“One of the hidden gems of screen-printing is the beauty of the “test print.” Because screen prints are created one color, one layer at a time, the artists often test each layer before they start the print run. They often use left over prints, pages from old runs, and even misprinted paper. The test prints slowly gather more and more layers of color and artwork from dozens of different jobs. It’s not unusual for a test print to find itself run through the press more than two dozen times. The resulting prints are always unique and are always surprising. Because test prints are a pragmatic by-product of the actual printing process, these pieces of art contain a spontaneous and reckless emotion that is impossible for an artist to plan. Once a print is started no one knows exactly what the end results will look like. The process itself allows for so much randomness that the imperfections are embraced rather than shunned and accidents frequently become the highlight of the piece.”

- Eric Nyffeler and Michael Nielsen, curators of “Fuck Up” exhibition in Nebraska; an ode to the test print.

These guys put together a 16 layer print with the test prints from the artists in their show. Sweeeeet. (via: For Print Only)

4 layers/11 layers

14 layer/16 layers

these peöple multi-layer screenprint anyone? …joe can send us his layer from Maryland!

A series of videos from a collaboration between the producers of Beautiful Losers and design agency Wieden+Kennedy.

(via Le Blog de Yoland)

Jay Ryan has been making screenprinted concert posters and related items since 1995, first at Screwball Press, and (since 1999) at his own shop, The Bird Machine. Since graduating with a degree in painting from the University of Illinois (Urbana) in 1994, Jay has played bass guitar in Dianogah, and spends the rest of his time splitting firewood or thinking about bicycling.

you can look on his website here

My favourite album art recently, and a great record. The Pastels are a group from Glasgow, UK, which we of course love. This compilation was released by these guys in 1994.

http://www.sheepish.org/pastels/

What’s your favourite album artwork today?

Craig Gleason (blog not for the faint hearted..!)

Great letterheads found on diskursdisko.de

Thanks to email, the letterhead is a bit of a billy no mates. All i think about when it comes to letterheads in a Microsoft Word template from windows ‘98 anyway. 

You gotta check some of these out on letterheady.com. Letterheady is an online homage to offline correspondence; specifically letters. Those guys have a great sibling project called Letters of Note too, Letters of Note is an attempt to gather and sort fascinating letters, postcards, telegrams, faxes, and memos.

cute!

The Criterion Collection is well-known for restoring rare, unique and cult classic films from famed directors like Akira Kurosawa, Jean-Luc Godard, Luis Buñuel, and Wes Anderson. Equally respected is their cover art and supplements to their DVDs. For 25 years, Criterion Collection has been pairing art house films with strong design. From typography to photography, they elevate box art to poster art with work that never cease to impress.

from Grain Edit

It’s no surprise these beautiful covers inspire copy cats. Auteurs, Criterion’s sister site for film geeks, embraces it and encourages people to post their redesigns in the forum, “The Auteurs’ Fake Criterion Covers.” More here.

The music kiss? That’s definitely a one to try.

There seems to be a whole collective behind the ‘Explosive Legs!’ video on youtube. They’re called Everything is Terrible! and they take forgotten VHS tapes of all kinds and edit them down into easily digestible viral videos, never reposting other peoples youtube videos. They often collage and mix them up a bit, but often the weirdest videos are the originals themselves.

Here’s an example of how you could be a menace to society:

PLEASE, if your feeling like being distracted then spend some time watching their many videos on the website. Continue the exercise theme by watching EROTICISE.. I highly recommend that one.

click through, and go explore!

other random, super things:

“But the LORD thinks you’re cool already!!”

“Michal Bartlomowicz is a design, typography and illustration specialist from Katowice, Poland and we recently stumbled upon his awesome black-and-white hand-made collages. He uses paper cut-outs and some other prepared materials along with a Xerox machine to create these celestial scenes that are slightly abstract and intriguing cool…” (via definitivetouch)