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If you’ve ever spent a winter in Milwaukee, you know this city has a way of sharpening you, kinda like honing your Flexcut gouge on a cold morning (yes I already made a witty pun, get used to it 😝). Things here get crisp, honest, and real….. fast. Maybe that’s why printmaking thrives so beautifully in this town. There’s no faking it in a linocut. You carve what you carve. You print what you print. Milwaukee, I believe, in all its gritty charm and warm-hearted creativity, rea

When I first started carving for Spafford back in 2023, I don’t think I realized how much those blocks would come to mean to our little studio. It wasn’t just another commission, it felt like the beginning of a creative friendship, something we could groove to, hopefully not one sided 😂 That first Spafford poster was born in the middle of a long Milwaukee winter. We’d just finished a few local prints and were in that quiet moment between projects, when the email came throug

Every printmaker I’ve ever known has that one piece of equipment that feels more like a companion than a tool. For me, it’s Buddy…our Vandercook Universal 1 press. When I place a fresh sheet of legion paper through his bed, there’s a certain rhythm, that click-thunk sound that’s become the soundtrack of our printmaking studio. We didn’t find Buddy at a dealership or through some collector’s catalog. We found him through printmaking friends. A few emails and texts, a road tr

There’s a quiet ritual that happens before I start a project. It’s the resharpening of the tools. It’s not glamorous, and it doesn’t get filmed for Instagram reels (maybe next time), but it’s one of the most meaningful parts of the process. A few slow passes on the Flexcut SlipStrop, some of their gold compound, and you can feel the edge come back to brand new. I’m not just preparing to carve, I’m resetting my focus, honoring the tool that’s helps me make so much. I know it