Spring Greetings from Mazy Path
I’m delighted to introduce our new Possumwood note cards. Featuring the image of our Possumwood linocut print, the note cards were designed in Manhattan and letterpress printed in Brooklyn on fully recycled, heavy card stock ground. Blank inside, sold in groups of eight, packaged in PLA (a plastic film made from renewable resources such as corn starch and sugar cane), the Possumwood cards are available for purchase online.
American Persimmon, Henri-Joseph Redouté, intaglio print, early 19th century. Public domain image.
Possumwood is a common name for the American Persimmon tree, and the design was inspired by the American Persimmon. This special tree is known for its bright orange fruits which possess sweet flavor and medicinal properties. Fittingly, the Latin name for the American Persimmon is Diospyros virginiana which means “food of the gods” (by way of Virginia).
Lily and Stock, Philipp Otto Runge, Scherenshnitte, 1804-1806. Public domain image.
Possumwood’s layout was inspired by Scherenschnitte, a traditional form of German and Swiss paper cutting that often features mirrored motifs. Cut paper, with its high contrast and complex use of negative space, is one of my favorite sources for linocut print concepts.
Radix Media, a Brooklyn-based printer and publishing house, uses a letterpress printing press to manufacture our note cards.
While linocut prints generally don’t have surface relief, their graphic sensibility suggests volume. So, to interpret the print as a note card, I chose letterpress, a form of printmaking that creates a slightly debossed surface. This technique, combined with a heavy cardstock ground, makes the image inviting to both the eye and the hand.