Robin B. McDowell

Effusive, Ineloquent Displays of Emotion

robin — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 03:23:18 +0000

Valentine’s Day, my favorite frivolous holiday, is nigh.

SAVE THE DATE: Saturday February 11 – Print Your Heart Out Workshop @ the Tamworth Lyceum

robin — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 19:57:52 +0000

Join Jamie Oakes & yours truly for an afternoon of ink, paper, sugar, and sentiment. I’ll be hauling a drawer of wood type, a tabletop press, and a few other goodies up to Tamworth for the afternoon. Roll up your sleeves, bolster your courage, and get ready to make a declaration of love…in archival ink, that is.

RSVP to jamie@tamworthgarden.com and wear an old shirt! Supplies will be provided (candlelight dinner excluded).

NEW PROJECT: BjornQorn Brand Identity

robin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:36:25 +0000

Awesome new project alert! Developing a logo and brand identity for BJORNQORN, delicious sun-popped corn from right outside NYC. The simple solar cooking steup and product recipe was developed by Bjorn Quenemoen & Jamie O’Shea – proprietors, inventors, artists, and all-around fascinating characters.

Watch the short documentary below for more info about the project/product…

Bjorn Qorn (documentary/ spot) from Sean Cunningham on Vimeo.

Final Set: Vista Sans Wood Type Project

robin — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 00:20:06 +0000

GRANDFATHEROAK.ORG Featured on Cabin Porn

robin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:21:56 +0000

The gorgeous & notable Free Cabin Porn, edited by the folks of Beaver Brook, posted photos and links to the Grandfather Oak site.

Check out the post HERE

Day Job News

robin — Thu, 19 Jan 2012 18:12:37 +0000

What do I do from 9-5, Monday-Friday that makes me unavailable on GChat?

Skip to 1:39 – Dean Paul Danos talks about myTUCK, a new portal for alumni of the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth…

Vista Sans Wood Type Project: Phase One Completed with Minimal Interruption

robin — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:26:22 +0000

Phase One of my contribution to the Vista Sans Wood Type Project is complete. An edition of 50-60 (not sure yet), six-card sets, double sided, four-colors.

Save for the smoke alarm going off; tripping a breaker from running a heater, hairdryer, and iron all at the same time; falling asleep on the floor once; and a few weird looks at the laundromat…work proceeded smoothly and as anticipated.

So far, this has been one of the messiest and more labor intensive projects I’ve subjected myself to since thesis work in 2008. Rewarding, to be certain. As I prepare for cropping and packaging these suckers, I realize that these cards are less of a complete and packaged project, but rather a series of studies for future explorations. In hindsight, I would have limited myself to two colors (probably Process Black & Warm Red, the most striking against the white), and perhaps even combined the studies into an accordion-fold structure instead of separate cards.

Anyhow, many many more permutations of “putting weird things on a Boxcar base” to come this year, I predict. I am most fascinated by the underpants and oil studies…

T = TIN = Sauerkraut and tuna can lids with Bud light can tab and a whole flattened Sauerkraut can
O = OIL = Olive oil soaked paper towel on Boxcar Base and progressive mix of brown ink and olive oil on the rollers
U = UNDERPANTS = Victoria’s Secret Cotton panties and American Apparel mesh panties
C = CORK = Cut pieces of corkboards
H = HAIR = Hairball from the sink (gross, sorry, but it printed beautifully) and a single lock of hair from my head

VSWTP Progress. Yes We Can.

robin — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 15:30:30 +0000

New Letterpress Work on The Violet Wolf

robin — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 23:16:01 +0000

THE VIOLET WOLF (aka – Ms. Nicole Hutnyk), posted process pics and commentary on my two latest letterpress projects.
See below & read more on THE VIOLET WOLF Blog.

U is for UNDERPANTS…

robin — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 01:35:05 +0000

T is for TRACTION
O is for OIL
U is for UNDERPANTS
C is for CORK
H is for HAIR

More to come in 2012. Happy New Year!