Levigator Press

March weirdo, ready to strut in METAL JORTS Collaboration with @spillyjane #levigatorpress #spillyjaneknits #printmaking #linocut #weirdos #metaljorts

I was kinda on the fence about these metal shorts until I noticed they have POCKETS Humble beginnings of a new collaboration with @spillyjane #levigatorpress #spillyjane #printmaking #linocut #weirdos

Happy Friday, friends! If you haven't yet heard about this lovely new shop in Walkerville, you're in for a treat. ASIL showcases a carefully curated selection of art and handmade items for the home. We're pleased to have a few of our hand bound journals and hand printed scarves among so many beautiful things. Next time you're out exploring the neighbourhood in this glorious spring sunshine, drop by and see them!

We've updated our shop with some new full size journals wrapped in sumptuous deer and moose hide. Head to levigatorpress.ca/shop if you want to take a look! #levigatorpress #bookbinding #handboundbook #leatherboundbook #journal #sketchbook #shopsmall

These four freshly bound full size journals are on their way over to ASIL for their upcoming shop reopening! @asil_in_walkerville They're filled with 200 pages (100 leaves) of warm white Mohawk Superfine paper @mohawkpaper Pink and purple deer hide and cork moose hide courtesy of Tribal Spirit Music @tribalspiritmusic ... #levigatorpress #bookbinding #handboundbook #journal #sketchbook #leatherboundbook

Hey there, my witchy and gothy friends. Today in the studio I'm making something special for you: full size journals in glorious purple deer hide. For locals, there will be a few heading over to the ASIL shop for their reopening, and the rest will hit our online shop next week.

At it again, about to make something messy out of the last bits the garden has to offer. #levigatorpress #studio #dyegarden #dyeingwithplants

Photographing some of our letterpress and screenprint posters for an upcoming shop update! #levigatorpress #posters #letterpress #screenprint #everythingisfine #revolution #guiltypleasures

Swipe for a sampling of the results of my dye bundles from the weekend. Every single piece is ridiculously gorgeous. I got so caught up in the delightful witchiness of gathering plants and wrapping bundles that I forgot an important step: dipping the plant materials in iron water before placing them (a Very Big Oops). So instead, I put slightly diluted iron water in the dye pot to a depth of about 3 centimetres and stood the bundles on end to let the iron water wick up the fa...bric, flipping them halfway. The result is this amazing purple/indigo/black coming in from two sides. Because of my mistake the oregano and the leaves didn't produce much dye, but the coreopsis (orange blobs) and sumac (pink dots) didn't disappoint. I'll try another batch this week with properly dipped leaves. This is the best success I've had with using iron water to modify dye. I have an old skillet permanently soaking in a Tupperware full of water but I recently remembered a workshop Peter and I took on making green (verdigris) drawing ink from copper by soaking in vinegar, and I added some vinegar to my skillet broth to see if it would be more potent. It's a definite YES. White background pieces are alum mordant, yellow background are alum + myrobalan (which is also a yellow dye). @smokeyroadpress gave me a huge bundle of these blank handkerchiefs back when I was in grad school, and the rest are thrifted and have been in my studio since the late 90s. #levigatorpress #studio #dyestudio #naturaldye #dyeingwithplants

Today in the dye studio, bundling up some of the last of the garden plants for the dye pot. It's hard not to feel like I'm performing some kind of arcane ritual. A few of my collection of (mostly cotton) handkerchiefs make it into each dye pot that comes out of the garden, with the goal of stitching bits of them together to make window coverings for our new dining room. Tied up in here are some of the last dried up bits of oregano, coreopsis (two kinds), lily of the valley le...aves, the mugwort that toppled over to completely block our side gate, leaves from our baby red maple, plus some sumac berries foraged by the river. #levigatorpress #studio #naturaldye #gardening #fibrearts

Today in the studio: direct brayer rolling a patchy layer of white ink onto some houndstooth and plaid cotton fabrics as a base for more printing. Humble beginnings! #levigatorpress #printmaking #fabricprinting

Dropping off some hand bound journals, all wrapped up in spiffy new labels, to @asil_in_walkerville for their opening next week. #levigatorpress #asilhandmade #filcollective #visitwalkerville @filcollective