The Lapwing Printworks

Artists: Sarah Spooner and Jon Gregory
Location: Norwich, Norfolk, UK.
Web site: The Lapwing Printworks
Blog: For what is Chatteris?

What do you create?
We create limited edition relief prints – mostly wood engravings and woodcuts with the occasional lino cut.

How did you come up with your company name?
There’s just something about lapwings. Their jaunty little crests, their slightly odd wings, and the unmistakable “peeee-wit” call. It just seemed appropriate to adopt the name. And Jon had great fun drawing the logo!



When and why did you decide to start your business?
It wasn’t really a conscious decision – we gave away lots of prints to friends and family, before deciding to see if anyone would be interested in buying our work online. We were really pleased with the response, so after dipping our toes in the water last year, we decided to set up our own website so that we could promote our commissioned work, as well as selling our limited edition prints though Etsy.

Where do you get your inspiration for your projects?
We find inspiration in all sorts of places, from the landscape of the English countryside to the kitchen cupboards, as well as from the interesting bits and bobs that we have collected over the years. We both love finding interesting colours and patterns in everyday places and objects and reinterpreting them in our prints.

Which of the tools you use is your favorite?
Our E.C. Lyons wood engraving tools. They are so beautifully made and the wooden handles feel wonderful to hold and engrave with. We love their names as well – spitsticker, scorper, graver etc. We engrave the blocks on our homemade leather sandbag, which is very becoming very smooth and tactile with lots of use!



What keeps you motivated?
Each other, and the promise of a gin and tonic once we’ve washed the ink up. Visiting new corners of previously unexplored countryside always prompts lots of new ideas for prints.

How do you get the word out about your work?
Quietly at the moment, but we are slowly trying to promote ourselves more actively! We post lots of photographs of our prints and of the process of creating them on Flickr, and a surprising number of people have found us there and contacted us. Others have found us through word of mouth, and through our own website and blog. We have just had Moo cards printed with our website and email address on which are proving very popular!

What is your main goal for the next 6-12 months?
We both have lots of ideas for new prints which we want to work on over the coming months. We would also really like to do more commissions – it’s very satisfying to work with someone to create a uniquely personal wood engraving or wood cut for a gift or special occasion. We recently acquired an Adana press, and are excited about getting into letterpress printing in some way, shape or form.



What advice would you give to someone starting a creative business?
Think about what you are going to do, and stick to it. We make lots of other crafty bits and bobs, but we only sell our prints – its best to do one thing well rather than trying to do too many different things. If you’re going to have your own website then make sure that it’s well-designed and easy to use, with good clear photos of your stuff.

What’s the most important thing you’d like people to know/understand about your work?
We absolutely love printmaking, and we’d still be playing around with tools, blocks and inks even if nobody was interested in buying them.

Who are some of your favorite indie designers/artists?
We have discovered lots of wonderful printmakers online, like Jennifer Schmitt (Azure Grackle), Kate Nydam (Nydam Press). We also love English artists like Angie Lewin and Andy English.



If you had the time, what new craft/medium would you like to learn or use?
Gocco! We’re also going to make time to get to grips with letterpress, and we’d love to try out other printmaking techniques that we don’t have the space or equipment for, especially etching and mezzotint.

What's your definition of a perfect day?
An early start, autumnal sunshine, a walk around the little shops of Norwich to buy lovely food, a long lunch, an afternoon of sketching and printing, followed by a lazy evening and a bottle of wine in front of our open fire.


Thank you Sarah and Jon!

Paperiaarre

Your full name: Kaija Joutsijärvi
Location: Turku, Finland
Web site: paperiaarre.etsy.com
Blog: paperiaarre.blogspot.com

What do you create?
I take a special interest in blank handmade books, as I’m a master bookbinder, but I also make jewelry. Currently I’m focusing on different types of historical bindings with a subtle modern twist. Sometimes I use hand-cut stencils to illustrate my book covers. In my jewelry I use the same materials as in bookbinding, leather, paper and board resulting as a lightweight piece of jewelry. I like to offer an alternative to all things shiny.

How did you come up with your company name?
Paperiaarre is Finnish for a paper treasure. Paperi=paper, aarre=treasure. I wanted to use a Finnish name because my mother tongue is really important to me, and it felt like a way to be true to myself and my roots. Paper has fascinated me ever since I was a child and I do believe every sheet of paper can be turned into a little treasure.



When and why did you decide to start your business?
I actually haven’t decided anything. Things just happened! I don’t really think of my work as a business yet. I’ve sold my books in some craft shows and through a local craft association, here in Finland, since 2003, but only in very small-scale. While still studying bookbinding I made quite a lot of books to order. After graduating in December 2006 I just carried on what I had been doing. I’ve been unemployed most of this year, so I’ve had plenty of time for bookbinding. I started my blog to set myself some goals and to share what I’m doing with others, who appreciate handmade things. Then I thought it would be nice if people could (and would, for that matter!) buy my creations, and that’s how I decided to start up a shop at Etsy.

Where do you get your inspiration for your projects?
I really love to feel the materials I’m working with. I hold them and fold them. Sometimes I spread all my papers, hides and fabrics on the living room floor, and go through everything. And of course, nature has a great influence in all my creations. I try to work as environmental friendly as I can, recycling whatever can be recycled and choosing materials that decompose.



Which of the tools you use is your favorite?
I love my old backing hammer, even though I don’t use it as often as before. It’s an old cobbler’s hammer. When I got it, it had no handle and my father made it a new one. The whole hammer is covered with paint stains and dents. I think it’s always nicer to work with a tool that has a story to tell. A backing hammer is a very gentle tool. It is used to round and back a book’s spine with “glancing blows”, as my teacher always said (in English for some reason). At school I made a lot of full leather bindings that were always backed, but right now using leather isn’t financially profitable, so I stick to more reasonably priced materials and admire my hammer from the distance.

What keeps you motivated?
My blog is a big motivation to me. It helps me work with regularity, since I want to post about new things right after I’ve finished them. It makes me work a lot more efficiently, and suddenly I’ve finished a book and get to start a new one! I say there’s been a big change in all my crafting after I started blogging. And I’m much happier too! I’ve met so wonderful people online! They keep me motivated, too. It’s great to know that there are people, who have faith in me and my talents, on the other side of the world. If things at Etsy work out well, who knows how soon I’ll turn into a full-time crafter.



How do you get the word out about your work?
Well… I think I left a comment or two in some of my favorite blogs, and all of a sudden it seems like there’s a million people reading my blog! So I haven’t actually gotten yet to the part where I get to promote my shop. There are some lovely people who have featured me in their blogs and spread the word. I’m completely stunned by all the kindness I’ve had the honor to be faced with here in the Internet. Therefore I believe the word gets out best when it’s spread with kindness and appreciation. That’s my strategy when I change in my promoting gear. For me the Internet is just about the only way to spread the word, as Etsy is now my primary market place, and there’s a whole lot more potential customers abroad compared to this little country.

What is your main goal for the next 6-12 months?
It would be great to get things rolling at Etsy. I’m still so new to this idea about me as a businesswoman, that I need to think over my everyday routines too. I wish to get some new products out soon. My head is filled with ideas. I really should focus on something. I would also love to get a job, so I could later say that I quit my day job to become a full time artist/bookbinder. Although, it seems to me, that I’m a full time bookbinder already, but it’s not official yet. How complicated can bureaucracy be?



What advice would you give to someone starting a creative business?
I know this sounds really boring, but it’s very important to find out about pricing and all other financial issues. I can’t emphasize that enough. There are so many things you need to think of. There won’t ever be a good, successful business, if the basics are messed up. All the creativity in the world doesn’t mean you can make a living out of it (and that’s why I’m still unemployed!).

What’s the most important thing you’d like people to know/understand about your work?
I’m a girl doing what she loves to do. It’s just as simple as it sounds. There’s a lot of love in my books, so don’t be intimidated by their fancy looks. My books are made for you to use them. Although I consider myself an artist in some way, I don’t want my books to be considered too fine to write in. They can, of course, be left blank and used like a piece of art, a sculpture. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I do make my books to last, also in everyday use. Like everything, they’ll eventually look worn out, but they’re really durable compared to something machine-made (and have their own, wonderful story to tell). People prefer pretty clothes to ugly, so why use a notebook, that’s ugly and will fall apart very soon? Reward your creativity with a book. You’re worth it!



Who are some of your favorite indie designers/artists?
Through the blog world I’ve found, among many other wonderful people, Lara Cameron, Heather Moore, Kristen Doran and Jesse Breytenbach, who have all been a great inspiration for me. They made me believe in myself.

If you had the time, what new craft/medium would you like to learn or use?
Photography. I’d also love to start sewing things again.

What's your definition of a perfect day?
On a perfect day, I get up early, well rested, and I get many unfinished things done. I spend some time with my husband and friends, eat fancy food and not think about work. Right before falling asleep I get a great idea that would still be great and feasible next morning, and not wake up my husband in the middle of the night to tell him about it.


Thank you Kaija!

Foxy and Winston

Your full name: Jane Anne Buck
Location: Brooklyn, New York USA
Web site: www.foxyandwinston.com
Blog: Foxy and Winston

What do you create?
Hand screen printed note cards, tiny apparel & Limited Edition Wall Art Prints

How did you come up with your company name?
It's my parents names - we called my Mum Foxy since we were small and my Dad's name is Winston.

When and why did you decide to start your business?
About 2 years ago I was working 3-4 days a week in a Children's Boutique in Brooklyn (Babybird in Park Slope) and I started making cards and tee's to sell there eventually as things took off I quit my job and took to doing this on a full time basis.



Where do you get your inspiration for your projects?
Mainly from the creatures that I meet on my travels and locally in Prospect Park, The Zoo and the Botanical Gardens. Also customers often send me pics of their pets and tell me stories of the creatures that they encounter and that inspires many a doodle.

Which of the tools you use is your favorite?
My digital pencil and Lascaux screen printing paste - smells like marzipan and prints like a dream!

What keeps you motivated?
Apart from the obvious:paying the bills, I'd say when you work for yourself no two days are alike and the challenge everyday is to have an empty order clipboard and inbox, it's so satisfying to get to the weekend and feel like you've done everything.



How do you get the word out about your work?
Through my website, etsy site and sending out mailers seasonally I do about 6 pretty large fairs/shows per year both locally and around the East Coast and I am pretty sure that helps a lot, it's very inspiring and flattering to meet the people who like your stuff.

What is your main goal for the next 6-12 months?
I am working on a new collection and hopefully a small gallery show in Berkeley CA oh and to get a 'printern' to help me with my orders.

What advice would you give to someone starting a creative business?
1.make a business plan - I never did and I think it would have helped a lot - to have goals to work to.
2. get a credit card machine - the easier it is to get paid in a timely fashion the better!
3. Most creative people are notoriously bad sales people - especially of their own work, I have learned the true value of having a rep do this side of thing for me in Oregon and if I could have her cloned and put in every State I would, it's the best thing ever!



What's the most important thing you'd like people to know/understand about your work?
That I still draw each design first by hand and then I shoot my own screens in my bathroom and print them all to order with hand mixed inks in my very small home studio, it's still a teeny tiny business and I don't yet have any help - one day I hope...

Who are some of your favorite indie designers/artists?
I really admire the work of Amy Jean Porter, Jen Garrido Jill Bliss, Lotta Jansdotter to name but a few.....

If you had the time, what new craft/medium would you like to learn or use?
I would love to print on a larger scale - and make wallpaper and/or bedding.

What's your definition of a perfect day?
A trip to the park to feed the Squirrels (and if it's summer - the Central Park Roller Disco) and a dinner & a movie with my husband and pals.

Thank you Jane!