Bring On the 1 Year AnNiverSary!!!

Now that...the wedding is over...dancing the night away at the reception has passed...and you've returned from your honeymoon.... a whole yr has passed... 

Yes, one year is gone... 365 days ...8765 hours ..... 525,600 minutes *in my RENT voice* ....LOL... 

However you want to put it.... this is one of your first milestones as a married couple and it deserves to be recognized and celebrated...

My husband, Escamillio and I (Meagan) were married in the spectacular borough of BROOKLYN in NYC, June 30 2011!!!

As we grew closer and closer to our one year anniversary, we put a lot of thought into how would we celebrate it....Now if you're anything like I am, you want a fun yet cost efficient way to make that happen...especially after paying for a wedding only a year ago...  

My husband and I brainstormed and we came up with two ideas. We would: eat the top of our wedding cake and have an anniversary photo shoot...

             Coney Island

Our photo shoot would take place at world the famous Coney Island Amusement Park.  This amusement park whose history can be traced as far back as 1897 served as a perfect background to our pictures.  It was full of life, color, and fun.

Now on to the best part of this post:  The PICTURES.  I would like to credit my younger cousin Mariah who graciously accepted the role of photographer for the day... :-) Also if you notice an o so cute toddler in our photos, that would be my little cousin whom we happened to be taking care of for almost a year around the time our anniversary rolled around.  See, lots of things happen in a year...even more of a reason to celebrate making it!!!

no doubt she deserves to be the center of attention!!!

for and added touch of color & tribute to my wedding day I wore my wedding shoes....

we went across the street to the train station for some subway love :-) 

I love how much they love each other

  Aren't we super cute???... :-)

And no trip to Coney Island would be complete without a trip to NATHAN'S

I hope you've enjoyed the pics I've shared...and remember, no matter how you choose to celebrate your anniversary, make it fun and make it memorable. 


See you for year number 2...

Meagan

Just saying: HELLO!!!

Hey all,

I know I haven't posted anything for a while.  It's been quite a few months.  So much has happened.  I just wanted to say hi to everyone who takes the time to read my blog and let you all know that there will be so many things that will be posted in the near future....I'm just so excited about them all.  Can't wait to share them with all.

Til nxt time,

Meagan

My Letterpress Chronicles: Day 6

Welcome to another wonderful post about letterpress... :-) .. The sixth day of class was great.  We didn't learn any new machines but we got to finish working on projects on our own.....so there won't be lots to say or type just a few pictures.

Last class, which is posted as Day 5, I began working on my shirt, but I was one of the three students who did not get to complete their shirt. Soooooooooooo, I completed it on Day 6. 

Of course as always I cannot focus while hungry so before class began I ran to my now staple Thursday meal at Chipotle.  Tasty brown rice, grilled chicken, black beans, lettuce, a little cheese and some spicy red sauce...YUM...   

In the last post, I showed you a picture of the letters I put together for my T-shirt....here are those letters inked up 

So I came up with this phrase "Southern Girl + Breuckelen Swag."  It kind of speaks to who I am as a person. ---you know just a little of my history....  Southern Girl speaks to the fact that my family roots stem from the great state of South Carolina.   I used to live down there with my grandmother once upon a time.  Because of it I do have some southern ideologies and mannerisms. Breukelen Swag speaks to me being more of me.  I did most of my growing up in East New York, Brooklyn.  I chose to spell Brooklyn the old dutch way on the shirt just because.... So my South Carolina ways and my Brooklyn demoneour make me more .Meagan..... sooooo here's my sample shirt....more .Meagan..... sooooo here's my sample shirt....   

The State color for S.C is Blue as well as NYC...NYC has a secondary color which is yellow so I chose that...I think the two colors work well together...I just swapped them

I began working on some other things but I will share them in a later post...well that's it for this post...hope you enjoyed it...

Til Next Time,

Meagan

My Letterpress Chronicles: Day 5

For Day 5 of class last week on 12July2012, we moved from the Vandercook Universal 1 to the Vandercook No. 2 Proof Press.  This proof Press rocks for printing on cotton T-shirts.  We also use wood-type instead of metal type.  The reason for this is:  wood-type doesn't collect cloth marks like metal type.

                                                      Happy WoodType...LOL

The Vandercook No. 2 Proof Press can be used with a plastic sheet, but it was designed to be used with a galley tray.  Although you have the ability to use either a plastic sheet or a galley tray- - you should never use both at the same time.

A Large Galley Tray

Moving right along to printing, you need blotter paper or a piece of cardboard to be placed inside of the shirt. (the size of the cardboard/blotter paper depends on the project)  Once you have this you should already have nicely rolled out ink to ink your letters with... Note:  when inking the roller lift at the end of each stroke

                                   Blotter Paper Inside Shirt

Inking the roller

                                        Inking the Letters


After your blotter paper/cardboard is placed in your shirt, you remove all of the wrinkles from the location you will be printing on.  You then place the shirt on top of the letters. Lastly place an etching blanket (or some felt material if you have it lying around) and place it over the t-shirt before rolling.

                           The Etching Blanket Over the Shirt

I had soooo much fun learning how to use the Vandercook No. 2 Proof Press.  I must admit, it was a bit easier to learn how to use than the Vandercook Universal 1.  How cool is it that you can use the print to letterpress T-shirts?  The entire class made shirts. I was one of the 3 people who didn't get to finish their shirts on Day 5 so you will see the finished product on Day 6....but...I will give you a sneak peak of what my shirt will say and how the letters will be arranged.

                                                       Some Finished Products
                                       


                                            This is what my shirt will say!!!!

                                                      


'Til Next Time

MEAGAN

My Letterpress Chronicles: Day 4

So this post is rather late.  YIKES.  This post is about my class that took place on 28 June 2012.  So late would definitely be an accurate description.

A couple of weeks ago in class, we stepped into the world of collagraphy.  Collagraphy is a printmaking process in which materials are applied to paperboard or wood.  While collagraphing, you can use all types of objects to create your collage-like work of art.  We used all sorts of items like:  bracelets, zippers, placemats, and even bobby pins & an earplug (courtesy of me #hehe)...

In Collagraphing 3 things are very important to the process when using a Vandercook Universal  1. Those things are:                                                  

                   A Wood block to make sure the objects are type high, 

                A Type High Gauge to measure the height of the objects ensuring they're all are the same or around the same height

                Double sided tape to stick the objects on the woodblock (Good Quality Double-sided tape)

     Type High Gauge w/some items being measured on a wood block

           
Once you have all of those things included the objects you want to put onto the woodblock you are pretty much ready to go......

Some items with doublesided tape inked and ready to go

As you can see some items include a     paperclip, a coin, a piece of material

        

Woodblocks with our selected items ready for print

Once we finally began printing, we created different variations of collagraphs from our selected items.  The collagraphs may be similar but no two are alike... Check out some of our prints!!!!

Can you tell the difference between each collagraph ???

Or do they all look the same to you????

Well I hope you enjoyed Day 4 of my Letterpress Chronicles....I'll be writing really soon especially since this post is uber late......

Til Next Time,

Meagan

My Letterpress Chronicles: Day 3

So I'm kinda late writing this post being that class is today in like 15 minutes. I'm waiting for my ride who decided to tell me that they were late once it became too late for me to make it to class on time. Hey why let them off the hook, they're driving me to class anyway....

Class last week Thursday, 21 June 2012 was AMAZING.  Step by step, we were taken through the journey of creating our very own PhotoPolymer Plates.  It is quite a process, but once grasped, there's no turning back.

I was running late to class late to class for the 1st time, (heading toward my 2nd time). -- But still, I wouldn't dare go through the entire class hungry.... LOL.. ---soooo right before class, I ran by Chipotle and got my trusty bowl made of brown rice, grilled chicken, lettuce and that tasty spicy red sauce my bottle of Poland Spring and I was off to class.



Of course the day I'm late, Mr. Faust began exactly on time and they were already at a paper cutter known as the guillotine, cutting our business cards down to size.  I caught the end and we all received our business cards.  After that, I finally got a chance to take a few bites, and next thing you know we're being called off to make our plates.  I was still hungry so it was kind of hard to put my bowl down, but I managed....lol

The Guillotine & Finished Business Cards.... 



So the process is kinda of long winded so I'm pretty sure you don't want me to type every single step.-- well I don't have to anyway.  After taking notes about every single step, I realized that the printed instructions were on the wall hanging above the PhotoPolymer Plate Maker... (GOOOOO ME!!!)

Anywho I have pictures of every step, all the way up to using the Photopolymer Plate. I hope you enjoy....

Transparency is needed to make the copies

After making 2 of the exact same copies of the selected image, this is what it should look like coming out of the copy machine

One copy is placed on the light table tape down the corners to minimize movement

Place a cut out of the 2nd copy of the selected image and place it directly over the image taped to the light table (They have to match as closely as possible)

The Big Thang here is the Exposure Unit you place the images in here in between two PhotoPolymer Plates

This is the PhotPolymer Plate after it finished drying

A set of completed plates. (there are 7 different images)

Here are the Directions, I placed them close to last because this is when I became aware of their existence...LOL

My Photopolymer Plate: I selected a wedding photo

This is a plate base that will make the Photopolymer Plates type high so we are able to use them to print

See...dnt they look great inked up.. :-)

Last But Certainly not least, the finished product!!!!

Till Next Time

Meagan

My Letterpress Chronicles: Day 2

......So, it was another awesome day of class last week Thursday.  The class was even better than the first.  It's seems, so far, that each class will build upon one another.  One reason this class was even better is because I wasn't hungry for 3 1/2 hours like I was during the first class.  

......While I sat waiting for class to begin (mind you, I was 30 minutes early) 7 minutes before 6pm, it dawned on me that while I enjoyed my first class immensely -- a gray shadow known as hunger hovered over it, taking some of the joy out of my experience.  Once the thought hit me, and processed, I jumped out of my seat, grabbed my wallet & my trusty Sensation 4G from Tmobile [which I absolutely adore]---and I headed out in search of something healthy, tasty and fufilling....(arghhh this weight loss journey...LOL)

......I made it downstairs, walked out of the building, turned left and headed for 6th Avenue aka Avenue of Americas.  There had to be something there. ---And WAH-LAH Chipotle!!!...Right on 6 Av between W21st and W22st, I found my haven. PERFECT. I ordered a bowl composed of brown rice, black beans, grilled chicken, some crazy spicy red sauce, and lettuce...(I resisted the tempting and o so tasty Tortilla chips that I wanted soooo badly)....added a Poland Spring water and I was good to go...

 

The Meal that made the hunger shadow Disappear!!!

.....So class started and Mr. Faust jumped right in and let us know that we would be printing our very own business cards.  I was ecstatic.  After printing our business cards, we were to move on using the photos that we brought in to create our very own photo polymer plate.  Note:  I called it a Palmer Photo Engraving Plate in my blog about Day 1.  So please forgive me.  Once again the correct term is Photo Polymer Plate.

.....As Mr. Faust began speaking about how we would go about making our business cards, he mentioned different types of font that were good for our business cards.  From what I was able to catch while taking notes, he mentioned: Universe, Clarendon, Furtura, and Century Expanded.  Once Mr. Faust completed his discussion about fonts, he handed each of us our very own composing stick.  We quickly recapped how to properly hold the composing stick and we were off...

The first line of my business card

at this point I had the composing stick facing the wrong way..smh...LOL

......I must admit that I was uber nervous and not confident about making my first business card on my own but once I began and got myself together, I had soooooooooo much fun.

.....I had already began building my card when I realized I was holding the composing stick improperly.  Thankfully the letters were correct.  Trust me, it takes time to place each individual letter plus proper spacing in place, so I was glad that this was an easy fix.  All I had to do was flip the composing stick.  

The proper way to hold a composing stick: Upside down, reading from left to right

.....For my card, I chose to go a little traditional.  I selected Century Expanded 24pt. for my top line (my name) and Futura 18 pt. for the rest of the card.  I was the last one to finish but, that's alright.  Once I finished composing my card, I was added with the rest of cards composed by the class. Mr. Faust wanted to only use one sheet of paper.  It totally makes sense being to the fact that business cards are generally small, so there was no need to waste paper.

Our cards ready for print on the Vandercook Universal 1

.....Each of us had the opportunity to print after Mr. Faust printed a couple of times.  I must say, even though I printed the same job a few times to get the roll technique going --- I can't ever see this getting boring, EVER.

Behold the Printed Product

.....It took a little longer than expected for all of us to finish so we didn't get to move on to the Polymer Photo Plates.   This coming Thursday, we are supposed to cut down our business cards and make our plates.  I can't wait for Thursday to get here!!!!

.....That's all folk....I hope you enjoyed reading about Day 2 of My Letterpress Chronicles...

'Til Next Time

Meagan