Slight delay on print shipments
about 5 years ago – Tue, Feb 12, 2019 at 12:14:31 AM

Hi all!

We've got a slight delay with the prints shipping out. A key component for signing the prints (the "shop chop" which embosses the paper with Open Press's logo) has gone missing in the move from Denver to Sterling, so we've had to order a new one. It should arrive early next week, which is right when we will have completed all the printing. We decided to just collate the entire edition (sign, number, and chop) once the printing is complete. Collating 2000+ prints will probably take a full day, possibly a day and a half. That puts the first shipments out to around February 20th. Thankfully, there are only about 100 orders for prints, so this will take me all of 3 days tops to get the orders together. All print orders should be in the mail by the end of next week or the beginning of the following week at the latest, and you will receive a tracking number in your inbox once your order is ready to ship. I'll suspend shipping orders from my webstore that week to insure that all prints get out as quickly as possible.

I'm very anxious to get the prints out to you ASAP, but to make your prints part of the official edition, I cannot send them out without that little mark. Also, nothing about this project has been instantly gratifying for me or anyone involved, so of course something had to delay it! I know I sound like a broken record, but I am very sorry to delay again.

Otherwise, printing is going sooo smoothly, and I think everyone will be super happy with their prints! I'll post another update soon! We're starting week 3 of printing tomorrow, and we're averaging about 600 prints every 4 days, which is just amazing!!

Yours in printing,

Emi Brady

BIG Print Update! (1/3), LIVE CASTING THE PRINTING PROCESS NEXT WEEK (Feb 6th)!
over 5 years ago – Sat, Feb 02, 2019 at 06:22:44 PM

Hi everyone!

I spent the last week up in Sterling, CO at Open Press's new location working on the print edition with master printer Mark Lunning, and I can't wait to show you what it's like to print a big edition at a professional print studio!

The very first step is to have your print matrices ready to rock. All of my previous updates about carving blocks show what that looks like. With an edition of 79 unique images, this step took me about 16 months to complete.

The next step is having your paper cut down to the correct size. I used Canson's cotton-based bright white edition paper for this edition, and my lovely assistant Maristella tore down 400+ big pieces of edition paper into over 2,000 10" x 16" pieces for me. This is a lot of damn paper, y'all. It took her about 21 hours of work to complete this step.

Mark made a registration jig for me to be sure all the images line up on the paper in the exact same way every time I lay the paper down to print. Here's the Justice block sitting on this registration jig.

As a master printer, Mark rolls the ink on each block the same way every time, counting the number of rolls he makes over the block, and using the same amount of ink on the brayer every time. This insures the image will print consistently. A printmaker I am, but a master printer I am not, so this is basically magic to me.

Once properly inked, he places the block on the registration jig at press. I use mat board chips to move the block into place to avoid getting ink on my hands. I then place the paper on top and run the whole thing through the press. Once through, I pull the paper off the block and set it on the rack to dry.

Now multiply that by about 2,100 and you've got yourself the full edition! I am printing 30 of each image in the Major Arcana, and 20 of each in the Minor. The only exceptions to this are the Hermit (which will be an edition of 80-90), and the cardback and colophont (title page for the full set) which will be an edition of 10 each. I also pull about 3 extra prints per block for quality control within the edition, and to have a few artist and printer's proofs to give to the master printer at the end. Typically, the print shop you print at gets an artist proof for every 10 prints that are in the final edition.

We will also need to sign, date, number, and emboss each with Open Press's printer's chop (which serendipitously is the image of a bird flying). Since we have not begun that stage, I will not post pics of this step of the process until the end of next week when we do this to the first batch of prints.

We rocked through almost 700 prints over the course of 5 days (which is really, really excellent time), but in true Brady fashion (you know "Brady" means "Slow", right?), this project is just so much more massive than I ever imagined. I was hoping to get through the whole edition this past week, but it will take two more weeks of 9+ hour days of printing to get through everything. We have been moving through these prints in order, and so far everything from the Fool to the Star has been printed. Next week (the week of Feb 3rd) we will be able to complete the Major Arcana and get through all of the suit of Feathers and most of the Horns. We will then complete the entire edition by the end of the third week (the week of Feb 10th). 

Since we used an oil-based ink, I must allow time for these images to dry before I can ship them out to avoid smudging in shipment. When I return home at the end of next week (on Friday the 8th), I will bring all completed prints from The Fool to The Star back to Denver, and all uncolored prints from that set will be shipped out the week of February 10th. Each set moving forward will need a week to dry, and will be shipped out in the same fashion. For those that ordered colored prints, I will begin hand-coloring once the edition is completed, and I plan to work my normal 10-12 hour days until I finish them all. To make it easier to understand, here's my shipment schedule:

TIME TABLE FOR PRINT SHIPMENTS

• MAJOR ARCANA 0-XVII (uncolored): Will be shipped out the week of February 10th
• MAJOR ARCANA XVIII-XXI, FEATHERS, and most of the HORNS (uncolored): Will be shipped out the week of Feb 17th
• The last of the HORNS, all ARROWS, and ROOTS (uncolored): Will ship the week of Feb 24th.
• ALL COLORED PRINTS: I will ship as I complete them. I estimate hand-colored them will take about a month total, so my goal is to get the last one shipped by the last week of March. Of course, if I have woefully underestimated how long this will take, I will post updates!

For those of you who ordered prints and have changed your address since receiving your deck or other goods, please contact me directly about your change of address so that you can get your prints sent to the correct address!

Finally, if any of you are super interested in seeing the print edition in action, I will be going live on Instagram @brady.tarot on Wednesday February 6th starting at 10:30 am Mountain Time! Stop by and be a voyeur! Feel free to ask questions! I will have someone reading them to us as we work.

See y'all then!

-Emi Brady

Print Editions are Scheduled!
over 5 years ago – Fri, Jan 04, 2019 at 10:53:17 PM

Happy New Year, Kickstarter!

After a much-needed rest and the rush of holiday madness, I've scheduled press time at Open Press to get the print edition done! I'll begin printing on Monday January 28th and print my little heart out until everything gets completed. It should take about a week of 8-10 hour days. Much like the carving of this project, this edition is by far the largest I've tackled, so it may take longer than I anticipate, but 50-70 hours feels about right. I'll also have Mark Lunning, the owner and master printer at Open Press, helping me with the entire edition, and he's confident we'll be able to knock it all out within that week.

I'm really excited to post the updates around printing the edition because printmaking is my number one love forever! It is such a cool process getting the press set up and jammin out so many pieces of art, and sharing it with you will be even cooler. Mark also moved Open Press out to Sterling, Colorado, and it will be really fun to show off the new shop!

The oil-based ink I use to print will take an extra week to be dry enough for shipping, and backers who ordered uncolored prints will have their pieces shipped out once they are dry (around early- to mid-February). Backers with colored prints will get their prints as they get colored, and I'll be a little hand-coloring factory throughout the month of February until they are completed. All hand-colored prints will have a UV-resistant varnish added to keep the gouache looking fresh, which will take an extra day or so to dry. I will likely be coloring sequentially (0-21 in the Major, followed by the Feathers, Horns, Arrows, and Roots). I'll post an update about hand-coloring multiple pieces at once, because that's a whole other cool process!

I plan to ship the prints flat, so you won't have to worry about trying to uncurl your pieces for display. This will increase the price of shipping on my end, but I find it is just much better flat-packing paper pieces, and is ultimately worth it.

Thank you everyone for your patience with this very last leg of the project. I am so blown away by the positive response from the Kickstarter community around the deck, and I hope those that ordered prints will be equally enthused about the pieces!

Yours in printing,

-Emi Brady

Canadian Orders
over 5 years ago – Tue, Nov 06, 2018 at 05:47:08 PM

We're getting to the very end of fulfillment, and the only ones left are the Canadian orders. They are currently in Toronto and will all be fulfilled this week. I am so sorry to my Canadian backers for the delay. I just really screwed up the timing on them, and did not foresee such a long stall in customs and on their shipment. This is totally my fault, and I am really sorry. I'm doing everything in my power to get those out to you in the next couple of days. We will be using FedEx so these shipments will not be affected by the postal strike, and since they have already cleared customs they should not take much time once they get into the mail.

Fulfillment has definitely been the most challenging part of this Kickstarter (far more challenging than making all the art). There were so many really important lessons I learned through it, and I know I have let some of you down. I'm so sorry to any of my backers who feel hurt by the delays. I have learned that many things just take much more time than I expect, and while I have learned a lot of patience through my craft, I do not expect everyone to have the same patience.

I couldn't get everything right the first time around, but I want to do better and better as I learn more. Thank you everyone for your unbelievable support throughout this project, and for your patience in the fulfillment. I'm doing my absolute best to push through the final orders as quickly as possible, and I know I'm not doing it perfectly. Being human is messy business, y'all.

Apologetically yours,

-Emi Brady

The last of the orders!
over 5 years ago – Tue, Oct 30, 2018 at 07:46:08 PM

Hi everyone!

I've been a shipping machine for the last 3 weeks, and almost everyone's orders are out. I have a few people who are waiting on screen printed orders, which I am prioritizing and knocking out this week. My apologies for the delay in these items; there have been a lot of weird technical problems, but they will all get resolved in the next 2 days. My Canadian orders have also not yet shipped, but you should be getting a tracking number in the next two to three days.

The only other people who are left are those with only prints (which will be editioned in the next 3 months), or those who have not given me shipping addresses. I've emailed the address-less a couple of times, but if you are reading this and have not gotten a tracking number and only ordered a deck, please contact me so we can get you taken care of!

Thank you everyone for your patience! I know this project has taken a lot longer than expected, but I'm doing the very best I can to get through all these orders as quickly as possible. I am still reeling over how many people contributed to this project! Y'all are amazing. Thank you so much!

I'll also be opening my webstore tomorrow on Halloween for those of you who wanted a deck but did not get to the Kickstarter in time! I will only be selling decks to the US for now, but those in the UK or Europe should pick one up from the Little Red Tarot blog, which will carry my decks. Again, I am prioritizing the few Kickstarter orders I have left, but I do need to go ahead and move forward with the webstore.

Thanks everyone! More updates to come!

-Emi Brady