Portland - letterpress pilgrimage

Portland is rife with great letterpress and during the trip I dragged my sister and the baby along to visit some of my favorites.

First stop in Portland's downtown Pearl district was Oblation Papers & Press. Jennifer and Ron Rich have built up a beautiful storefront / printshop and were gracious enough to give us a tour of the print and paper making facility in back.



Oblation's special claim to fame is the fact that they print on all of their own handmade paper. Here are the machines they use to soak and pulp the cotton for the paper making.





Beyond those damp, cottony rooms we headed into the print area, visible from the storefront. My favorite detail - the flywheel chandelier!



I love their beautiful nest-inspired invitations.



Lisa and Sadie discover some Albertine Press note sets out front.




Moving on we stopped by Lark Press. Love the doorstop.



It's a small storefront, but so well put together with wonderful old curiosities sprinkled in amongst the cards and goodies.





I love the space, especially the garage door front, typical in that area.



Lark Press has a lovely collection of Portland cards like this one here. Great use of the blind print.




Last, but certainly not least was a trip to Egg Press. Just a studio, but a lively one at that, with a lot of character (for example, their meter man).



Ah beasts, you old friends.



A silk screen set up for shirts and more.



Supersweet cards.



Thank you to everyone for opening your doors to us and letting me poke through your studios. Not just idle curiosity, I love seeing how others do things because I so often learn solutions to problems I didn't even know I had (and many that I did).

And with a dream of one day having a storefront studio of my own, it's such an inspiration to see others making it happen.

Portland - touring

A few weeks ago I took a trip out to Portland with Sadie, both for business and pleasure. Portland is such a beautiful city, I totally fell in love: the people, the weather, the scenery, the arts, the shops, the restaurants, the produce! If life landed us in Portland, I, for one, would not complain.



A sign from the get go - the beautiful view of Mt. Saint Helens in the foreground and I think Mt Hood in the back.



A house in my sister's neighborhood has a sense of humor about their planting. Or maybe it's a political statement?



We loved our visits to Washington Park, driving up and down the twisty-turny roads and stopping at the peaceful Japanese gardens.



We also took a walk through the International Test Rose Gardens where we were completely awash in the fragrances of roses wafting across the warm day. Here's Sadie on a bench in the Shakespeare Club section of the garden.



A city divided by the Willamette, there are at least ten different bridges connecting East and West. My sister drove us over and then under the St. John's Bridge for this stunning cathedral view.



The markets, oh, the markets! Summer produce season having nearly run its course in Boston, I could not have been more delighted to encounter still fresh strawberries, tomatoes and so much more at one of the best farmer's markets I've ever been to (it rivals Union Square in NYC for sure).



Pumpkins, squashes and gourds - a nod to approaching fall.



As urban as Portland may be, just miles outside of the city limits you find yourself surrounded by overwhelmingly beautiful nature: trails, waterfalls, gorges, rivers, mountains, heck, volcanos!



We spent an afternoon at Multnomah Falls. Here we are resting along the hike up to the top.



Back to the city, I loved all of the charming houses and yards. This one was a puzzle though.



At the Saturday arts market by the river I discovered a woman who created these Lotus Books for scrapbooking and albums. Since Angela and I are teaching a workshop with this bookmaking technique soon I found it exciting to see other applications of the technique.



Perhaps I should make one inspired by our trip.

Portland!

On Monday I packed up the girl and headed off to Portland, Oregon for both business and pleasure. We'll have more pictures of our trip soon, but here's a favorite stop of the day: Saint Cupcake's in the Alphabet District



Sadie alseep in front of the legend of Saint Cupcake.



and three cupcakes, all gone.