Our buddy Kyle Miller sent this beauty our way last year. It’s a blast when we get to be a part of such an extensive and well-thought-out identity package. If you’re not familiar, Grouper is a social club that sets up drinks between 2 groups of friends: 3 guys and 3 girls.

These business cards did a little Groupering of their own: 3 different colorways with matching edges kept us plenty busy. The cards were letterpress printed on French Paper Company Madero Beach 140 lb. cover that was then duplexed to 280 lb. cover.

Shirts were silkscreen printed by our bosom buddies over at Real Thread:

Hats by Ebbets Field Flannels:

See more of the identity here.

We are pleased to announce that Love Letters is officially completed and orders are shipping today! We are so thankful for the efforts of each designer that contributed to the project as well as each of you who’ve already pre-ordered your set.

Our good friends over at Fiction heard about what we’re trying to do with Love Letters and came by to make a beautiful little film about the project. Side note: if you haven’t seen it, check out the film they made about our Kluge (which is now a Vimeo Staff Pick).

We still have sets for sale, so Click Here to get yours!

“A” by Fuzzco

“E” by Justin Mezzell 

“I” by Aaron Draplin

“O” by Dana Tanamachi

“U” by Jon Contino

Ampersand by Jessica Hische

“Y” by Ross Moody, 55 Hi’s

Whether or not you’ve been to visit the Hamilton Wood Type & Print Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, the legacy and craft housed there has had an incredible impact on everyone in the graphic design and printmaking industries. Because of this, we were shaken to hear of their current plight. They’re being forced to relocate and need help raising funds to move and store their incredible type collection.

To help raise money and awareness for the museum, we’re releasing a set of 7 letterpress printed alphabet coasters inspired by the legacy and craft of Hamilton Wood Type & Print Museum. The set, made with paper donated by Neenah Paper and French Paper, includes A, E, I, O, U, &, and Y. As if the cause weren’t enough to mobilize conscientious creatives, this project has a roster to die for:

A: Fuzzco

E: Justin Mezzell

I: Aaron Draplin

O: Dana Tanamachi

U: Jon Contino

&: Jessica Hische

Y: Ross Moody

Click here to order your set now!

“Business in the front; party in the back,” proclaimed Minneapolis-based designer, Tommy Perez, as he came at us with an ambitious idea for play-with-able letterpress business cards. We told him that if he wanted to play around, he should find a print shop that thought letterpress was a game rather than a respectable and historic craft.

JK/LOL.

Tommy picked his four favorite French Paper Co. Pop-Tone colors and we mixed inks to match. Tommy’s idea was to die cut the cards so that the outlines of each letter in his name became a little foldable tab. The whimsical Pop-Tone papers were duplexed to the back of the card so that a little folding would bring the party right on through to the front.

For more inspiration/diversion, take gander at Tommy’s Kwik Krafts.

From back to front: Pop-Tone Razzle Berry, Grape Jelly, Sour Apple, and Blu Raspberry.

We don’t normally give the press this much candy at once, but…

Hogan pulled a few mental muscles on this one.

Back view of cutting die. This is what we used to punch out the cards and crease the hinges of the letters.

We are feverishly elated to announce that the Mama’s Sauce Internship Program is now officially sponsored by French Paper Co.

No one shares our awkwardly intense enthusiasm for inspiring young print designers more than the fine folks at French. Together, we aim to build a program that introduces aspiring print designers to the world of spot color in a unique and hands-on sorta way.

Here’s a rundown of our new & improved educational gauntlet for Spring 2013:

French Paper Treasure Chest:

The kindly souls over at French Paper Co. will be supplying Mama’s interns with an arsenal of inspiring goods that are essential for any aspiring spot color print designer / paper geek.

Spot Color Seminar:

Learn a bit about the ins & outs of designing for spot color printing and demonstrate that learning by designing and printing a screen printed project.

French Sample Room:

Select intern projects will be proudly displayed in the French Sample Room.

Guest Professor:

Spring 2013 interns will have their portfolios personally reviewed by this semester’s Guest Professor: James White of Signalnoise Studio. This is a golden opportunity to hear a Canadian accent in a professional setting.

Hard work:

The only way to learn how to look at print is to look at print. A lot. We instill our obsession with quality in our interns by teaching them to check every single print that comes off press. Every printer at Mama’s Sauce got their start in quality control and it’s the only reason they can print the way they do.

Press Time:

Get to know letterpress and silkscreen printing by getting all up in the business of our presses. Learn to oil them, clean them, and help our pressmen run them.

The internships are unpaid, but we’ll happily work with your educational institution so that your work here is rewarded with credit. If you are not a student, don’t be afraid to throw your name in the hat!

If this sounds like something that makes you want to pee your pants, don’t fight that feeling. Click here to apply.

We’re pleased as punch to give a first look at the artwork contributed for Love Letters! $22 of the purchase price from this set of letterpress printed coasters will got to help sustain the Hamilton Wood Type & Print Museum. Paper for the coasters and packaging has been generously donated by Neenah Paper and French Paper Co.

Click here to order.

This is a terrific opportunity to celebrate a legacy of influence and inspiration. We can’t thank these designers enough for their incredible contribution:

A: Fuzzco

E: Justin Mezzell

I: Aaron Draplin

O: Dana Tanamachi

U: Jon Contino

&: Jessica Hische

Y: Ross Moody

Click here to order.

Whether or not you’ve been to visit the Hamilton Wood Type & Print Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin, the legacy and craft housed there has had an incredible impact on everyone in the graphic design and printmaking industries. Because of this, we were shaken to hear of their current plight. They’re being forced to relocate and need help raising funds to move and store their incredible type collection.

To help raise money and awareness for the museum, we’re releasing a set of 7 letterpress printed alphabet coasters inspired by the legacy and craft of Hamilton Wood Type & Print Museum. The set, made with French Paper, includes A, E, I, O, U, &, and Y. As if the cause weren’t enough to mobilize conscientious creatives, this project has a roster to die for:

A: Fuzzco

E: Justin Mezzell

I: Aaron Draplin

O: Dana Tanamachi

U: Jon Contino

&: Jessica Hische

Y: Ross Moody

Click here to order your set now!

There’s nothing like having a dark stock instead of laying down the color you want. There’s a real sense of authenticity that is just plain impressive when you see a card with a colored background and it’s the paper, not the ink, that is the color.

Screen printing on your business cards is a great way to do what is impossible for other processes, specially printing light colors on dark paper. White ink is a specific niche that screen printing holds over the less opaque letterpress and offset options. The other option for white on dark would be foil, which is great and has it’s place. Yes we can foil your cards, but the choice between the two is really design specific… Feel free to call us to see which we recommend for your design.

Here are a few screen printed cards on dark stocks to help inspire you for possibilities…

Duplexed to double thick 130# Neenah Epic Black, this card a 3/2 spot. The tone on tone gives the card a ‘spot uv’ feel, even though it’s just gloss ink. This paper is a rich black sheet.

A good example of how opaque our white screen print ink is.

Get your print quote here

One of the best things about having all this fun printing equipment is that when time permits we are able to make fun things for ourselves. So, consider this your fair warning that in addition to printing your goods, Mama’s Sauce will also be producing all sorts of short run items for you to buy and to have. Whatever it is that we dream up and do – can and will be found on our Sundries page.

And, with the soft-launch of the site, we’ve already put a few things up for you.

The photo booth picture frame collection is a line that we’re pretty excited about.
As of right now we have a few designs up from some of our favorite artists, Rifle Paper Co. being one. I know what you’re thinking, and yes, these will make great stocking stuffers. They will also be available as a custom printed product after the site leaves beta and goes full on double live in December… Planning to have a photo booth at your wedding? Yeah, exactly.

Request a quote for your custom design idea here.
You can also buy these designs from our Sundries store here.

Elephant Walk Antiques and Interiors + Mama’s Sauce = super rad screen printed tapestries.

When you start talking about 5 ft screen prints, we have to start thinking creatively around here… i.e. Something that big we have to burn in the sun and then hose out in the parking lot. Check out some pics of the process…

There’s no job too big for the sauce!

Have a crazy idea for printing? Try us here

A few months ago a guy named Anthony contacted us about full color poster rates for a website that uses limited poster releases to raise money for assorted charities. Using the arts for good. Well, the designs started coming in from Anthony and we printed them… And, it seems that it was a hit.

The Poster Cause Project is it’s name, and it’s the newest, greatest place to shop for your wall art. It’s super easy shop and just as easy to see just how well each poster does by it’s respective beneficiary.

As far as I know, we’re their official printer, and we couldn’t be more proud to take part in what they do.
Take some time to see just what it is that they do.

www.thepostercauseproject.com