If you know me well (or if you’ve read this post on my blog) you know that I love textures. Imagine how thrilled I was to go on a letterpress tour last night! Not only do I love the impression of design into a soft cotton sheet but I love watching machines make magic! Plus, I got to run not one, but TWO presses! (Okay, so I simply ran a single sheet of coasters through two presses in a highly supervised environment.) It was fun and hands on.

Photo of me running the press (Courtesy of Kayd Mustonen)

Letterpress printed materials make you want to reach out, touch and run your fingers over the indented surface. It doesn’t get much better than this, folks!

The coasters I got to run through the press!

Studio On Fire began with Benjamin Levitz printing in his basement. After spending 40 hours a week at a design job and an additional 40 hours a week at Studio On Fire, he realized it was time to go all-in to the letterpress world. Studio On Fire is ten years going strong.

On the tour tonight, we learned about the printing techniques Studio On Fire uses. No longer does letterpress printing mean aligning tiny pieces of type and lead to create layouts. Studio On Fire is using flexo technology to make their printing plates. (Flexo is a printing technique which uses a flexible printing plate. Used today mostly in packaging because it can print on so many types of surfaces including plastic and metal.)

The ink Studio On Fire uses is transparent just like on a litho press. You can layer colors on top of each other to mix your own colors and you can print on dark paper to get a tone on tone effect. But you cannot print with white ink on black paper since the ink is transparent. If you did this you would get a tone on tone effect. You can, however, print with metallic inks on dark colors. You can also run the plates through the press blind—without ink—just to get an impression in the paper.

Notice the blind impression.

Studio on Fire is more than just an awesome printer. They also offer full design services. And they have their own line of cards! Check out Studio On Fire’s website and blog.

Mmmm...texture!

Bio
“I love machinery,” says my grandpa, Roy Ricke. “When I was young, I was inquisitive about everything.”

A born innovator, at six or seven years old, he took his father’s pocket watch apart—and then put it back together. Later, he customized his Model A pick-up with hydraulic brakes and a stick shift on the steering wheel. Roy started his career working as a plumber.

In 1952, he was drafted into the Army. He took the Armed Forces Qualification Test (AFQT). After scoring 100% on the test, the Army made Roy an offer. If he signed up for an extra year of service, he’d receive schooling and wouldn’t fight in the front lines of combat. He accepted.

Roy was trained to do intelligence radio interception. “It was interesting work, I felt like I was doing something good,” Roy said. “There are even some things I can’t tell you because I’m still under an oath of secrecy.”

When he finished serving in the Army, he went back to work as a plumber. He always wanted to innovate in order to improve things and to make things easier, so he could make more money. He promoted the use of plastic pipe, innovated a special wrench for sink installation and worked with a pipe fitting manufacturer to create several unique fittings.

In 1971, Marvin Schwan invited Roy to visit a plant he had just acquired in Salina, Kansas. It was a pizza plant and Marvin needed Roy’s help with refrigeration work. At the end of the trip, Marvin asked Roy, “So, what do you think?” Roy responded, “The plant is great, but everything is done by hand. You need to automate.” Marvin hired Roy to automate the plant.

One of Roy's hobbies is repairing watches.

Roy lived in Marshall, Minnesota for the first seven years he worked at the Salina, Kansas pizza plant. Since he had his pilot’s license, Schwan’s rented a small plane so he could fly himself down to Salina to work for the week and then fly home for the weekend. He commuted by plane for the first five years. When Schwan’s stopped paying to rent the plane, Roy knew it was time to move to Kansas.

During his time working at the Tony’s Pizza plant, he automated the process of making pizzas—he created machines that applied sauce, cheese and meatballs. Throughout the years, Roy worked in other plants owned by Marvin Schwan in California, Kentucky and Texas. He automated a plant where people had been rolling egg rolls by hand. People were afraid that automation of factories would eliminate their jobs. Marvin Schwann made sure his employees knew no one would lose his/her job to automation. In fact, automation makes factory jobs easier and creates jobs for people who service equipment.

In his home kitchen Roy even invented a new product—Little Charlies—individual sized pizzas. Roy designed and built equipment for a plant in England to make these individual pizzas.

In 1999, Roy retired from Schwan’s. But he certainly didn’t stop. “If you have an inventive mind, you can’t shut it off. I have no desire to sit in a rocking chair for the rest of my life,” said Roy. He went on to design and build machines to aid in the production of biscotti and coffee cake.

He also designed a machine to make Belgian cookies—for personal use. If you aren’t familiar with Belgian cookies, they are wafer thin cookies made with an iron over the stove. Often called “Hail Mary” cookies because you say one “Hail Mary” prayer for each side of the cookie. As you can imagine, these cookies take a long time to make. As Roy watched his wife labor over the stove making cookies, he was inspired to create a machine to bake the cookies instead. He built a machine with cookie irons on a wheel. Dough squirts into an iron at the top of the wheel and as the wheel turns, the cookie bakes. When the iron reaches the bottom of the wheel, the iron pops open and the cookie comes out.

Roy with his Belgian cookie machine.

Close up of a cookie iron.

What is your creative process?
When I’m given a challenge, I ask a lot of questions before I design anything. What is the problem? How is the problem currently being solved? Does that solution work? Can I do it better? Can I do it more efficiently? Then I start daydreaming. Sketching. I build test equipment and make a series of machines. For example, I built an evolution of machines to produce a new Italian pastry crust for Tony’s Pizza. The goal was working toward eliminating waste. Once the efficiencies were met, we showed the machine to management. One of the managers said, “I don’t understand why the machine didn’t work that well at the start of the project.” I responded with, “Hmmm. I wonder why the Wright Brothers didn’t start with the 747!”

What was your favorite assignment?
The Little Charlie project. It was multi-faceted. There were many challenges in creating the machinery for this project. It was very rewarding to see it to completion. And we won some awards for it in the European food shows.

What is the best moment of the day?
Early morning. Having breakfast with my wife Pat and planning the day. I like the bright sun in the morning and looking across the lake to see egrets and birds.

What books do you read?
Teddy Roosevelt books, technical books. I use the internet a lot. I like www.practicalmachinist.com. It’s a forum where you can compare notes and pick up a lot of good ideas.

What are you afraid of regarding the future?
I fear getting an incurable disease. I hope to never become incapacitated and unable to enjoy motor home trips. I keep my mind as active as I can.

What is the biggest risk you’ve ever taken?
Flying the airplane? That was never a risk! Moving my family from Marshall, MN to Salina, KS.

What is one thing you couldn’t live without?
My wife. I’m dependent on her for so many things and I don’t know what I’d be without her. Having a mate is a stabilizing factor in your life. The loss of that would be extreme for me.

Can design change the world?
The answer is already yes. Look at what inventions have done for food production and in the medical fields. Yes, design can change the world. What would the world look like without things like steam power or the printing press? Design is the backbone of civilization. I think it is sad that the Taliban hates modernism. But at the same time, there are tribes in South Africa without modernism that are pretty happy! It’s a double-edged sword.

What is one of the most unexpected things that has happened in your life?
Getting married and thinking that we are going to have children someday. How am I going to take care of this family? We’ve been married 55 years now and life is good. I had an amazingly fun job. I have no regrets. I wish I had time to do more. I’m very happy with how things turned out for me. I found a business niche I enjoy—I’m 78 and still going! Where in the world did all the time go? Goes by fast.

Detail of the gears on one of Roy's clocks.

I created this color palette based on me and my personality. (To see previous palettes, click on the category “What is my favorite color?”)

Why these colors? They are a combination of who I am and what I aspire to be. And I love they way they look. Separately as individuals and together as a palette.

Why Red: My personality is full of passion. I’m outgoing. I have strong opinions (see my post about the em-dash, post on compact fluorescent bulbs or my rant/rave about cell phones). This is a strong color and is best served in small doses! In the layout below, where red shows up as little slivers of color it’s enough. And it adds the zing needed to enliven the design.

Why Green-Turquoise: I aspire to be more calm and patient. I aspire to be open-minded.

Why Deep Blue: This blue color is kind of moody and I’m not a morning person. On the other end of the spectrum, this color is classic and traditional. I think logically. I’m well-grounded and I aspire to be humble. I’m trustworthy and honest.

Back side of my new business cards, used to advertise this site. ©2009 Lisa Valley

Cell phones. One of the greatest inventions of our time. I love having a connection to all the people in my life where ever I go. But with the birth of brilliant new objects, negative consequences often follow. At this point, you may think I’m going to launch into the possibility of getting a brain tumor from my cherry-red smart phone. Not today, my friends. Today I’m going to rant and rave about some rude behavior cell phones bring out in people.

We’ve heard or used the term “crack-berry.” I don’t consider myself all cracked up when it comes to my cell phone, but I do display some symptoms from time to time. Sometimes I find myself jumping to check my email on my phone as soon as it buzzes. Other times I find myself checking the phone for new messages when I haven’t even been sent an alert. Yikes. Lay off the technology, right?

But it gets worse.

One of the worst conversation faux-pas a person can make is interrupting. I do it. You do it. We all do it. And it’s rude. It makes a person think that what he/she has to say is unimportant. While having a person’s voice put a full stop on your conversation is rude, it’s much worse when the interrupter is a cell phone.

For example, say I’m talking one-on-one to a friend. I’m just getting to the best part of my story when my friend’s phone vibrates once. Text message. It’s really no big deal until my crack-berry friend can’t resist checking the message. Umm, am I supposed to keep talking? You aren’t actively listening to me anymore! But it gets even worse when the person starts typing back. Hello!!?? There is a person right here standing in front of you, having a real-life conversation! Is the person on the other end of the text message more interesting than me? More important? Have we lost all manners?

Cell phone etiquette is important. Interruption by means of technology isn’t the only bad behavior that has surfaced from cell phone usage. Cell yell is just annoying. Texting while driving can be fatal. Be conscious of how you use technology (and how it may enable bad manners in your daily life).

The moral of this story: Next time you get a text message while you are in a face-to-face conversation, take a second to think before checking the message. And if you have to check the message right away, politely excuse yourself from the conversation. Your friend will appreciate your manners, even though you are still interrupting the conversation.

Do you have a cell phone story to share? Tell it in the comments!

In Minnesota, the weather is a frequent topic of discussion. Not because we don’t have anything else to talk about, but because the weather can be simply interesting.

Take today as an example. When I left for work this morning, the ground was soaked from an overnight rainstorm. But the sun was shining and the clouds were moving on. Mid-day I looked out the window behind my workspace and the sky had turned dark and eerie. My co-worker informed me that a storm with the potential for hail was rolling through. By the time I went home from work, the ground was (again) soaked from the mid-afternoon storm. But the sun was shining.

All of this cloud activity created this magnificent sunset.

Photo ©2009 Lisa Valley. All rights reserved.

Oh macro lens, how I love thee!
You focus so precisely on the itty bitty things.
You enable me to notice the amazing level of detail
our creator engineered into the universe.

When I first saw this flower, I didn't notice the beetle and spider, upon further inspection, I saw what had been there all along and was able to capture this image thanks to my macro lens.

A bloom is forming. I like the soft texture of the trichomes on the edge of the leaves.

This hawaiian like flower is growing in a patch of weeds at the cabin. Weed or not, I think it is beautiful. Especially when lit up with sunset light.

Teeny, tiny buds 'n' blooms

Blooms within blooms

This bloom is architectual.

Macro view of the flowers in the below photo.

I like the formation of the stems which support the flat surface of the flower.

Green hues: coordinating fly and leaf.

Bee number 1: an all yellow bee.

Bee number 2: The flower exhibits the Fibonacci sequence.

Bee number 3: look at all the pollen she's carrying!

All photos ©2009 Lisa Valley. All rights reserved.

Do you know someone born with amazing self control? A person who gets up at the same time everyday and goes through a schedule of daily routines? I know people like that, but I’m not that person. (Although sometimes I wish I were.) In an effort to illustrate my lack of routine, here is what I consider my daily grind:

1. Hit the snooze button.
2. Drink 12 oz of Orange Juice for breakfast.
3. Watch at least one TV show before bed.

The day begins and ends the same, but the happenings in between are always different.

I like the idea of routines but I’m not good at maintaining them. I’ve always wanted to have a weekly routine: get home from work, eat dinner and then complete a task—with a different task assigned to each night of the week. I would be so organized and get so many things done!

I often brainstorm ways to save time. Fact: I hate taking the time to shave my legs. So if I shave my right leg today and then my left leg tomorrow, and create a routine, will it save time and allow for always smooth legs?

I think the creative part of my brain revolts against routines. The creative part wants space and time to nurture ideas. The logical, business side of me wants to save time and feel organized. It’s funny, because they actually go hand in hand. If I allow the logical side of my brain to have its way, I’d save time. And I’d be able to use the surplus of time to be creative. Logically it works out, then I remind myself that creativity doesn’t happen in scheduled spurts, in a vacuum. Hmmm.

How ’bout you? Do you live by routines or fly by the seat of your pants? (Share by leaving a comment.)

Here’s some eye-candy for those who lust for rust.

All photos taken at the Franconia Sculpture Park. Next time you’re in the Taylors Falls area, this park is a must see. All photos ©2009 Lisa Valley. All rights reserved.