#cuddlefish press

I just discovered that one of my personalizable prints appeared on the Etsy blog last week! It's "Garden Party," appearing as #8 in their guide to gifts that are extra special because they can be customized for children! Thanks so much, Etsy!

As some of you may have noticed, my shop was recently featured in the Fab.com Kids' Shop! The sale kept me busy for a few weeks, printing and packing orders for a bunch of wonderful new customers. Though I had the option to have Fab fulfill my customers' orders, I decided to ship everything myself, because as much as I love Fab I know that timely shipping isn't their strongest suit. Anyway, a few days after everything shipped I received the best message I could wish for from one of my customers. She ordered a "Vikings Go Fishing" print for her daughter's room; here's what she had to say about it! 

"Dear Erica,

I purchased a print of yours ("Vikings go Fishing") from Fab.com and received it in the mail today. I just have a few comments. 1) I would just like to say that your print is beautiful. Vivid colors, great paper and obvious care went into making them. 2) The time frame of delivery was stellar. Usually items I have purchased off of these sites have taken me WEEKS to get. Not only that but your packaging and hand written thank you note was such a lovely touch, especially when I feel customer service is seriously declining in many industries lately. 3) If I had been able to afford it I would have purchased many other prints, but now seeing the quality and care you put into your product I will be going to you first for prints to complete my daughter's room (I am hoping your Garden Party and Paper Boat prints are still available then!), and I will be forwarding your site on to all my friends. 

I really don't usually feel compelled to write about products I have purchased but I just want to know that you brightened my day and I truly appreciate your wonderful products and customer service. So thank you!"

In my last post I shared some line drawings for a handful of little characters I illustrated for my web shop, Cuddlefish Press. Here are the finished designs! They're scattered throughout the shop's FAQ page, About page and Contact page; I also recreated the shop's main banner. Now that the main elements of the shop are in order I am focusing on creating new products! Yay!  

Cuddlefish Press feels pretty official now that it's exhibited at San Francisco's 2011 Holiday Renegade Craft Fair! The two day event in December introduced my humble little illustration & letterpress shop to the Bay Area and I'm now super motivated to keep it growing in 2012. Here's a round up of some show favorites. 

One Renegade favorite was the little Bibliobears Ex Libris Stamp. These are 1.5" by 2" clear stamps that can be mounted to a block and used to stamp the interior pages of books, personalizing them like a book plate. Believe it or not, I had these little dudes made early last year and totally forgot about them. Thank goodness I dug them up, dressed them in cute little bookish packages and brought them to the show. They were a total hit. They're now available in each of the three classic Bibliobear designs, with or without the mount from the Cuddlefish Press shop.   

I introduced a line of letterpress encouragement cards called "Pick Me Ups" which were also well received, but I'll save details on those for another post!  

Of course, Cuddlefish Press is primarily an illustration studio so the main products available at Renegade were prints! In 2011 I began printing all of my own giclee prints in my home studio, so I had a decent selection on hand.

I nearly sold out of my inventory of "Shrimp Shadow," an 8.5" by 11" giclee print featuring vikings riding a whale. But there are still some available in the Cuddlefish shop! Since quite a few people asked, I'm considering making this one available in a larger edition later this year, perhaps 11" by 14." 

Of the letterpress prints at the show, "Treasure Hunter" was the favorite. This one's also 8.5" by 11," printed on Crane's Lettra paper in two small editions of 20 (one in blue ink, the other in red). 

The nursery prints were also well received. These can be purchased in a limited edition or may be personalized with a child's name or special message. Though I only had one personalization order at the show, I've had a few more since from folks who kept them in mind for upcoming baby showers and toddler birthdays. Here's "Garden Party" personalized for a sweet little girl, Lydia Rosabel.    

I recently added this little cutie to my Etsy shop. It's a diminutive archival giclee print, only 5" by 7", a great size for framing and gifting. I created an earlier version of this last year as a gift for my llama-loving mommy and, in response to a lot of positive feedback, decided to recreate it for my shop. Printed on heavyweight textured Hahnemuhle Torchon paper in my California studio, Cuddlefish Press in a limited edition of 50. Each is signed and numbered.