Commission from Cold Moon Press

This is professional networking in action: a friend of a friend of mine (the lovely Annie) has a press (as in independent publishing company, not printing press) called Cold Moon Press. And it has a few books under its belt now. They publish fantasy, speculative fiction, horror: what some would call genre fiction, and what I would call fun reading. And I love their tagline: 

"In the light of a winter's night, you'll find Cold Moon Press.
Read tales of the suspenseful, the magical, the chilling.
Curl up under a warm blanket, brew a cup of tea, 
and save the longest nights of the year for our books."

Recently, Cold Moon Press contacted me to consult about a possible project: excerpt booklets for distributing at small press conferences and the like. She wanted something with more visual impact than the laser-printed, staple-bound work that she'd seen handed out by other presses. My reply was that letterpress printing, hand-binding and quality materials make all the difference. Because they do.

Carved linoleum printing block
So Cold Moon Press has commissioned me to print and bind these excerpt booklets/catalogs of the books they currently offer. I am so excited! The first step was to figure out how to print their logo. Laser printing is the last resort. Photopolymer plates can get expensive. So I decided to try my hand at carving another linocut. I think they add a bit more character to the printing process and the finished product, and they are the least expensive route to letterpress printing a custom image. CMP's logo was designed and drawn by one of the press's leading authors, Vonnie Winslow Crist. And, lucky for me, it was a black and white image with a (fairly) simple design. Although I must admit, the tree branches and roots gave me a pretty hard time. This is certainly the most complex image that I have attempted to carve so far. But I am happy with the results. And, more importantly, CMP is! So, with that ready to go and the text to be printed in hand, it's time to start setting some type.


Comments

  1. SallyMay 16, 2012 at 12:16 AM

    Wow! Your linoleum print is fabulous, Lindsay! In addition to your artist's eye, you must have some really good tools.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lindsay L.May 16, 2012 at 8:38 AM

    Thank you so much, Sally! I love my Speedball linocutter. Maybe when I have a few more linoleum blocks under my belt, I'll start calling her Ol' Trusty.

    ReplyDelete

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