My Eco-Friendly Story
by Nina Interlandi Bell, owner, Tweedlepress
Tweedle Press uses earth-friendly materials to create stylish, quirky paper goods: a full-service design, papermaking, and letterpress print shop. Letterpress is one of the oldest forms of printing, and has not been used on a commercial basis since the introduction of offset printing. The presses themselves, giant behemoths made of cast iron and gears, aren’t even made anymore. It’s a matter of will and determination to find them, restore them, learn to print with them, and maintain them. The results, however, are definitely worth the effort.
Green is the new black! Or so it would seem, given that every corporation worth its weight in advertising has jumped onto the eco bandwagon. Companies are backpedaling from mass production into green production in order to prove that their expensive campaigns are built in the name of environmentalism. It’s hard to sift through claims, labels, and jargon when really all you want is to have someone tell it to you straight.
Tweedle Press is not offering a backpedaling into forced environmentalism, but a start from scratch, in a place that is already earth-friendly and sustainably delicious. Of course, natural and eco-friendly must meet somewhere in the middle to run smoothly with beauty and quality. I could make business cards on toilet paper made from recycled coffee grounds, but I don’t think that would work, somehow.
I am constantly testing new printing surfaces, and I have found a nice array of post consumer recycled papers. I also recycle junk mail into handmade papers, to which I can add dried flowers, spices, textures, and other random (practical) materials. If you’re looking or a truly unique way to get rid of your junk mail, Personal Recycling can turn your scrap paper into something personal and extraordinary. It’s also important to be educated about what all these “green” terms really mean, and there is an in-depth definitions section on the website as well.
The quest for perfect ink has been a long and sordid one. Sometimes, realism is the best way to go. Soy inks aren't really all they're cracked up to be and in addition, they run like watercolor without the addition of driers and other funkiness. I use a combination of hand mixed vegetable ink colors and pre-mixed oil based etching inks with a high pigment degree. These are linseed based as opposed to petroleum (yay!), and their ‘lightfast’ properties mean that the colors will not fade over time. I could make myself sick over creating zero environmental impact, but as an artisan handcrafting individual pieces that are made to last I already have a sexy leg up over mass market production and consumerism.
For cleanup, I use only vegetable oil. Nothing toxic or scary.
My packaging materials are also as ‘low impact’ as possible, meaning recycled (and recycla*ble*) boxes and hemp twines. Email and electronics might be less wasteful (immediately), but printing is a snail mail enteprise, and as such, the best must be done with hands-on material.
And Tweedle Press is almost entirely ‘hand-powered’. Electricity is necessary for computer design and plate making, but most of the actual pressing is hand-cranked – even with my larger press, which is motorized but requires elements of preparation that are all fed, dried, and tested without industrial energy. Carbon offsets and alternative energies are something I intend to pursue eventually.
As of now, Tweedle is the modern correspondent’s gaudy daydream. Eco-punk, if you will. A company retro-friendly and yet, at the same time, a little bit mad.
Letterpress + Paper Shop: www.tweedlepress.com
Green is the new black! Or so it would seem, given that every corporation worth its weight in advertising has jumped onto the eco bandwagon. Companies are backpedaling from mass production into green production in order to prove that their expensive campaigns are built in the name of environmentalism. It’s hard to sift through claims, labels, and jargon when really all you want is to have someone tell it to you straight.
Tweedle Press is not offering a backpedaling into forced environmentalism, but a start from scratch, in a place that is already earth-friendly and sustainably delicious. Of course, natural and eco-friendly must meet somewhere in the middle to run smoothly with beauty and quality. I could make business cards on toilet paper made from recycled coffee grounds, but I don’t think that would work, somehow.
I am constantly testing new printing surfaces, and I have found a nice array of post consumer recycled papers. I also recycle junk mail into handmade papers, to which I can add dried flowers, spices, textures, and other random (practical) materials. If you’re looking or a truly unique way to get rid of your junk mail, Personal Recycling can turn your scrap paper into something personal and extraordinary. It’s also important to be educated about what all these “green” terms really mean, and there is an in-depth definitions section on the website as well.
The quest for perfect ink has been a long and sordid one. Sometimes, realism is the best way to go. Soy inks aren't really all they're cracked up to be and in addition, they run like watercolor without the addition of driers and other funkiness. I use a combination of hand mixed vegetable ink colors and pre-mixed oil based etching inks with a high pigment degree. These are linseed based as opposed to petroleum (yay!), and their ‘lightfast’ properties mean that the colors will not fade over time. I could make myself sick over creating zero environmental impact, but as an artisan handcrafting individual pieces that are made to last I already have a sexy leg up over mass market production and consumerism.
For cleanup, I use only vegetable oil. Nothing toxic or scary.
My packaging materials are also as ‘low impact’ as possible, meaning recycled (and recycla*ble*) boxes and hemp twines. Email and electronics might be less wasteful (immediately), but printing is a snail mail enteprise, and as such, the best must be done with hands-on material.
And Tweedle Press is almost entirely ‘hand-powered’. Electricity is necessary for computer design and plate making, but most of the actual pressing is hand-cranked – even with my larger press, which is motorized but requires elements of preparation that are all fed, dried, and tested without industrial energy. Carbon offsets and alternative energies are something I intend to pursue eventually.
As of now, Tweedle is the modern correspondent’s gaudy daydream. Eco-punk, if you will. A company retro-friendly and yet, at the same time, a little bit mad.
Letterpress + Paper Shop: www.tweedlepress.com