This weekend’s Pride festival in Loring Park will bring thousands of folks to our neck of the woods. We invite everyone to stop by our studio for a little printing project, to raise money to combat the Minnesota Marriage Amendment on the ballot in November 2012. Our Vandercook proof press will be set up with bold wood type and a rainbow of ink; visitors can try their hand at printing or pick up a ready-to-go print. We’re asking $10 for each poster – we’ll keep $2 per poster to cover our costs, and donate $8 from each poster to Minnesotans United for All Families, the campaign that is working to defeat the constitutional amendment to ban same-sex marriage in our state. We try to steer clear of politics in our work most of the time, but we’re so sickened by this proposal, and we’ve been struggling to think of ways to raise awareness and help prevent this yucky amendment from going into effect. We’re envisioning these posters hanging in windows across the Metro, and brandished at rallies for months to come. We’ll be open Saturday from 11a.m. to 6p.m., and are looking forward to printing with all the festival-goers.

Mohawk Papers unveiled the Feedback Loop collection of notebooks this week – limited-edition notebooks created by designer/printers from across the country. Mohawk donated the paper (printers’ choice from Mohawk’s new line, LOOP), the printers donated their work, and 100% of the proceeds from notebook sales go to School: by Design, a youth mentoring program developed by Design Ignites Change and the Designers Accord. We were honored to be invited to participate in this innovative program, but it was a little scary too. Mohawk gave just basic guidelines regarding the size of the notebooks, but the design could be anything we wanted. It’s fun to have a little creative freedom, but also intimidating when you know that your work will be on display with sky’s-the-limit output of two dozen other unidentified but presumably very skilled craftsmen. What is everyone else doing? How will mine compare? Are my ideas awesome or lame? Mohawk is promoting the program all month on the Felt & Wire blog – and we’re thrilled that our notebook is featured there today. Click here to read a mini-interview, and view a video of our press in action. Now that it’s all out in the open, it’s fascinating to look at what everyone else has created. I love our design, but I wish I’d upped the ante in the binding department. My favorites (other than ours, of course, which you can buy here for just $15), are the ruler-covered notebook by Cleanwash Letterpress; the exposed-stitch composition from Igloo Letterpress; and MK Printers‘ book covered with a montage of olde-timey lettering. If anyone’s looking for an over-the-top present, consider ordering a library of all 20 notebooks. That’s $300 to a good cause, and a library of amazing designs! Photos below courtesy of feltandwiershop.com

Got a sweet tooth and a heart of gold? Lunalux can satisfy both this week! We’re hosting a bake sale on Thursday May 7 to raise money for breast cancer research. We’ll have tons of home-made muffins, bars, cookies, cupcakes and breads available for your purchasing pleasure, 10a.m.-6p.m. The best part is that 100% of the money we raise will be donated the the local affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure, a national organization that funds breast cancer research and outreach to breast cancer patients and survivors. Our bake sale is one of dozens of bake sales happening across the nation this week, organized by Bake for Hope. A big thank-you to all the friends, family members and business associates who have agreed to donate baked goods. Our first donation (pumpkin muffins and banana chocolate chip bread – both vegan!) was delivered to the studio today, and we’re expecting visits from a couple dozen more volunteer bakers over the next 36 hours. With your help, we’re hoping to raise a nice chunk of change!

Because we can’t do anything around here without printing something, we decided to make commemorative letterpress-printed posters for the event. A few will be posted around the neighborhood to drum up traffic for the sale, and each baker who donates baked goods is receiving a signed and numbered poster as well. If there are any left over, we’ll be selling them at the bake sale to raise additional funds for the cause. These posters measure 10×18 inches and were printed in pink and chocolate inks, using antique wood type and our Vandercook proof press.

Most of the time, we’re straining to make ends meet around here. But occasionally, when we’re feeling a little flush, we’re able to do design and letterpress work at a discounted rate, to help a worthy person or cause. Two such projects passed through our studio this past fall.

Markus Wuollet is a young man who worked as a server at Cafe Lurcat (one of the three restaurants on our block). At the age of 24, he was diagnosed with late-stage pancreatic cancer, and has been battling the disease for over a year. He planned a party in November to celebrate with his friends and family (and a fundraiser, to help cover his scary medical bills) and asked us to create inexpensive invitations. Though I didn’t know Markus personally, I was very touched by his story, which made me think of Lunalux founder Tim Gartmen, who lost his life to cancer at a very young age. So I was happy to help Markus on his quest to cram lots of goodness into his days. One of his friends developed a nice graphic logo, which we incorporated into a contemporary design. The invitations were letterpress-printed in chocolate and red inks on florescent white Lettra cotton cover, and paired with bright red envelopes.

We also created invitations in October for the opening reception of an art show, Dispelling Fear through Creativity. Documentary photographer Michael J. Allen spearheaded this multi-media exhibit, which shed light on the complicated issue of homelessness. With an artists’ budget, he asked us to design and print invitations for this special event. In the next breath, he also invited me to contribute original artwork to the exhibit. I said yes to both requests. Because the the show included panhandlers’ cardboard signs, we used chipboard to reference that raw material. The simple text for the invitation was letterpress-printed in red and black on 3.875×9.25 buckslip cards, and paired with red envelopes.

Which brings us to the question of… “Jenni, what did you contribute to the art exhibit?” Well, here’s a picture – me with the wood-type poster that I printed on our Vandercook proof press, inspired by a sign created by William, a homeless man who used to work on Nicollet. You can read more about this art project at Michael Allen’s website.

Lunalux products will be featured in a silent auction this Friday night, July 20, to raise money for the Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The Fridley VFW is hosting Bands & Beers for Boobs, organized by a group of ladies whose lives have been effected by this dreadful disease. Two bands will be playing live for your entertainment pleasure: Moonrunners and The KGB Band.

A $10 cover gets you in the door, and gets your name in the hat for a raffle for some high-ticket items such as Timberwolves tickets and Lynx tickets. The silent auction will include dozens of items (some expensive, some inexpensive), from letterpress-printed scratch pads to gift certificates for spa services to one-of-a-kind hand-crafted furniture pieces. All proceeds from the raffle and the silent auction will be donated to Susan G. Komen for the Cure, the world’s largest grassroots network of breast cancer survivors and activists fighting to save lives, empower people, ensure quality care for all and energize science to find the cures.