Kaelan asked us to make him a paper with spruce tree seeds in it for his book cover. He’s going to be biking from Los Angeles to Boston to promote his book. All along the way he’s going to be stopping for signings and readings. His tour is going to take place this summer and he’ll be blogging about it along the way! Read more about him and his amazing project here.

More awesome to come!!! stay tuned!

Things are coming together so nicely though! The mill looks better than ever, we’ve been turning out some of the most creative work that’s ever come through here, and we’re all just brimming with excitement for the goodies in store. We’re lucky enough to have the opportunity to be working with some of the most fantastic people. Kristin Rozsa of The Cup is working on the most phenomenal cake/cupcakes. Robert Wurth of Studio Orange will be hanging out and taking a few fancy photos. Karen and the folks at Bread & Cup are going to be whipping up the tastiest of treats for the catering. Jason of Screen Ink is working on our Schwag bags that will be filled with TONS of goodies featuring designs by peeps from Bozell, Gibbon Graphics, Ella Durham, Urban Finch, Inclosed Studio, Brizida Ahrnsbrak, and so so so so many more!

here’s a quick collage of the works in progress:

and another of the reorganizing/decorating messes:

Yippee Skippee, folks! Really, can’t wait… now, if you’ll excuse me… I have a LOT to do…

just a few snapshots of recent goings on around the shop.

We’ve been doing a LOT of brainstorming around here lately. LOTS and LOTS of great things are in the works. We’re working on expanding our retail and wholesale lines to include more finished and customizable products, we’re playing with expanding our line of stock plantable papers to include some funky and vibrant colors, and we’re getting some great letterpress projects under way to fill our schwag bag for our Sweet 16 party in October. In hopes of building a stronger local network and really pushing the envelope for some fun projects, we’re working closely with some great local artists, companies,  and designers. The schwag bag is the main focus right now but we’re hoping that the ideas will keep flowing and we’ll get to keep making fantastic pieces for sale in the store and beyond!

Speaking of great ideas, we have sold our paper to great minds and talented bodies all over the world and we have seen a few shining examples of fantastic work done with our papers. We’re quite proud of our customers’ work and we’d like to show it off. If you, or someone you know, has done something you’re proud of with Porridge Papers, let us know! Send us photos, samples, information about the design, and the ideas behind the project and let us do a little bragging for you. Over the next few weeks we’d like to start featuring these projects and goodies on a section of our blog.

We’d also like your suggestions and ideas for different unique stationery companies that you might like to see carried in our store. We’re always on the look out for fun and quirky paper goodies to fill our shelves with. Let us know if you have any bright ideas!

back in october we got an order to produce 2,163,000 cards for a promotion for kraft foods. it was embedded with lettuce seeds and then attached to the inside page of a magazine. what was i thinking, how could i get it done, what would it take? looking back to an october post…..

“2,851,200 square inches upholstery foam + 1,232,000 square inches cardboard + 1,436,400 square inches pellon +
155,232 square inches felt + 92,400 square inches plywood + 200 pounds lettuce seed + 18,750 pounds recycled fiber +
countless screws, nails, bottles of glue, and trips to the hardware store = 2,000,000 plantable pieces
quite possibly the largest order in plantable paper history…booyaw acheived.”

that just about sums it up. im sure the numbers are a bit different but it was a lot of work! i was so greatful to have an amazing team of papermakers and support crew! without them it would not have happened. not only did we get it done but we did it on time! the final count was 2,237,745 pieces which equals 78,418 sheets of 19″x25″ lettuce paper.

thank you to everyone!!

10 days left on the big one. tired of no sunshine, tired of being cooped up, tired of the humidity, tired of the COLD, tired of the lack of personal space!

so today when it was going to reach 75 the thought of making paper outside sounded like a dream come true. everything is on wheels, how hard could it be. so blane and grant took it upon themselves to enjoy the day outdoors in all the sunlight while makeing paper. might we get this chance again?

some how we need to figure out how to fit 16 pallets in our mill so that we can ship it all at once! oh how i wish we had a second story. this has been such a learning experience and taught us so much. when all is said and done i hope to put together a slide show of the entire order. a memento of our accomplishment.

OMG…Christopher…I LOVE THE BELLY BANDS!!!! They are AWWWWEEEESOME!!!! They elevate the brochure package beyond what I thought…THANK you for rocking them out – gorgeous. And thx for the samples. You get a lot of detail with your impressions.”

 we love it when our clients send us happy emails about a job well done! it makes it all worthwhile.  thanks jill!