Hasta La Ideas

Get crafty with a new book by San Francisco’s leading lady of printmaking

Founder of San Francisco, CA design studio Yellow Owl Workshop, crafty woman Christine Schmidt knows her print-making. Her new book, “Print Workshop: Hand Printing Techniques and Truly Original Projects,” embodies her icon status as a hand-printer while offering artistic recipes for other creative-minded souls.

The book, billed as a tool for “low budgets and high expectations,” offers a variety of printing guides that are a serious attraction to someone who has spent years secretly fantasizing about printing subversive t-shirts in his basement, like me. From relief to sun printing, Schmidt covers a range of fun and creative tasks that can be tackled in a weekend or drawn out into long-term projects.

While the range of projects is impressive, the real beauty of the book is its comprehensive nature. Each section begins with a description of the specific tools necessary for each topic, followed by straightforward directions on execution. Schmidt offers an immense amount of details for all the different categories, and the utility of having a single-source of tried-and-true design at your fingertips is invaluable.

Schmidt’s language is casually encouraging, and in true DIY spirit every paragraph makes you feel more confident in your ability to complete the task at hand. While the book won’t tell you how to rubber stamp the Mona Lisa, it’s an excellent launching pad for imaginative minds.

As a bonus the last 15 pages are a collection of templates from the Yellow Owl Workshop that you can use for inspiration. The book comes out 28 December 2010 but can be pre-ordered from Amazon or directly from Crown Publishing.

Craft photos by Thomas J. Story for Sunset Magazine