emily van hoff

Patterns, drawing, and bags.

2012-02-19T15:14:00.002-06:00

I have recently become owner of a wacom drawing tablet. I don't know why I've never used one before, what with my love for drawing type and all, but i'm a little in love it. It was tricky getting used to watching the screen instead of my hand as I draw, but i'm catching on.

I've also been really interested in making textile patterns lately, and I love screen printing and sewing and I have a huge bag of colorful vintage metal zippers.

So this happened:

(UPDATE: they're on etsy, HERE!)

Last week I was out at school to talk to a typography class about things they should be doing in school to get ready for the real world, which I am so not an authority on, but Ellen told me I was inspiring. Anytime I'm at Trinity for any reason, I make sure I bring a screen printing plan with me, and the cranes won this time. The print studio is probably the best room on campus, it has huge windows that face the prettiest view of Trinity and it's sunny all afternoon. Theres an old radio that happily and loudly plays The Drive all day long, and I don't think anyone is using that room this semester, so I take advantage of that when i'm out there.

Those of you who know me know that I don't really draw anything other than letters (it's just best if I leave that to MelissaPeterson), so to draw these guys I folded a crane, took pictures of it, and then drew over the photos with my wacom.

I like them.
The little zipper bags will be on etsy soon, and I hope to be printing larger scale pieces of fabric as well!

Side note: this is my first wacom adventure. It was for a poster for a Pantene Beautiful Lengths hair donating party that the nurses at Northwestern are putting on.

Etsy Earrings

2012-02-08T12:38:00.000-06:00

I just spent another weekend slaving away at my torch, and finally finished the order for good old North Dakota. And then I finished about 20 more and started posting a few to etsy.

I think they're looking pretty good!

So many earrings! and so much color!

Lauren & Bruce: Wedding Invitations

2012-01-30T20:02:00.001-06:00

Lauren and Bruce, dear friends from college who are living in chicago and responsible for maintaining my sanity, were married on October 21st in the beautiful and sunny Boston, MA. They were kind enough to ask me to design their invitations and programs, and I'm so happy I could be part of making their day perfectly Lauren & Bruce! The ceremony took place in a quintessential new england chapel, and the reception was at a cozy country club with a fantastic vintage vibe.

They're just so freaking cute, it was impossible to pick one picture. So I picked 2. (props to aguyandagirlphotography.com)

Now for the invitations. Although I didn't screen print these ones, they were just about as time consuming. But 100% worth it! We matched the feel of their wedding with a little art nouveau, some vintage lace and a a gorgeous off white butcher paper from the French Paper Company.

RSVP card

reception/map card, front and back

And the program:

I love that you can see the texture of the paper in this shot, it really was lovely!

Congrats Lauren and Bruce! You're pretty great.

Snowflake Book

2011-12-31T14:53:00.002-06:00

We've hardly seen any snow yet this winter, and it's almost January! I think that's depressing. I mean, really, I can see a kid outside my window playing basketball in shorts and a t-shirt. That shouldn't be possible this time of year!

So here's my answer to that, lets fill this city with paper snowflakes! My snowflake pattern book is FINALLY printed, cover screen printed, assembled and for sale on my etsy. Not in time for christmas, but at least it's still winter. I've been putting pages in order and stitching them together, and i'm excited about the growing stack of finished and lovely objects.

They took 3rd place in graphic design for my final year of Opus (Trinity's juried student show), and I know everyone loved them because they started disappearing from their pedestal. Come on, world, thats not what we do with art! For those of you who restrained your selves, now is your chance.

Theres more info about it's origins on my website.

a few snowflakes in my merry christmas window!
(notice the lack of snow outdoors)

1000 paper cranes

2011-12-26T00:16:00.001-06:00

(Aren't they cute?)

My wedding gift for Claire and Gary is finally done and delivered, and I thought I'd share.

The japanese tradition says that folding 1000 paper cranes for a couple on their wedding day is wishing them 1000 years of happiness and prosperity. My obsessive paper-folding tedium-loving self thought this sounded like a great plan, and a few months of continuous paper folding later, I achieved a very large pile of pretty white birds.

1000 paper cranes

I had them all folded in time for the wedding, but I was a little too last minute in figuring out how to display them, so that part didn't happen until later. It's a good thing I have a wonderful woodworking father who was more than happy to assist!

Museum glass, curved edges, tricky spacers, pretty wood. It's the perfect addition! The inside dimension is 10"x10"x1.5", and 1000 cranes fit inside. They're pretty tiny!

The cranes are now hanging in the VanBehm apartment, and I hope they serve as a daily physical reminder of all the prayers and well wishes offered on the part of their family and friends who have been (and will continue) supporting and cheering them on!

Fire and Glass.

2011-11-28T22:10:00.001-06:00

One of the benefits of going home (other than seeing my lovely family, of course!) is that I get to play with my torch (Actually, I share it with my sister, so it's our torch, too bad she lives in Baltimore). And when I have an order for another 4 dozen earrings for the gift shop I worked at in Medora, ND, it gives me an excellent excuse to do so. I took a couple of photos, which are less than stellar because it's hard to take pictures of fire and molten glass, but I think you can get the general idea.

This is our torch and some of the set up. And all of our glass rods in the organizer thing. We've been making beads for almost 10 years (?! wow, thats a long time!) so all the pieces on top are the short ends of rods that are just about used up.

In this picture you can kind of see the spiral in the end of the glass. I take one rod, add a stripe of another color (or 2) and twist them together with a pair of pliers.

Then I let the whole thing get super hot and drip ( very carefully so that it doesn't get too thin or fall off) and then break it off and let it cool down in a fiber blanket before reheating the skinny end and curling the loop over.

Some finished earrings!

A layered one.

Detail of a spiral pair.

Fun with some with color / transparency combinations!

Well, there is some of the magic that is playing with molten glass. not even close to seeing it in person though, so if any of you Holland-ers are around when i'm home for christmas, feel free to stop by!

Craft Time.

2011-11-23T13:02:00.000-06:00

Hey friends! It's been a busy month, I've been freelancing at Abelson Taylor since Halloween. In case you were wondering, Halloween is a hilarious day to start working somewhere. And I've making pretty things.

I've been needing a new wallet for about 2 years, but I'm too cheap and also too picky, so I finally decided to make one. I'm pretty happy with it. Vintage zippers, awesome fabric combinations, and all the right pockets.

I also crocheted the warmest scarf I've ever worn. I used the afghan stitch, so it's literally a mini blanket that's appropriate for me to wear in public. It may suffocate me, but at least it'll hold out the chicago winds!

I finished the scarf on the train ride home for Thanksgiving, so I tested it out at Saugatuck Dunes. It worked pretty perfectly.

also, my parents dog is awesome. not very good at posing for pictures though.

and a few of the first snowflakes of the season!

Happy Thanksgiving everyone!

Happy Halloween!

2011-10-31T22:19:00.001-05:00

Check out this sweet owl costume I made for my cousin Rachel of Hyde Creative!

Front. (and mask)

Back.

She was attending a West Michigan AIGA costume party. Doesn't she look awesome?

Cathedral Window II

2011-10-08T19:01:00.000-05:00

Finished!

At first it was little annoying and slow going, but once I got the hang of it, I was making up excuses for why it was ok that I was just sitting on the couch sewing a tiny quilt square and watching project runway on hulu. Now that it's done I'm contemplating a full quilt... bet you couldn't have guessed that one!

(anyone have a extra bolt of off white cotton sitting around that they want to donate to the cause?)

Look at all that hand stitching!

I stitched though to the back, making the wonderful quilted pattern.

Due to the folding and layering process, light shines through beautifully, just like a cathedral window!

Typeforce 2 Book

2011-10-05T17:14:00.001-05:00

The Typeforce 2 book is here, and it's beautiful, thanks guys!

In February my folded paper alphabet was in the "showcase of emerging typographic all-stars" at Co-Prosperity Sphere, along with lots incredible work from some very talented type lovers. And now it has been officially documented in this beautiful catalogue which was pre-released at the Unisource paper show last night.

Super fun!

Misery & Happiness

2011-10-01T15:10:00.000-05:00

This book is a summers worth of reminiscing about four years in Trinity Christian College's art department. It's the life and true confessions of an art major. It's an exercise in hand lettering, printing, and book binding. Mostly it's just 50 pages worth of inside jokes and a giant thank you to five awesome art professors who made Trinity a great place to be!

Inspired by Misery for Everybody, a hilarious account of childhood. You should check it out.

The book is set up with happiness on one cover and misery on the other so that it can be read from either direction.

center spread, which some of you may recognize...!

A sampling of some of the pages that don't require too much explanation.

people who think art is fun

when people use thumbtacks in critique

living in a barn for 20 years

stories that start with "I shouldn't be telling you this, but..."

a 1992 toyota previa with 250,000 miles

art department potlucks

Abby and I gave these to Bakker, Ellen, Josh, Dayton and Rowley yesterday when we were out at Trinity for Ken Steinbach's closing lecture/reception. They loved them!

Thanks for 4 great years!

Girl Party!

2011-09-26T22:07:00.000-05:00

As many of you know, my sister got married yesterday. I'm a little biased, but I'm pretty sure it was the most wonderful wedding I've ever seen! It consumed pretty much all of my making time this summer, and it totally paid off. Everything was perfect. I don't have have pictures yet (sorry!), but I'll get some soon.

In the meantime, here's some bachelorette party fun! Much classier than Party City's options, in my opinion.

I made Claire a tulle veil and giant bachelorette button/pin/award, which she actually wore in public, along with the awesome sequin dress that I brought for her to wear. And the giant gold jewelry. The rest of us had matching (and much smaller) buttons. All the pink and orange paper I used came from this awesome vintage wrapping paper.

Brownie recipe courtesy of Joy the Bakker

All us lovely ladies in Fells Point, Baltimore.

It was a fun night!

Cathedral Window Process

2011-09-14T12:23:00.000-05:00

I have a lot of travel coming up in the next month and half and so, and I always need a little project to work on for long hours in cars. I've been wanting to try the cathedral window quilt for quite a while, so I got some pieces ready for my trip to Baltimore about a week and half ago. There is a fantastic tutorial at the Hyena In Petticoats blog.

It's perfect for me, all hand stitched, I can use my pretty vintage fabric scraps, it incorporates some origami folding, you stitch the squares together as you go, and it's not backed, so I can stitch squares together until i'm bored, and then it'll be done! I'm thinking my first attempt will end in pillow size.

Here are a few process photos, it's great fun!

Website Updates!

2011-09-08T11:47:00.000-05:00

I spent the last few days working hard to get my website up to date and doing a little rearranging. There are a few more projects that will be coming in the near future, but it's looking good! I also added my senior show artist statement to the Alphabet (Geometric) project for those of you who are interested in reading what I learned in my 4 years of undergrad!

www.emilyvanhoff.com

Claire & Gary.

2011-08-20T13:02:00.000-05:00

My sister is getting married! And I was given the wonderful honor of designing the invitations. Being the overachiever that I am, I screen printed them all. After a few registration issues, they turned out beautifully, and with the help of my dad, we printed them all in one saturday afternoon.

The wedding is next month, and it's going to beautiful! Congrats again, Claire and Gary!

Coming Soon!

2011-08-11T10:30:00.000-05:00

Sneak preview of some new headbands that i'll be posting to my etsy store soon!

I love these! I get to mix and match all my lovely fabrics. And they barely make a dent in my unnecessarily large collection of cotton... which is probably a bad thing.

geometry! vintage fabric! tiny pieces!

Yay for crafting in tiny apartments...! The floor is such a handy surface.

Custom printed bags

2011-07-23T14:29:00.000-05:00

I just finished up the second batch of custom printed bags for a New Zealand Etsian! She requested bags bags like the ones in my shop with her shop's initials.

Printing in a tiny apartment presents a few challenges, thankfully, we have a big coffee table. Although sitting on the floor is only comfortable for so long. Here are the bags post-printing and pre-sewing, accompanied by a little WBEZ.

I would like to make a shameless plug for the Pilsen post office: I've only shipped envelopes like the one below from the Pilsen post office twice, but the lady working greeted me cheerfully and and said "it's the stitch lady! I was just telling someone about you the other day, we haven't seen you in a while!" I shipped envelopes like this from the Uptown post office a few times a week, and no one ever seemed to recognize me. I love Pilsen!

For the love of letters.

2011-07-20T21:29:00.001-05:00

My Aunt and Uncle recently visited my 95 year old Nana in Jersey, and they talked about my senior show, which centered around this handmade alphabet:

Postcards from my Senior Show

My Nana explained to tham that she has always loved practiceing the Palmer Method of handwriting. She would write the letters on the page horizontally than the rotate the paper vertically and write over the the letters again. She said she could sit at the table doing this for hours. Looks like my crazy love of letters actually comes from somewhere!

This is a recent sample of her handwriting that she sent home with my Aunt and Uncle to show me. It's beautiful! And it creates a wonderful abstracted pattern. Letters as objects rather than instruments of communication? Love it!

Penmanship of Anne VanHoff

I wikipedia-d the Palmer Method, it's pretty awesome, I think I found my new pastime. It looks a little more human than the time I tried to teach myself to write in helvetica... yes, I did that once.

We don't really need to talk about it...

Birthday!

2011-07-18T16:45:00.000-05:00

Some 30 second x-acto skills.

This one's for you, Bennett!

Claire's Shower

2011-07-11T13:20:00.000-05:00

My sister is getting married in september, and we just threw her a bridal shower! ...perfect opportunity for some serious craft time. I made just about all the decorations from some vintage wedding wrapping paper ordered from etsy.

invites and recipe cards

pinwheels, triangle vintage wrapping paper bunting, flowers and bright orange furniture.

"B" (for Behm) & heart cookies on our nana's vintage serving tray

book page flowers, pinwheel and photos

name tags

claire's name tag

Welcome, E.

2011-07-11T11:14:00.001-05:00

Hello all, thanks for stopping by!
This blog has been a long time coming, and I'm not promising magic with every visit, just a portion of my world of making. It will be occasionally interesting, sometimes beautiful, and always tedious.

For my first post it seemed appropriate to show you my screenprint of the E in my banner, so here it is!

I'm interested in design history and in appropriating elements of it in my work. I took an image from a book of art nouveau designs, altered it to fit around an E and screen printed it in some almost day glow colors.

Art Nouveau design

Sketchbook scan