One Canoe Two Letterpress
Living the dream in the middle of nowhere
One Canoe Two Letterpress is the stuff dreams are made of – Carrie and Beth are childhood friends who always loved to draw. Now the two are all grown-up and work together as professional illustrators, designers and printers. The name 1canoe2 comes from years of the two dreaming up big ideas around a campfire and floating down a spring-fed Missouri river in a canoe. Two girls, one canoe. One canoe, two. Carrie and Beth were just beginning their journey as a letterpress company when they asked Carrie’s sister-in-law Karen to join the team. Now three women strong, 1canoe2 is chasing bigger dreams and creating letterpress art that makes people happy.
Where the magic happens.
One Canoe Two Letterpress creations
So you ask… “What exactly is letterpress?” Well, here’s your answer:
Carrie explains with pictures! And walks us through the process in a post on the One Canoe Two Blog…”I snapped this photo back in September when I was in Oregon. Look at those colors! What you don’t know is that directly behind me when I took this photo is probably the most beautiful waterfall I have ever seen. Really. But, something about this view spoke to me too, and I took one quick photo, which turned out to be the basis for a new piece of artwork.”
So, after lots of sketches, some time with Beth digitizing the drawings and separating everything into seven different layers, we sent our work off to the platemaker. After the paper was cut, the press set up, and the ink mixed, it was time to really get to work. Here is how the print evolved throughout the process…
The first color to go on was light blue.
Then came the light brown layer.
Dark brown was next.
The dark gray layer, for the ground.
Light green.
Dark green.
And, finally (finally!) light gray.
It’s a labor of love! And, you can find it all in their shop, right here.
ENTER and WIN a wonderful set of Recipe Cards and Lidded Recipe Box (Retail Value $88)
Tweet this giveaway, follow One Canoe Two on Twitter and on Pinterest, pin an image to your Pinterest boards, and post a comment below.
I really love the recipe box and the take a hike print. The alphabet print on Etsy is to die for. I guess beauty really does take time!
Would love to have this!
That was so cool to see. Thanks for the demonstration.
Love the menu planning pad!
Beautiful!
Love all of it!
Beautiful stuff! Glad there are creative people
Out there 🙂
Love this recipe box!!!!
This is so beautiful!! Thank you for giving your readers a chance to win it 🙂
I’ve love this! My recipe box is in DIRE need of a makeover.
Great post! That print is a labor of love indeed.
blog.gramercystudio.com
This matches beautifully in my kitchen!
So beautiful!
Love these works of art!
I would love to have this in my kitchen…so beautiful!
I’ve followed them on InstaGram for a while. LOVE the recipe box, as I am an avid weekly menu planner.
LOVE LOVE LOVE 1canoe2! My favorite stationery and gift product designers hands down. xoxo
Would love this!
Love it! Thanks for the giveaway!
I am sooooo unorganized with all of my recipes! I stuff little pieces of paper into a “junk” drawer and then forget about them until I need them again. When I go and look for a recipe, it always comes up missing! A recipe box would do me a lot of good!! 🙂
This is so lovely. Old-fashioned and modern all at the same time! I love it.
Love the recipe box and print – and the wonderful feeling that they (and your explanatory material) convey.
Can’t wait to peruse more about your company.
Thanks!
Beautiful…hope I win!
I have been a fan of 1canoe2 for several years. So happy you are featuring them on your blog. They clearly work hard and deserve the recognition.
Looks beautiful!! Would love to say I own a set of these. Paper feels so much better than a key pad.
Obsessed? Yes. What a talented duo! Would love to show their work off in my home 🙂
I really want this for myself – but it’d also make a great gift!
Gorgeous! Would love to have that pretty box and cards for my recipe collection (which I enjoy writing out by hand)!
I would keep this all to myself. What a beautiful way to keep recipes 🙂
How exciting!! 😀
Beautiful f’s. I have so many people on my gift list that would love9ve this!
I love your work! The recipe box is awesome.
These are beautiful! I love everything.
It is beautiful!
Wow, how cool to see the process of letterpress! Gorgeous!
These are beautiful!
So Beautiful! And so glad that you can do what you love and share it with others! I’d love if it was shared with me!
I like their work because they can work in any type of kitchen.
I love everything 1canoe2 does, and these are fabulous. Would love to win them!
This is absolutely gorgeous! It reminds me of my grandmother’s recipe box!
would love to win this!
I adore the look…and feel of letterpress!
I’ve been trying to figure out how to consolidate my mom’s and my grandmother’s recipe boxes — they’re such treasures, and it’s such an emotional thing just to have those hand-written cards, made by the women I loved and miss so much. This box would be a testament to all the things that kitchens represent.
I would love to have this! It’s really unique : )
I’m a longtime fan of 1canoe2, as a fellow illustrator and stationer. Happy to find your blog as well! Thanks for the great giveaway!
What a lovely work of art!
The recipe box is absolutely beautiful. Thank you so much for the opportunity to win it.
This is so beautiful. I would love to own it
I think letterpress is so cool and so pretty! I first got interested in 4th grade art class when our art teacher showed us old Chinese prints. So much talent as well!
Yours are beautiful.
how unique I just love it.
Love your blog!~ Please follow me back…. I will be posting contests as well!! 🙂
But it is worth the time because beauty makes me happy
I can see designing my new kitchen around this one simple but beautiful recipe box…
This would be PERFECT for me. I have a 2 inch binder with my recipes in it now. I would like to have something smaller since I have such a small kitchen.
I’m forever keeping messy papers with recipes.
This would be perfect! The print is beautiful too!!
So cute!
“Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time”.
Thomas Merton
How absolutely stunning that take a hike print is. I love the Recipe box as well!
Beautiful! Absolutely Beautiful!
Love this recipe box!!!
I thing there art is beautiful. And I love that quote.
Love the design. Great concept
Cool contest!