OK, OK, I know you've all been holding your breath, eagerly awaiting the top 3 on the Kauai countdown. I'm sorry that you'll have to hold your breath just a tad bit longer (don't pass out!)
This is because I can no longer contain my excitment over the successful completion of the "art of the note" gocco swap! Woo hoo!
Remember my hesitation when I was first invited to join? You can imagine my relief when 2 days ago, after weeks of fretting, planning then printing, I finally packed my neat little stacks of gocco cards, kissed them all a fond farewell, and sent them on their merry little ways all around the world to spread this gocco love.
I ended up only sending out 2 of the designs I made. The 3rd one, my "Real Corgis Speak Welsh" card hit a small production hitch, but I've included all photos here, hoping you'll have some ideas for me.
This first design will probably look familiar to those of you who've seen my letterpress Paper Elixir business card. It's a play on the same design, which of course represents the intersection of my 2 lives as artist and pharmacist.
The left photo is the screen the card is printed off of. The grey foam is there to not only separate the colors to be applied, but also reduce ink wastage by limiting how far they can "spread" when pressed. And here they are, all bundled up and ready to hit the road.
The second design is the one I'm probably most excited about. I mentioned that I got an idea from my last business meeting that'll be some sort of a satire to the corporate world I'm in.
And the result is this "Simple Life" bunny card:
I hope you can read some of that background text, which is meant to represent all that crazy corporate mumbo-jumbo. Most of these are adapted from "real life" situations I've experienced- so yes, I've seriously been asked if I nominated myself for an award I recently received at work. There are things so seriously disturbing that you just have to laugh.
And just like the bunny (which is my Chinese horoscope), sometimes all you want amidst all these craziness is a darn carrot.
To achieve a lighter background color, I had to mix in some white to dilute this aqua color. Love how they look all shiny plasticy and stringy.
Last but not least, the corgi cards that I ran into some printing issues.
The model of the corgi is of course our dear Bryson, whom I'm sure wouldn't mind being depicted as the great Welsh Corgi King he thinks he is. On this card he's addressing the admiring humans he owns in his native Welsh language: "Helo, fy deliad!" translates to "Hello, my subjects!"
This is the first time I print with 2 screens that needs to be registered pretty accurately. That took some trial and error, but it turns out well.
The problem is the mustard color "frame" around the text that you see on some cards. The design was a bit too intricate for it to show up well- or perhaps I "overexposed" (burned) the screen. Either way it came out like one huge smudge. I think the card looks OK without it. And then I didn't have the time to print the back with the translation, so I guess that'll be another project, another day.
I also included a letter (typed, not handwritten, an oxymoron to the spirit of the swap, I know, I know), so I can tell a little bit of the story behind these cards (plus I get to use my letterpress stationery, hee hee...)
I'm just starting to receive the lovely creations from my swapmates, super psyched! I'll post more once I receive the majority of them.
Go Gocco!!
