Get your hands on out-of-print back issues!

Do you love UPPERCASE magazine but you're missing a back issue? Have you recently been introduced to this quarterly magazine for the creative and curious and now you wish you had them all?

Here's your chance to purchase an entire stack of all the issues we've ever printed! We have taken a few of our early issues out of our archives for this one-time only auction. (Issues #1-#7 and #12 are completely sold out elsewhere.)

The purpose of this auction is to raise funds for the upcoming studio move (our current home of the past 8 years is in a building slated for "redevelopment" and so we'll be moving to new accommodations later this summer).

Due to the heavy weight of the package, this stack is only available to ship within North America. However, we have created other listings for individual out-of-print back issues #1, #2, #3, #4, #5, #6, #7 and #12 that we can ship internationally.

Click here to see the listings on eBay. 

Bidding ends next Friday, May 31.

Thank you for your support!

show and tell toronto

We're heading to Toronto for the National Magazine Awards (UPPERCASE is nominated for Magazine of the Year!) and we'd love to meet our readers.

Janine (publisher, editor and designer of the magazine) and Erin (publicity and marketing) are hosting a Show and Tell at Kid Icarus. Are you an illustrator, craftsperson, designer or a generally creative soul? Do you have an idea to pitch to us? Have you dreamed of being published in UPPERCASE? Bring one example of your work and share it with us!

(Or, just come and say hi. We're really friendly.)

Thursday, June 6
7:30pm-10:00pm

Kid Icarus
205 Augusta Avenue

Please RSVP to Erin by June 5th, space is limited!

the stories behind the fabric designs

Here's a new video from Creativebug featuring many of my favourite fabric designers who were launching new lines at the Portland Quilt Market. (I got to see the Creativebug team in action at the Makerie last month—as an amateur videographer, it was interesting to see them at work.)

view-master

Denise Newberry of CabinPress Studio was inspired by an article in our current issue written by Jonathan Shipley. She wrote in to share her childhood View-Master set:

"I LOVED the article on the View Master. I remembered having one while growing up and after grilling my parents on it's where abouts, it turns out they actually did pack it in a box with a lot of my childhood memorabilia and I found it today up in our garage! Not just the View Master but a ton of little discs, that are actually in superb and vibrant condition."

If something in UPPERCASE magazine conjures up old memories or inspires you to make something new, please share it with us and our blog readers!

lots of stitching at ideologio, London

"'Iris Todd - Stitching in my own way', is a artist book published by ideologio earlier this year. The book features embroidery works of the late artist, with focus on how the work was built up, starting with a section on small fragments intended for use in bigger pieces, followed by unframed works, many of them banner type formats, ending with a section of story telling illustrative embroideries. What distinguishes this book is that all works are shown from front and back, revealing the reverse side of the embroideries, where possible, which allowed us to show more of the process and craft behind the works."

"Evelin Kasikov's CMYK was a daily special at the 2013 Pick Me Up show at Somerset House in London. This short video is a collaboration between Evelin Kasikov (CMYK embroidery), Bill Stratford (stop frame animation) and ideologio (concept and direction)."

UPPERCASE commissioned Evelin for a CMYK alphabet that appeared in one of our early issues (#3, back in 2009).

the art song project

At UPPERCASE, we love ephemera. It is not often that we use found bits of paper beyond admiring their beauty and including them in collage. I'm sure many of us are guilty of cutting up old sheet music; I confess that I have taken scissors to some and repurposed them for notebook covers.

For Munich-based soprano Hélène Lindqvist and pianist Philipp Vogler, when they come across old sheet music, they bring the music to life and share it on their Art Song Project website. Illustrated with their own paintings, the couple records art songs and include the lyrics on the site so that visitors can stream the audio, learn and admire obscure—and beautiful—music performed by world-class musicians.

"We're Hélène and Philipp and we are professional classical musicians. We search for unknown art songs in libraries, garage sales and on the internet. Then we record them live and put them on our website for free listening.

We have songs by all kinds of unknowns, and many of them are female composers—writing great music but being "too blonde and beautiful to be taken seriously". We also especially love to feature songs by living composers, who send us their music (we have a few "blonde and beautiful" there as well ;).

Each song comes with a painting and a translation of the lyrics, so it's easy to sit down and listen."

Visit the site and keep it open throughout your day; it will certainly enhance to your mood—and level of sophistication!

stationery guide: Sarah Phelps Creative

Here are some examples of Halifax-based Sarah Phelp's stationery work whom we featured in the UPPERCASE Stationery Guide.

If my work inspires a smile, I know my job is done. My bright, clean designs are full of whimsy, laden with heart, and born out of a deep love for both traditional letterpress and gocco screen printing—as well as simply adding a little cheer to the world with every item I create. 

Some folks may call me old-fashioned at heart. When realising those just-can't-stop-thinking-about-it ideas, my process always begins with putting pen to paper. I also lovingly produce my pieces by hand for a truly tactile product crafted right in my home studio, with slight print variations bringing character to every piece. 

Aside from my paper goods, I also offer bespoke stationery and invitation design. I work closely with my clients to bring their character and personal style to life on paper, whatever the occasion. I also work one-on-one with clients on a range of design projects.

In addition to the guide, UPPERCASE subscribers (as of mid March) received a special insert courtesy of one of our guide participants in their copy of issue #17. The bookmarks, above, were Sarah's generous contribution.

stationery happiness guide by Present & Correct

Image by Present & Correct

National Stationery Show

For those of us who would love to attend the National Stationery Show on in New York right now but can't, have a flip through the (free) UPPERCASE Stationery Guide to get your paper goods fix. The guide is part of our current issue.

Lilla Rogers' Global Talent Search

Lilla Rogers is on the hunt for the next talent in illustration and the prize is a life-changing TWO YEARS' REPRESENTATION with Lilla Rogers Studio, including a host of licensing deals and international promotion of their work.

stationery guide: top ten tips from Lilla Rogers

For more career inspiration, pick up Lilla's book!

This article appears in our current issue, #17 and is part of our free UPPERCASE Stationery Guide.

Get your work on stationery

By Lilla Rogers

You walk into your favourite little shop, and you covet the ridiculously cute illustrated journals and cards and notebooks, and even the charming sticky notes, and you ask yourself, “How do I get that gig?”

getting a fab illustration gig

1. Go to shops, turn over products you love and note the manufacturer.

2. Go to the websites of these manufacturers and find their submission details.

3. Stop and reflect on what you love to draw. What’s out there already? Now draw something different.

4. Colours are key. Look at websites like fossil.com or modcloth.com, or at a sumptuous page in this magazine for colour ideas.

5. Set up your palette of these fresh colours.

6. Now draw and paint or vector your images. Make a mess. Use references. Put on awesome music. Dance around your studio. People buy your joy!

7. Free-floating silhouetted icons give the client great flexibility. Having lots of isolated images, such as a mushroom, an anchor or a telescope, give the designer bits to play with. These are used to create coordinating patterns for things like journal endpapers, packaging art and interior pages of sketchbooks. You are making a kind of art kit for the client, a designer, to have fun with.

8. Make sure your icons are related to the theme of your main image.

9. Pop the images onto your website. Post, blog and pin your images. Send out a newsletter with them. Now you’re ready to email them directly to your favourite manufacturers. In the email, pop in about three to five jpgs that are 72 dpi, RGB, and add a link to your website.

10. Rinse and repeat. The system works!

Stay tuned for an amazing opportunity to work with Lilla!

stationery guide: free guide!

Does your heart beat faster at the sight of beautiful stationery?

Issue 17 of our magazine includes this special Stationery Guide of small stationery companies from around the world. We’d like to share this content with you to help promote their businesses and to give you a small taste of the quality content you’ll find in each and every print edition of UPPERCASE magazine.

Please share this guide on your blogs and your social circles to help promote all the talented people who have contributed their work to this guide.

type tuesday: the history of typography in animated cut paper

stationery guide: Typescale

Typescale is a new stationery company in the UK that features type-based prints, notebooks and stationery "born out of a life long love of photography, typography and collecting stuff. These collections include: vintage typewriters, signage, lettering, flash cards, wood type, word games, packaging, cameras, graphics supplies and printed ephemera." Designer Jane Bernstein sent us these beautiful images—I love her photo styling (with typewriters)!

Typescale cards and prints are available on Etsy.

stationery guide: Verónica Grech

Verónica Grech is featured in the Stationery Guide and sent us these photos of her enjoying the magazine. She writes, "I studied Fine Arts and Design at San Carlos University in Valencia. Currently I reside in the north of Spain, in a small town nestled between mountains facing the ocean, with beautiful views in every direction. I work with a variety of clients supporting my illustration projects. I love nature and landscapes and enjoy creating strange and fun characters, poetic portraits and colourful urban scenes."

Purchase Verónica's card on Etsy.

one issue free

Use the code '4mom' to get one issue free when you buy a gift subscription.*

*Discount cannot be applied retroactively. Valid until May 12 MST. Use your contact information for shipping and your recipient's information for shipping. The first issue will not be delivered by May 12.

sketchbook: Isabell Seidel

UPPERCASE reader Isabell Seidel has an excellent urban sketching project underway: "A sample of postcards and two booklets which will show a selection of Ourense´s culinary scenery. The visits down "in the capital" to have tea have already started." She draws these on location from various cafés in Ourense, a town in northern spain.

Isabell put the back of an UPPERCASE magazine subscription cards to good use! "I'm a slow reader of your magazine," she writes. "I like to taste it page by page because it´s one of the few that deserves attention in each detail you place so carefully. As an addict to all kind of paper stuff I especially liked the last issue =). In one of the previous issues I found a subscription postcard with a beautiful frame that invited to be filled. Today it'll go on its journey from bucolic Galicia/Spain to urban Berlin/Germany."
 

To see more of Isabell's work, visit her Flickr sets.

type tuesday: Jonathan Boyd

Upon discovering Jonathan Boyd's work through Flow Gallery's current exhibiition, I'm at a loss for words. wow.

"Jonathan’s work deals with the strange and complex relationships that exist between object, written language and the body. Interested in how language can shape thoughts about an object and its context, his works often being inspired by the text’s narrative."

I believe that some of the letterforms are from typewriters and apparently he has designed a typewriter to type out his own handwriting.

type tuesday: Matthew Raw

Matthew Raw is a ceramic artist featured in Flow Gallery's Forming Words exhibition (see previous post).

type tuesday: forming words at Flow Gallery

Susanne Matsche

I recently heard from Flow Gallery, located in London's Notting Hill. Their current exhibition entitled "Forming Words" includes work by issue 16 cover artist Debbie Smyth. Though I'm on the other side of the ocean, the exhibition has introduced me to some intriguing artists such as Susanne Matche, featured in this post.

If you are fortunate enough to be in London, a visit to this exhibition promises to be an experience of note:

Flow has asked selected artists to create new work based on a piece of writing of their choice, from poetry to a letter to lyrics. Whether it is the shapes, lines and curves which letters create that inspire the work, as in vibrant wall pieces by Debbie Smyth that motivate the work. Or simply the fluidity of the writing, artists exploring this theme express the diverse approaches and outcomes this one theme can manifest. Many of the artists have chosen to utilise the meaning of their selected text or the message that the text communicates to inform their work. Other artists, such as Aino Kajaniemi take a personal approach to using text with particular memories woven in thread. The work in this exhibition traverses disciplines. Jewellery will be exhibited alongside silver teacups, ceramic vessels and enamel plates. The variety in material has resulted in an exhibition that intends to capture the endless inspiration of the written word.

The exhibition continues until May 17.

Susanne Matsche

Susanne Matsche

Susanne Matsche