Our Midwest Seed Bombs are now available at the lovely and charming Enjoy Co. in Granville, OH. And thus, the world takeover continues…

They have been featured in Vogue, House Beautiful, ReadyMade, Lonny Magazine, Design*Sponge, Frugal Bon Vivant, Hatch, Re-Nest, GOOD, Cranbrook Design, The Storque, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications.

You can also find our seed bombs at Over-the-Rhine’s own Park+Vine and Outside, as well as Jayson Home & Garden in Chicago, Rose Bredl in Columbus, and our own online shop.

Thanks so much to those of you who came out to MiCA 12/v last night to meet us and members of the Contact Center, and to purchase the Vine St. print. Thanks to Building Cincinnati, CityKin, and BuyCincy for spreading the word. All proceeds will fund our redesign of the organization’s storefront signage. If you’re interested in purchasing the print, stop by MiCA 12/v, which still has about half of the edition left. Long live grassroots dogoodery!

Well, well… What have we here? Better yet, what don’t we have? 3 1/2 years in the Queen City hardly qualifies me as an old timer, but I can already say, “I remember when this was a ghost billboard. Those were the days…”

Do you remember? I took this photo about a year ago:

This photo is almost a year old as well:

And now? This building’s been cleaned up:

Of course, I can’t really complain about people maintaining or rehabbing old buildings in Over-the-Rhine. I’m just glad that I have some photos of the ghost signs that are slowly disappearing.

The Cincinnati Enquirer has just published its “Gifts from the Arts” gift guide, and our Cincinnati Building Footprint print is among the recommended selections.

We’re in great company, sharing space with Wire & Twine’s new Made in Ohio t-shirt:

And the Charley Harper 2010 calendar:

December is a busy time of year, but we sincerely hope that you’ll be able to join us this Saturday, 19 Dec, 6-9pm at at MiCA 12/v on the corner of 12th and Vine in Over-the-Rhine. We will be hosting a reception and launch party for our latest project — a print depicting the West side of Vine Street between 12th and 13th Streets. All proceeds from the sale of this print will benefit new storefront signage that we will design for the Contact Center, a nonprofit community organizing agency located in OTR.

Here’s a closeup of the Contact Center in the source photo and in our print:

And the same for MiCA 12/v:

As we live around the corner from the Contact Center and from MiCA 12/v, and since we glean so much inspiration from our neighborhood, this project is near and dear to our hearts. Make a day of last-minute holiday shopping in OTR, support some of the coolest shops in town, check out our new print, and support a great cause!

If you’re curious about the technical specs, this is a 4-color serigraph printed in an limited edition of 40 on bright white, acid-free, recycled cover stock made by the French Paper Company, a small, family-owned paper mill based in Niles, MI. Our inks came from Suder’s Art Store at 1309 Vine St. in OTR. The print measures 19.75×9 inches and fits perfectly into an Ikea Ribba frame, as shown in the above photo, because we’re both clever and thrifty.

People often ask Michael and me about the nature of our collaborations. We tend to share ownership of our work, but the collaboration is rarely 50/50. For instance, the Cincinnati Building Footprint print was Michael’s idea, but I suggested extending the Ohio River to the edges of the paper:

The Over-the-Rhine Anagram print was my idea, but Michael suggested Clarendon, the typeface I ended up using:

In the case of the Vine St. print, however, we got about as close to a 50/50 collaboration as you can get. Faced with a lack of immediate funds for the project, Michael suggested a fundraising print — like a graphic design bake sale! I came up with the idea of illustrating the block where the Contact Center is located. I shot the source photography. Michael traced the photos and scanned in the drawing. I finished the illustration digitally and colored in the drawing. He chose the paper but, when we couldn’t get it in time, I picked the substitute. When the paper arrived, Michael trimmed it down to size, while I mixed the ink colors. He printed while I watched for printing problems and laid down each new sheet of paper, and placed each printed sheet on the side to dry. I went through the prints and pulled out the bad ones, and then he numbered and embossed the good ones. Things don’t always work out this way, but it’s great when they do.

If you’re on Facebook, please RSVP to our event and consider inviting anyone you know who may be interested in this project.

If you can’t attend the launch party, the print will be available at MiCA 12/v and in our online shop, too. Please help us realize this signage project for the Contact Center with either a print purchase or by donating directly to the organization.

Oh, my gosh. Our Midwest seed bombs are in Vogue. Strike a pose!

They have also been featured in House Beautiful, ReadyMade, Lonny Magazine, Design*Sponge, Frugal Bon Vivant, Hatch, Re-Nest, GOOD, Cranbrook Design, The Storque, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications.

Our Midwest seed bombs are available at Outside and Park+Vine in Cincinnati, Rose Bredl in Columbus, Enjoy Co. in Granville, Jayson Home & Garden in Chicago, Botany Flowers in Santa Monica, and Marmalade in Belmont, MA.

You can also find them, plus tons of other handmade place-centric goodies, in our online shop.

Wowsa, right? This here glittery tiled wall is at 615 Main St. in downtown Cincinnati [apparently, it's the M&M Building]. How amazing is this ampersand?

Most of the tile I’ve seen and documented in the Cincinnati area is roughly circa 1900, but I do have a soft spot for the less common, more Modern examples like this one. One of my favorites is the striped tile pattern facade of the fire station at 5th and Central:

I also really like the scattered patterns [like the one above] of Smith’s Toggery Shoppe:

And at Gabriel’s Corner, both in Over-the-Rhine:

On Thu 10 Dec, the OTR Foundation celebrates the 2nd Annual Neighborhood Holiday Party for old and new residents of OTR and its many friends and supporters. The event is 6-10pm at Mr. Pitifuls on Main Street, with live music, food, raffle items and a live auction. There will be specials on Christian Moerlein and perhaps even a visit from OTR’s own Santa.

Above is one of our Over-the-Rhine Anagram prints, which will be among the artwork auctioned off on Thursday to benefit the OTR Foundation. This is from an edition of 10 signed and numbered prints on a variety of vontage wallpapers. It has been framed in a funky vintage frame that Michael purchased this past summer at the World’s Longest Yard Sale.

Can’t make it to the auction? We have a few of these unframed prints on assorted vintage wallpapers available in our online shop:

Kind and gentle readers, I hope you’re not yet sick of hearing about our Midwest seed bombs, because the world doesn’t seem sick of talking about them. This time, they popped up in ReadyMade Magazine’s Gift Guide Extravaganza.

They have also been featured in House Beautiful, Lonny Magazine, Design*Sponge, Frugal Bon Vivant, Hatch, Re-Nest, GOOD, Cranbrook Design, The Storque, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications.

Our Midwest seed bombs are available at Outside and Park+Vine in Cincinnati, Rose Bredl in Columbus, Jayson Home & Garden in Chicago and, of course, in our own online shop. Soon, they will also be available in a brand-new shop in Santa Monica called Botany Flowers.

This week alone, we’ve made, packaged and shipped over 100 of these bad boys — that’s more than 500 individual seed bombs. Whew!

The blog Design*Sponge just published its annual “under $25″ gift guide, which includes our humble Midwest seed bombs. Thank you, thank you!

They have also been featured in House Beautiful, Lonny Magazine, Frugal Bon Vivant, Hatch, Re-Nest, GOOD, Cranbrook Design, The Storque, and Harper’s Magazine, among other publications.

Our Midwest seed bombs are available at Outside and Park+Vine in Cincinnati, Rose Bredl in Columbus, Jayson Home & Garden in Chicago and, of course, in our own online shop. In a couple of weeks, they will also be available in a brand-new shop in Santa Monica called Botany Flowers.