Monthly Archives for July 2011

A Blog About Blogs

by Sara McNally | July 25th, 2011

I really love blogs. I’ve been inspired, motivated, and educated by great blogs and bloggers for several years now. My Google Reader feed is quite long, but I can’t bring myself to narrow my blogs down – there’s something new, interesting, and exciting on each one! I’ve had several personal blogs over the years, but (like my diaries & journals from childhood), I tend to get busy and stop writing. (But not this time! I really do love to share my thoughts here, and hope to keep up the current pace!) Here’s a list of some of my favorite blogs – written by talented, interesting people who don’t give up!


Wedding Inspiration
Style Me Pretty, Ruffled*, Snippet & Ink, 100 Layer Cake

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619 Western

by Sara McNally | July 20th, 2011

Constellation & Co. moved into the 619 Western Artist’s building in January of 2011 – 101 years after the building was built in Pioneer Square.

619 was built in 1910 during an economic boom after the Alaskan gold rush. The building was used as a multipurpose warehouse and was the site of light manufacturing. Fishing nets, coffee beans and tavern punch cards are a few of the products that have been stored & made on the premises. In the late 1970′s, the first artists moved their studios into the building. Currently, more than 100 artists have studios in all six stories of this historic building. For more information on 619′s history, please visit the official 619 site.


The first Thursday of every month, the 619 Building is open for the Pioneer Square Art Walk which brings crowds of art lovers to the neighborhood. The 619 building has long been considered the epicenter of this monthly event, with the largest concentration of artists’ studios and gallery spaces in one building.

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Public Service Announcement

by Sara McNally | July 18th, 2011

The letterpress revival has been thriving in Seattle for some time – but there are definitely parts of the country that haven’t experienced it. Recently, my family took a road trip through the south, on an antiquing expedition. After asking around in lots of small towns about printing presses and printer’s blocks, my family was given the number of a gentleman who was a retired printer. They called him up and asked about his printing supplies, and specifically his collection of wood type. The gentleman was shocked that anyone would be interested in letterpress things – and told them that he threw away his large collection of wood type years ago! It breaks my heart to think about all of that history and craftsmanship thrown out with the trash. Here’s a public service announcement: If you or anyone you know (uncles, grandparents, elderly friends) were a printer and have wood type, printing presses, or printer’s blocks – PLEASE contact me, and I will purchase them from you, or find someone who will. These items are valuable and important – historically, and monetarily. Please don’t throw them away!

Meet the Presses: Annabelle

by Sara McNally | July 15th, 2011

Annabelle is a Chicago Printing Press No. 11, made by the Sigwalt Company in the late 1800’s & early 1900’s. These presses were built on exactly the same principals as the large presses of the same era that we use to produce all of our products – this one is just miniaturized! (For example: our Chandler & Price press weighs 1,200 pounds, and this press weighs 8 pounds!) This particular style of press was often used by schools, offices, pharmacists, churches and hobbyists in the way a label maker or desktop computer would be used today. This size & style of press originally sold for $12.00, complete with type, ink, rollers, tweezers, paper, and more!

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Urban Craft Uprising Vendors

by Sara McNally | July 13th, 2011

We loved browsing the Urban Craft Uprising. Our fellow vendors were super talented, and offering such exciting things! Here are a few of our favorites.

Heather of Material and Movement makes beautiful jewelry from recycled vintage china. Her pieces are beyond beautiful, and definitely on my wish list.

Alexa of Foamy Wader has delicate and fun jewelry. This axe necklace has me written all over it. I visited it several times throughout the show – too bad my birthday isn’t coming up!

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Our Urban Craft Uprising Booth!

by Sara McNally | July 12th, 2011

This weekend we were a vendor at the Urban Craft Uprising! We attended our first summer show right after we moved to Seattle two years ago, and we loved it! At the time, Brad and I shared a daydream/goal of selling at the show, and we were so excited and pleased to see that come true this weekend!

We’ve done small shows in the past, but this one is the best, and we wanted to rise to the occasion! We built a display shelf from scratch. It was a fun project, but it taught us that we definitely prefer working with paper than with wood! Nonetheless, we really like how it turned out, and it was so fun to see all of our new designs displayed.

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Meet the Presses: Jefferson

by Sara McNally | July 7th, 2011

A few months ago, we walked into a very dark and cluttered antique store in Tacoma, WA. In true American Pickers fashion, we looked high & low, under things & over things, sifting through boxes and piles of unnameable old things. After some searching, Brad moved a pile of bicycle wheels aside and found something that made us both gasp. In that odd place, we found an 1880′s era Galley Proof Press by the Chandler & Price company (the same company that made our large platen press).

An iphone photo from the day we found the press.

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