I’m not usually a shameless self promoter, but the studio is up for an award at this Martha Stewart American Made Awards, which celebrates people/businesses that make stuff in America. They choose their own favorites in each field, and then there’s an audience choice award, based on votes.

I really wanted to get the studio in front of the eyes of their staff, given that we’re one of the few doing commercial work while preserving the original craft of letterpress, but I’ve gotten an unbelievable amount of votes in the last few days and am now feeling that I have some skin in the game for the other award.

Voting continues for about 2 weeks, and you can vote 6 times a day (it requires registering an email so they can track your voting, but nothing else).

I only thought of it because the point of my nomination is that we’re the only letterpress studio listed (there are a few, but no APA members as far as I can tell) that focuses on printing with antique metal and wood type.

I’ve also been sending little print treats to voters that email me their address, because I want folks to know I really appreciate the effort and support. I’ll attach an image of one in a series I’ve been working on; I’m trying to revive ‘artistic printing’, only with a slightly more modern sensibiltiy. All of the prints in the series (I have 3 done so far) have little printouts on the back that are images of the form so that viewers can appreciate what went into the print. 

Here’s the link to the nomination:

http://www.marthastewart.com/americanmade/nominee/82498

MY ADVICE: VOTE AND VOTE OFTEN! Good luck Jen!!!!

Mike O’Connor