You’d be very surprised how much of my time is spent being yelled at by my brother Jeff.
Jeff is our uber talented graphic designer, and he does not like it when I do not make his work look it’s best. We hand print each and every bag we sell, and some of them, are not great. User error, my personal error, specifically, is really the only reason any bag doesn’t look up to amazing. That being said, I believe a lot of the beauty of our packaging is in it’s imperfections. We aren’t computerized, we aren’t automated, and have really needed a lot of help (Hello, Scott Olson!) to launch this website. And as you probably know by now, we really try and figure things out for ourselves, and make it truly, ours. This is how we do our bags.
Our packaging process begins well in advance of actually needing the bags, as they need some time to dry. We use a lino block, the sticky looking thing above, which is a carved relief of our logo in, you guessed it, linoleum, on a wood block. We have been using this one for, at least, five years, and is one of our most treasured pieces of equipment. This is our trade mark, and the reason I sometimes have green fingertips. It has touched more of our bags than me, and helped sell every single one.
It’s a pretty simple process, with a roller, a dish of ink, and someone who will follow Jeff’s directions. I do my best. I’ve thrown out a few, not nearly as many as I should have, but mostly I like them all.
Some are pretty rough… Just like everything else. The good and the bad all need a few hours to dry, so we usually spread them out on our work tables, and counters. When I would do this at home, they would be spread from piano benches, to coffee tables, dining room, to kitchen, and the arms of all of our couches.
The things we do when our kids go to bed, besides eating ice cream.
With our expansion, we really wanted our bags to maintain their craft feel, while adding information, removing stickers, and giving me additional stamping time. So Jeff worked his magic, I think that’s how it works, and designed a stamp set for every bag. During packaging, we now stamp each bag an additional 4 times, for date, roast, grind, and weight. And I love them.
Placement is very important for Jeff, and I almost always listen and follow his directions. It’s a nice little package, and I am a proud stamper. I’m certain that I’ll continue to improve, and someday, Jeff will stop yelling at me.