Lunada Bay Letterpress' photostream  

Thought I'd document the bottom of this typecase that I'm about to fill. Hopefully it will be decades before anyone sees it again.

Thought the members of the "Composing Stick" group would like this one.

I wanted a tapered text block that would fit on a page no larger than than 8½ x 11 inches, which is what would fit in a standard envelope. I roughed out the text, setting three-line blocks of diminishing length. I could see that I could go longer. I thought that 23 lines would be about right.

To arrive at the Yule log illustration, I started with an actual log from our wood pile.
1. I photographed the log.
2. I converted it to grayscale.
3. I increased the contrast.
4. I posterized the image and created a black and white TIFF file.
5. I sent the file to Vector Magic.
6. I sent the vectorized image as a pdf to A&G Engraving in Los Angeles.
7. I hand-colored the print with granulated watercolors and salt.

The final form.