Stationery Show Ahoy!

Sarah knocking out some reprints.

For the first time in BBH history I am slacking off before a show. My Hot GF was in town for a month and we've been hanging out/figuring out what it's gonna look like when she gets here this summer. And since the day before she left, I've been sick, in bed, watching an endless barage of Battle Star Galactica. My official first day back was midday tuesday. The January NYIGF was slack enough that new product is not a top priority. I was gonna print some T-shirts myself, but after what Fritz Klinke of NA Graphics dubbed "the Bluebarnhouse economic stimulus package," that same day I decided to hire a friend to make prototypes of 14 different T-shirt designs in time for the Stationery show two Sundays from today (and bought an iPhone that same day). Yes, we make money. But then we immediately spend it on new endeavors.


F-hizzle screens a call.

We printed like 100 new designs since NYIGF August so I'm not sweating too hard about cranking out anything new, though we finally knocked out the colonoscopy card. That might be a good one for Fritz. I'm more worried about being prepared, as more than 20 styles are awaiting reprints currently, and more than 50% are in a 2nd reprint status and requiring larger, more expensive runs. But there are a few new ones coming out, because it is the BBH tradition, but late nights and stressful leave conditions are not in order this time around. The idea is whatever happens, is what will happen. Everything is waiting for us in NY already. Having a booth stored up in NYC is a huge stress relief, as we can just fly in this year, as opposed to the original ordeal of packing up a trailer driving up all day before setup.


Emily reprints Daddy Come Home.

What else. We got pirate wood postcards now. Again, I am paying an assload to someone else to make new product, which is a new thing but I know I can sling them like candy. I really like these cards and figure our audience will too, so I talked to Kristin Sekula of Spitfire Girl fame about buying these cards I designed for her enmasse at a lower rate than what she normally sells them at and reselling them through our own market. They will have her name and manufacturing on it, our sense of humor and design aesthetic. I got a sample before they went to print. They look amazing.


1 of 6 wooden postcards printed in the pirate tradition.

I've said it before that I don't expect much from the NSS this year. And usually when I don't expect too much I get blindsided-- my hope is that the lack of competiton at the shows will bode very well for us this year. More to report on this subject on the Manhattan side here in a week and a half.


Cranking it out the BBH way. All 3 pressses going all day long.

My Hot GF looks like Gerard Depardieu

This is an inside joke. Sorry everyone.

Another DirtyRag'z Revealed

A shirt by the knuckleheads at DirtyRagz

Last week I blogged about a new hobby of mine: collecting T-shirts of things doing other things from behind. The bulk of my collection comes from a T-shirt company that is in tune with my own moral ethics (ie: a lack there of) called DirtyRagz. The above design is what hooked me into their shop, and my original reason for placing an order with them-- but I didn't post it with the last blog because I bought it for somebody's birthday--- who's birthday is today.



Happy Birthday Katie!

Crashing on a tiny island.

I'm staying at my girlfriend's parents home this weekend while I hock my wares at the Holiday Gift Fair at the San Francisco Center for the Book. Their home is on the San Francisco Bay-- across the bay from San Quentin Prison.


This notorious photo of Johnny Cash was taken on stage during
his performance at San Quentin Maximum Security Prison

When the prisoners are out in the yard you can hear the guards hollering at them on their megaphones. Here is the view out of the back of the house:


The backyard is looking pretty wet in this photo,
which is not the view I'm accustomed to-- usually
the ground is a bit damp but puddle free.

The view should be inspiring. I should like to be able to sit and read or design or write in the sunroom and look at the hills, the sea birds, the water, the passing ferries. However, everytime I'm here its so friggin cold in the house that usually a chance for inspiration is quickly killed by a strong desire to sit in a running car with the heat on. The cold is due to lots of windows, consitently chilly weather on the bay, the heat ain't on all too often, and when it is, it doesn't seem to make much of a difference. I have a hoodie, thermal underwear, a tshirt, a winter cap covered by the hood and am currently freezing my ass off.

Anyhow, I've heard that high tide will bring the water up into the yard, but usually it happens before dawn and it doesn't get very close to the house-- however, this time of year the water is at its highest, and yesterday I was amazed to see the water come all the way up to and around the house. Ankle high waves came towards me on the porch, remnants of a ferry that long had passed the house.


Truly, a house on the San Francisco Bay

Unfortunately, all I have is my camera phone so these pics aren't too hot, but you get the idea. Depending on atmospheric pressure, wind, etc, the water can sometimes go all the way past the house and into the street (this only happens under very limited circumstances.) All the houses on this side of the street are built with this in mind, so the water doesn't actually get into the house, but each house along the bay has the potential to become a tiny island unto itself, if only for a few hours, which is pretty cool.

I'm pretty much killing time with this blog until the holiday fair gets underway, and now its about that time and I should get on the road. I'll holler back I find anything worth reporting.