Black Tree Soap Company

This is the part of the story where you find out that my husband, Dave, makes awesome hand-crafted soaps!  On one of our earliest trips to Orcas Island, he got hooked on some handmade soaps he found in one of the great shops there.  He works very hard at his day job as a computer tech, and was in desperate need of a fun hobby, so a couple of years ago, he decided to try his hand at making some himself.

The first attempts were… interesting… (right, Dave? I still have a bar of the original batch in the shop sink downstairs!)  He experimented over and over with different formulas for the basic mixture, adjusting this and that, and having his friends and family try them out.  Over time, he has gotten REALLY. GOOD.

So good, that he just started selling them on Etsy last month.  Behold:

I helped with packaging — each one has a label with the logo letterpress-printed in black ink on Hahnemuhle Bugra paper.  The soap’s scent is hand-lettered by me in opaque white gouache.  I’m glad I’m doing this for him — it is  a good excuse to practice my own calligraphic style every once in awhile!  I’m calling it “Casual Copperplate” because it’s basically just my own relaxed writing while using some of the rules of that traditional hand.

The soaps are all-natural, vegan-friendly, and the scents are incredible — my favorite ones are anything with mint (I think they are perfect for helping you wake up in the morning).  He’s got some tea-tree mint and orange-mint coming out soon, and I can’t wait to try them out as soon as they are done curing.  He also makes plenty of decidedly “manly” soaps.  Don’t ask him to make anything with chocolate.  He’s leaving that to Jessica Simpson.

They make a great gift — check it out!

–Tara

i love bunnies

I don’t do business cards very often, but these were too fun to pass up!  Bunnies!

One of my former wedding clients, Kathleen McGivney, approached me last October about creating a ton of business cards for a new venture of hers: Hanne Apparel — a line of organic and recycled clothing.

One of the partners, artist Lola Ramona, had already created the bunny illustration, and the group had a basic idea of what they wanted.  I simply helped fine tune their design and then we were off, were printing 3000 dark charcoal-colored bunnies (they really do multiply).

I love the jewel toned teal color they chose for all the wording, and that cute little “Love Thyself” tag line.

In keeping with Hanne’s organic, recycled company vision, I recommended some of Porridge Papers’ handmade recycled paper for the cards.  The color we used is called “Bad Taste,” and it is literally junk mail recycled into very cool letterpress paper.  As in: I called to order the paper, and they said they’d have their employees start bringing in all their junk mail for a few weeks.  It’s amazing… Every card was different, smattered with mulitcolored specks and bits, and even the occasional piece of embedded plastic (I assume from those pesky commercial window envelopes).

Porridge makes a ton of great recycled colors — even custom, vivid, deep-colored papers, and seeded papers your guests can plant after your wedding.  If you have something special in mind, or are committed to having an extra-green wedding, they are a great option.  Just let us know what you’re looking for, and we can price it out for you!

Thank you, Kathleen, Lola and Elizabeth — I wish you much success with your venture!

–Tara

ps. Don’t you wish your name was Lola Ramona?  I always wanted a rhyming name.  You can check out more of her illustrations and artwork here.

that is some tasty paper

If I ever get around to creating a blogroll here, I will definitely be adding Coveiter, a style blog updated daily by two designers down south in Louisiana.  (I promise that improving this old blog is definitley on my ever-expanding list of things to do!  I have ideas!)

Coveiter is a verb that means to desire avidly.  Lindsey and Julie approached me about printing their gorgeous notecards sometime last year.  I am in love with what they created — they are truly spectacular — and I feel lucky I got to pull each print off my press for them.  I totally coveted them, I admit it!

The note cards (below) required 3 separate runs:  The purple and light gray you see easily, plus an un-inked pattern printed in the background.  This technique is called “blind printing.”  The texture created by the blind printing combined with the contrast in design elements is just to-die for…

The matching envelope flaps (below, left) also featured more of the same the blind-printed background, with the text overlaid in light gray.

I think this kind of look would translate really well to a booklet-style or folding invitation — anything that has a cover that needs to stand out and command attention.  So stylish!

Thanks Lindsey and Julie!  Keep up the great blogging and wonderful work .

–Tara

her favorite subject

As you may remember, Aly at La Luz Photography did all the product photos on the Ephemera web site, and even gave me some pointers for taking my own pictures day-to-day for this blog.  (Things are improving, no?)  After she took our photos, we got to work with her again on some letterpress stuff!  First we did note cards featuring her existing logo and signature damask pattern in chocolate and slate-colored inks.  The slate color is divine!  I love how they came out:

Then, after Aly had her son in March, we got to do some adorable baby announcements for her and her husband, Ben.  You might recognize the pattern from this bright and fun wedding invitation in 2007.  It totally works as a birth announcement as well — just change the colors to whatever you like.  Here we used pool and chartreuse inks:

How cute is he?!  I want to squish him (nicely, of course).

Welcome to the world, Henry!

–Tara