I want to give a big shout out to Grace and Tristan at A Mystery In Common for tweeting about and stirring up some business for Mink Letterpress. They are doing some awesome things with silkscreening, and are getting ready to open their studio and store in Charlottesville, VA. Their business is a huge role model for me, and I hope someday this can be true: A Mystery In Common: Screenprinting:: Mink Letterpress: Letterpress. (and my apologies if I just gave you flashbacks of taking the SATs).
Anyway, they spread the word, and Cary from ByCary contacted me about printing business cards for her craft business. She provided me with the design and plates for her super cute cards, and I printed them up. I love the color combination and the smart, simple logo of the birds, illustrating her “Unique Goods” tagline. Check out her Etsy site! 
Here are some photos of the process… The first run: 
And the second run: 
The rejects… (I recycle): 
Every time I print something I get to know my press better, learn how to communicate with it and am starting to be able to anticipate its moves and tricks. It is also sometimes impossible to read, moody and curmudgeonly. We are still getting used to each other’s idiosyncracies but, as with all new relationships, if you love each other and you are able to learn from your struggles, you can grow.
Amazing, Nic! I’m so excited to see what you do next 😉
Oh Nicole!
This is so perfect! I’m glad you two connected, networking is so beast. Tristan and I are very touched by your kind words and hopefully once we open our shop doors we can connect more people to the people work of Mink Letterpress.
Cheers,
Grace
A Mystery In Common
cool to see these in action again … I designed this identity for my sis a while back, and had the plates sent to her from my letterpress partner in Colorado … looks like you all did them justice! – nice work – curious why you all opted to not round the corners this time?…
Love the design! Cary will be rounding the corners herself, which will add so much to the cards. Thanks for looking!
thanks again you guys! great job. i’m rounding and rounding. it’s sort of therapeutic. loved the nest card too. it’s so nice, i don’t want to give it away.
so glad to have stumbled across your work through tristan and grace. see you guys in december!
yo, bro! i’m already on set #2 of plates and probably #3 next time i do a run.
your design lives on and is always appreciated.
This stuff looks so great, Nicole.
Thanks for looking!
I’m of course amazed, though I’m not surprised that I’m amazed! (I think I said something along these lines last time I commented.)
I also love your use of the word “curmudgeonly”.
Annnd I also love Lizzie’s comment 😉