #leadtype #leadaintdead #jonathanrichman @ Dependable Letterpress

How to line envelopes. You just do this, times 100, plus some samples.

We've got a new poster making its debut at today's SFMade Holiday Sale, 11 am to 5 pm at CCA, 1111 Eighth St in the Nave. An homage to the burrito, nature's perfect food, this collaboration with @hoelleroliver was printed entirely letterpress, four color process done one at a time (for all you printing nerds who care about such things) plus a foil-stamped foil wrapper for maximum bling. Come check it out!

C, M & Y- printing 4 color process to interpret this illustration by @hoelleroliver This is a collaborative print debuting at the SFMade.org holiday sale, Sunday in the Nave at CCA, 11 to 5 pm. Can you guess what it is with two press runs left to go? The address is 1111 Eighth St in San Francisco, come out for 65 makers who make stuff here in San Francisco. Art from the CCA students will be on sale, there will be food, it will be fun and festive!

Here's a respite from the holiday-holiday-holiday stuff. We have Rico Bell's paintings up through the new year, and they are worth coming to see. Really sensitively observed paintings of the humans who work in the California agricultural landscape. The shop will be open Saturday 10 until 3 if you can't make it during the week.

It's on! #DogpatchHolidaySale is in full swing. Folks have been lining up since yesterday for the sale at @tripleaughtdesign , but you can walk right in here for locally made goods from @papallamamama Mccalman Co and @goodwestco We're here until 4! @ Dependable Letterpress

Tomorrow is the neighborhood wide holiday sale and we're super excited to get to spend the day holiday cheering with Mccalman Co @papallamamama and @goodwestco This holiday tradition has been going on in the Dogpatch for decades, started by the makers who have long defined this neighborhood. Recently it has grown through the efforts of @lovedogpatch into a really great neighborhood celebration. Even if shopping isn't your thing, there's free admission Museum of Craft and De...sign , Minnesota Street Project is open late, and food popups at @harmonicbrewing . But with 40 pop up vendors around the neighborhood I bet you'll find some great locally-made item you can't live without. A map and full list of vendors is at lovedogpatch.com We'll be taking orders for our 20 notecards for $20 first Saturday special. Get 20 A6 sized flat notecards plus envelopes for $20, letterpress printed with an initial in red or blue on your choice of paper. The initial is from our growing collection of vintage wood types. Great for gifts! #DogpatchHolidaySale #lovedogpatch #sfmade @ Dependable Letterpress