Hammerpress - Mrs. Blandings

After lunch yesterday I was headed home, but the painters were there and I knew they were sanding and it would be noisy and messy, so I took a detour.

Hammerpress has been in the Crossroads a good while. In fact, I had them make Mr. Blandings’s 40th birthday invitations. They’ve moved just around the corner from their original spot and I hadn’t made the time to stop in.

Brady Vest started the company in 1994 after finishing at the Kansas City Art Institute. He had a thing for letterpress and he turned it into a jumping little business.

Brady was getting ready for First Fridays when I stopped in. I told him I’d come back when everything was out and he said, “Come on back.” As in the back room. You do know I love the back room.

Piles of stuff and stacks of boxes and a palette of ink that I could have brought home and hung on the wall.

If you are a visual person this is the type of place that make your synapses snap, crackle and pop.

Covers for journals waiting for production,

cards

and stationary.

All designed and produced here in this little sunny spot on Southwest Boulevard.

Brady has done a lot of posters for local music venues and some of these are available at the shop and on-line.

But they do other posters as well. One of the reasons I stopped was because a friend had mentioned the poster above.

A reminder I could certainly use, though this one might be better for me. I always forget this part.

One of the reasons I had Brady do Mr. Blandings’s invitation was because I wanted something really special. It was so simple, just black and white, but I was taken with the idea that they would be produced by hand, by someone setting those blocks.