Behind the Stationery: Dancing Pen and Press

For our next feature, I want to introduce Elecia from Dancing Pen & Press – she’s a calligrapher turned letterpress and watercolor artist. Learning from Morgan of Ladyfingers Letterpress, Elecia expanded her skill set to expand and appeal to her customer base. Her story is proof that with determination in teaching yourself and the powers of Google, you can learn and do anything. From selling on Etsy to having her own website and soon her own brick & mortar location, here is Elecia! – Megan

Behind the Stationery: Dancing Pen and Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Hello, Oh So Beautiful Paper readers! My name is Elecia and I would love to share with you all a bit about us here at Dancing Pen & Press. It started with just a pen and a dream…literally. As a little girl I was obsessed with calligraphy. Going to grade school in New England in the ’80s while most kids had their “erasable” ballpoint pens (that never really erased, did they?), my love of calligraphy and art followed me throughout my teenage years. I started college as a Biology major, but I ended up graduating with a major in Textiles, Merchandising & Design and a minor in Fine Arts. The numerous color theory and color science classes I took did not go to waste. Mixing color is one of my favorite tasks here at Dancing Pen & Press, and we mix a LOT of color!

Behind the Stationery: Dancing Pen and Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

We custom mix all of our letterpress inks, watercolors, and calligraphy inks. I find it a personal challenge when a client gives me a swatch to get it exact. After working for a few years in corporate retail, I started Dancing Pen in 2008. I learned that there was a “new” type of calligraphy out there. It wasn’t new at all, actually. It was a form of calligraphy called copperplate, dating back to the 1700s. This type of calligraphy uses a pointed dip pen instead of a flat tip. Using pressure on the down stroke of the letterform creates the gorgeous thick and thin lines of this style of calligraphy. This opens the nib and allows more ink to flow through.

Behind the Stationery: Dancing Pen and Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

I ordered all of the supplies and instructional guides from the United Kingdom because they weren’t yet available here in the States. I didn’t have a website, and had not heard of Etsy, so I put up a listing on Craigslist of all places. Within 24 hours, I had my first job! It was 275 envelopes for a Bat Mitzvah in Boston. More and more jobs came my way, and a few short months later I started my Etsy shop.

For a few years, calligraphy was the bread and butter of Dancing Pen Calligraphy. We offered hand calligraphy envelopes, place cards, vows and simple marriage certificates. I would ask my clients to include one sample of their wedding invitation so I could get a feel for their aesthetic and carry that look to their envelopes. I remember getting my first letterpress invitation in my hands and just fell in love!! I didn’t even know what it was called, but I knew I had to learn how to create something with that type of depth, texture, and handcrafted yet luxurious feel.

Behind the Stationery: Dancing Pen and Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

After a few minutes on the Internet (Google did not fail me), I learned about the wonder that is letterpress printing. Lucky for me, AS220, a local community print shop offered three-day letterpress workshops. Morgan Calderini of Ladyfingers Letterpress (before there was a Ladyfingers Letterpress) taught the class. I quickly realized that this was a calling for me. I just adored the way that I could “marry” the hand calligraphy I have always loved, with my new crush – letterpress. I scoured local ads and found a Chandler & Price New Style letterpress for the deal of the century at $200. And this is when Dancing Pen Calligraphy, became Dancing Pen & Press.

Behind the Stationery: Dancing Pen and Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

In 2010, I packed my bags and moved from Rhode Island to sunny Houston, Texas. I wanted to expand my horizons with custom marriage certificates and add more flair to them besides hand calligraphy. My Chandler and Price letterpress isn’t large enough to print an 18×24″ certificate so I knew that I had to learn watercolor! Just like calligraphy, I purchased a book and taught myself that as well. I seriously LOVE the unpredictable nature of watercolor and plan to incorporate it more in letterpress wedding invitations in the near future.

Behind the Stationery: Dancing Pen and Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

Our business is busy all year long, but depending on the season product popularity ebbs and flows. Late winter to early summer we are humming right along with letterpress invitations, then mid-summer to early fall we are in marriage certificate season, followed by a huge Christmas/Holiday letterpress card season. I love all of the different aspects of what we do. They are all my babies and I could not pick my favorite!

Behind the Stationery: Dancing Pen and Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

In 2012, Allison joined the team. It was so nice to share some of the responsibilities of running a business. I am also a huge brainstormer, so it’s fantastic to have someone to bounce ideas off of. I have always thought of myself as having a keen eye for color. She helps with quality control, packing up letterpress goodies with care and scheduling.

At this point we were still running our business 100% off of Etsy. We shipped all over the world, but most clients came from Los Angeles, NYC, Australia (yes, Australia!), and the Southern Belle states. Allison and I launched our website exactly one year ago and our new Houston clientele immediately responded.

We like to joke that we should rebrand ourselves as “Swanky Letterpress”, because we are Southern (Allison), and Yankee (Elecia). Did I mention we are huge word dorks? We work well together since we are so different. I love traditional curly calligraphy or trendy gold foil on an invitation, while Allison leans more towards clean lines and a contemporary aesthetic.

Behind the Stationery: Dancing Pen and Press / Oh So Beautiful Paper

We have been wanting to expand to a brick & mortar storefront for a while now. Envelopes, boxes of Crane Lettra paper, pads of watercolor paper, samples, ink cans, watercolor palettes, hot foil stamping machines, and the like have been overflowing to other parts of my not-so-huge house in the past year or two. We have been searching for the perfect location for Dancing Pen & Press to call home. We are THRILLED to announce that we have secured a location, and are in the process of renovating & will open doors the first week of November!! We will of course be posting a photo diary all along the way of our progress. Think dove grey painted wood floors and cabinetry, blush walls, gold…well, we won’t give it all away.

Stay tuned!

All photos courtesy of Dancing Pen & Press.

Interested in participating in the Behind the Stationery column? Please send an email to Megan at megan[at]ohsobeautifulpaper.com for more information.

Party Paper: Palm Springs Pastels

Blame Easter, but I’ve been all about pastels lately. And today I’m thinkin’ about a party inspired by my favorite place – Palm Springs – and what it might look like bathed in pastel hues! Pretty perfect, huh? Here’s how to have to pull off the desert party of your (my?) dreams! —Kelly

Party Paper: Palm Springs Pastels

 

1. Cards by Idlewild Co. via Moorea Seal

2. Tassel Garland from Studio Mucci

3. Polka Dot Cups from The TomKat Studio

4. Palm Greeting Cards by Green Tie Studio via Baba Souk

5. DIY Pom Pom Cactus from Sugar & Cloth

6. Watercolor Gift Tags by Moglea

Brick & Mortar: 2015 Daydreams + Unprompted Requests, Part 1

I’m a brainstormer and day dreamer, the old fashioned kind who stares out windows and loses hours (/avoids to-do lists). Lately, I’ve had the good fortune of being in your good graces, so each day brings gorgeous mail, thoughtful emails and social media hellos. It is the perfect amount of fodder for my product inspired daydreams. In these early 2015 days, I want to share a few things that I not-so-secretly hope you’ll make. I’m going to share it in two parts because, it turns out, my daydreams are far more prolific than my t0-do lists. Here’s part one! –Emily of Clementine

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Illustration by Emily McDowell for Oh So Beautiful Paper

First, nota bene: these are my daydreams. As a shop owner, I have the luxury of ideating without the hassle of actual production.  These ideas may be impossible, flawed, or unmarketable. They’re also unprompted, they come from little sparks in my mind, not from customer requests or outside suggestions. This is to say: I send them with love but with absolutely no attachment.

PART I . Matchmaker, matchmaker. You know when you have two single friends who you think would be perfect for each other but you’re not sure how to tell them so you decide to do it on the internet without any warning? This is kind of like that except I barely know anyone involved (but if you know any single straight men in NYC, do I have a few amazing friends…).

  • Brown Parcel Press & Andie’s Specialty SweetsWhen I first saw the cards and prints from Brown Parcel Press, I thought: They look good enough to eat. Similarly, upon my introduction to Andie’s Specialty Sweets, I thought: That can’t be real! They look too incredible to eat! Both of these makers mold their material into a truly scrumptious product. I would love to see Andie’s base a little line of candies from Brown Parcel’s card lines. (I would admire them for an appropriate amount of time and then I would totally eat them up.)

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 Brown Parcel Press’s Grapefruit + Andie’s Specialty Candies marzipan fruit

  • Sapling Press + Notabli: Last week, while eating breakfast, my 3 year old turned to me and said “Mama, your eyebrows are too bright.” I reacted like many moms of my generation: I grabbed my phone and decided which social media platform deserved this quip. I chose notabli, a scrapbook-like app that saves your kids moments in photos, audio, video or just a little note. I love the note function because everyone always tells you to “write down what your kids say” and of course you never do, but now I finally am.

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Sapling Press card + a little shot of the Notabli App

A while back, I laughed through my entire Sapling Press order. So here’s my idea: I want these two to join forces. I want Notabli to hold a contest for parents to enter the funniest things their kids say and then I want Sapling Press to print them. Kids do say ridiculous things, but that doesn’t mean they’re not worthy of letterpress. (Spoken like a true parent, I know.)

  • Our Heiday + MCMCI’ve carried MCMC fragrances at Clementine for several years and Anne’s descriptions are just my favorite, vivid and lush, they take you right to a place. Last year, Pat from Our Heiday sent her beautiful intro packet and with each new card I found myself wanting another sense involved. They were like visual ingredient bouquets and I kept wondering: what would these cards smell like? I would love to see what these two would do together: a scent MCMC creates based on an Our Heiday illustration? Or Our Heiday illustrations based on MCMC scents? Either way, I’m in.

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Our Heiday’s Mom Card + MCMC’s Garden Fragrance

  • Anna Joyce + The Hive StudioI have horrible handwriting, so calligraphy truly is magic to me. Though I carry a few calligraphed cards at Clementine, people still think it is reserved for wedding invitations. I would love to see its application expand. Lindsey Buck of The Hive Studio was my Goody Goody Gift Swap mate and I was just floored by her calligraphy, it was bold and graphic, penning in a vibrant teal ink it was raised from the page and I wanted to see it on repeat. Anna Joyce‘s line of accessories has been a Clementine favorite for a while. Her contrast of her fabric and leather makes her accessories rise to art status, especially with her new hand painted series. It seems like a seamless jump to turn Lindsey’s wrapping paper into fabric for a special limited edition line with Anna’s skills.

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Anna Joyce Design’s Splatter Print Clutch in Yellow + The Hive Studio holiday wrapping paper

  • Red Cap Cards + Hygge & West: I spent my childhood skirting the edge of Vermont’s forests. My little friends and I built endless fairy houses and lived knee-deep in a land of make-believe. Whenever I find a designer able to capture the feeling of that time, I want to live in their world. This is to say: wallpaper. I want them to make wallpaper. Currently, I think Hygge + West is knocking it out of the park translating illustrated designs onto walls and I love scouring Red Cap’s line for illustrators who create the worlds I could live within.

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Becca Stadtlander for Red Cap Cards + Hygge + West’s Mint Peonies by Rifle Paper Co

  • Red House Inc + Swiss Cottage DesignsVermont is tiny state, with big state pride. Red House Inc, a fave local maker is creating some fantastic waxed canvas products. I especially love her thoughtful details, like her choices for liner fabrics. Courtney from Swiss Cottage Designs recently sent me a sample card from a Vermont wedding she designed. I was planning to crash the wedding (for the goodie bags) because I love LOVE, but then she wrote to say: let’s make something out of this and I thought: ug, where do I start? Well, I’ll start with fabric. (Then wallpaper, wrapping paper, notepads….). How about these two together:

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Red House Inc’s extra large tote + Swiss Cottage Designs Vermont illustrations

  • Little Auggie + Clap ClapLittle Auggie is creating some of the softest, sweetest bedding around. I’m especially grateful for their patterns for boys – which don’t fall into the easy rut of sport/superhero/truck themes. Instead each line creates a narrative that even parents can love . Similarly, Clap Clap Design‘s stationery stops me in my tracks with bold colors and a clear story. I would happily pull a duvet cover designed by these two over my head for a long winter nap.

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Little Auggie‘s Rabbit Patch Collection + Clap Clap‘s Greeting Cards

  • Julie Song + Pretty Plum SugarIt turns out, these two were well ahead of me. For Christmas, I was gifted a gorgeous robe from Pretty Plum Sugar (long live the pinterest wish list!). I returned to Clementine to find Julie had sent her beautiful 2015 Calendar. As I was dreaming up this post, I had a fleeting thought about how perfect Julie’s designs would be on these robes. Then last week on Instagram I saw that it had already happened, even prettier than I had imagined (and dare, I say the perfect get-up for 2015 tea-drinking bed-lounging daydreams):

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{Julie Song for Pretty Plum Sugar exclusively via BHLDN}

Join me back here soon to day dream about new and expanded products from some of your existing stationery lines. And in the mean time…What brands do you think could partner to create a new product?

xx 2015!

The Dark n’ Bubbly

We’ve shared a few versions of the classic French 75 here, but you don’t have to limit yourself to mixing champagne with gin. For Christmas, my sweet parents – who as complete tee totalers cannot make heads or tails of my love for cocktails – got me the new book by New York’s Death & Co bar. It is a tremendous resource for anyone who loves cocktails and I cannot recommend it enough. Here’s just one fantastically fun recipe that combines rum with champagne for another installment of this month’s champagne series, the Dark ‘N’ Bubbly. – Andrew

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Illustration by Shauna Lynn for Oh So Beautiful Paper

The Dark n’ Bubbly

1 1/2 oz Aged Rum
1/4 oz Lime Juice
1/2 oz Ginger Syrup
Dry Champagne or Sparkling Wine

Shake the rum, lime, and ginger syrup with ice and strain into a chilled coupe or flute. Top with champagne and enjoy!

The Dark n’ Bubbly is a fun play on the Dark n’ Stormy, a drink of rum, lime, and ginger beer. Here, the effervescence is provided not by ginger beer, but the much crisper and drier champagne. It’s a lively, light recipe and a lot of fun to drink.

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For the rum, we used Flor de Caña 7 year. Flor de Caña is a Nicaraguan rum that is mellow but complex and surprisingly inexpensive considering its quality, so it has become one of our go-to rums for mixing. For the ginger syrup, Death & Co. calls for curried ginger syrup, but that wasn’t something we had lying around the house. We did, however, have some ginger syrup from the Brooklyn-based Morris Kitchen, which makes some pretty great syrups for cocktails. (Hands-down favorite: try their preserved lemon syrup and you’ll be hooked.)

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Don’t forget to follow us on Instagram, where we’ve been posting lots of our experiments before they reach our Friday Happy Hour column!

Photo Credits: Nole Garey for Oh So Beautiful Paper

Hello Brick & Mortar: Real Customers, Merry & Bright

Ed Note: I can’t imagine a better way to sign off for the holidays than with this beautiful post from Emily – with real cards carefully picked out by very real people. I’ll be back next week with my annual “best of” round up and a couple of New Year’s posts, and with brand new content on January 5! I hope you all have a wonderful holiday! xoxo – Nole

It’s Christmas Eve! I love this day almost more than Christmas itself, all of the anticipation of tomorrow just bursts today. But I’ll be honest, this shop owner is also very, very ready to settle down for a long winter’s nap. I’ve had a wonderfully full and exciting year, due in large part to many of you who egg me on and share the best conversations and questions. This will my fifth holiday owning Clementine. I know that holiday magic waits behind so many tiny moments: sneaky emails, hiding presents, surreptitious returns to purchase that little gift a loved one adored.  I’m totally exhausted, but equally hooked on the bits of magic that flutter through this season, I hope wherever you are, a bit flutters to you. ~ Emily of Clementine.

OSBP-Hello-Brick-and-Mortar-Clementine-by-Emily-McDowell-IllustrationIllustration by Emily McDowell for Oh So Beautiful Paper

In the past, I have asked customers to hold their card up as they purchase it and tell me where the cards are headed. This year, we are all so rushed, I asked instead for a simple image of the card and story about it’s recipient.

From Nan: I used the box set of cards to send a little bit of Middlebury love to some of my best friends who go to other colleges who I haven’t seen in a while. It’s the perfect personalized note to let them know I’m thinking of them this Christmas season. 

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{Merry Christmas With Love from Middlebury ~ Custom Designed cards by Parrot Design Studio}

From Susan: I’m sending this to my Manhattan friend. We have sort of a tongue in cheek “city mouse/country mouse” joke so I love sending her cards that remind me of her hustle and bustle neighborhood. She, in return, sends me cards of farm animals and generally bucolic images…

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{Swiss Cottage Designs Christmas on Main Street}

From Chenoa: This card is going to one of our favorite people who cares for our daughter every day. We truly couldn’t live without her. 

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{Rifle Paper Co. Snow Globe}

From John: I’m putting together a collection of cards from your store for my wife. She’ll love them all, these are especially beautiful. 

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{Peace Wreath and Succulent Wreath by Hartland Brooklyn.}

From Sas: I sent this postcard to my dear friend in Brooklyn; she’s the only person I know who gets into the holidays the way I do! I love that the scene on the card feels like a snapshot of rural Vermont!

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{Rifle Paper Co. Holiday Scene Post Card}

From Emily (that’s me!): I chose these diagramed snowmen for my son’s preschool teachers and friends because I love that they take the jolly holiday spirit of a snowman and break them down into their fun little bits. They remind me of all of the toddler activities his teachers so thoughtfully design – taking each craft piecemeal and creating something wonderful. OSBPEmilyGCT

{Girls Can Tell Snowman}

From Meg: My husband and I don’t give each other gifts for the holidays. Instead, on Christmas Day we leave notes for each other and treat ourselves to a delicious homemade chili.

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{Pearl & Marmalade’s I want to hibernate with you!}

Sarah purchased a little stack of cards for her employees, a mix of holiday and thank you cards. Like many of you, Sarah is running a small business and knows that the greatest holiday sentiment at this exhausted holiday moment is thanks! From Sarah: This card, among the others, is for the amazing hard work my employees did this year. We would have never gotten here without every one of them. 

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{Seriously Thank You Times a Million from Emily McDowell}

I’ll take a tiny breather here to say that this final story is a bit more tender. In other words, it makes me cry every time I read it. But in a good way, and I hope it hits you in a good way too. Stephanie and I have followed each others lives, without ever meeting, after becoming far-away friends on instagram almost three years ago. I tucked a card in to her order last year with no idea how it would follow their life story. This year has been momentous for Stephanie, I am lucky to be the tiniest snowflake in her story and to get to watch this family grow. From Stephanie: Last year I admired the Dear Santa stationary from afar. My husband and I didn’t have children, and at the time, weren’t planning to, but the idea of it was so sweet. I made an order from Emily’s shop and she slipped the Dear Santa card into my order. I squealed when I opened it. It was precious.

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{Dear Santa by Printerette photographed here with another favorite, Parrot Design’s From the Desk of Santa}

When we unexpectedly found out in January that I was pregnant I pulled the Dear Santa Letter out of the Christmas stuff. I wanted to have it for our baby girl’s first Christmas. We named her Wright. At 18 weeks she was diagnosed with a chromosomal abnormality that was terminal. We spent the next 6 weeks waiting to go into labor though we knew she wouldn’t be born alive.  For many reasons I never got around to putting the Dear Santa letter away. In late summer we had another unexpected event; a distant family member called, asking us to adopt her 2 year old son. We said yes.

On September 14th, C landed at JFK to the waiting arms of my husband. As we began Advent, I found the Dear Santa letter among Wright’s things, and with profound awareness of how complex and fantastic the year had been my husband, C, and I sat down to write our first letter to Santa as a family. Far more tearfully and joyfully than I expected – we mailed it from Macy’s on 34th Street – with our deep grief in our hearts and our overwhelming miracle in our arms.

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{Dear Santa, Printerette Press)

Wherever you are I hope your hearts are full and your holidays are bright. Even if you’re slogging through some of your days, I hope you catch a little bit of the magic too.  May you hug, laugh and create as much as possible. Merriest of holidays to you all and a Happy New Year! xoxo, Emily