You might have questions, we might have answers.
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Shipping & Orders
How do you ship my order?
Prints are sent in a super sturdy shipping tube. Unless otherwise requested we ship via USPS. If you are in need of expedited shipping via USPS Express, or any level of another carrier such as FedEx, or UPS just let us know and we can send you accurate quotes. We’re happy to ship any way that will get your new purchases safely to your door the best way possible.
How soon do you ship my order?
Unless otherwise requested OR unless we are away at a show, we ship lightning quick. Often the very next morning, but typically Monday / Wednesday / Friday are our shipping days. If you have an urgent need for shipping speed? As above, get in touch! We’re happy to help whenever we can.
Do you ship internationally?
You know it! Anywhere on the planet with a mailbox and valid address.
What forms of payment do you accept?
Our shop processes payments via either PayPal or Stripe (your choice), and we can also send you an invoice via PayPal or Square.
Do you have a retail store I can visit?
We don’t, sadly. We do have a slightly messy print studio where we silkscreen print in the East End of Pittsburgh. But, it’s not a true retail space; it’s much more of a working studio pace & atelier. However, a lot of our work is carried locally at Wildcard, in Pittsburgh’s Lawrenceville neighborhood, as well as love, Pittsburgh and The Artsmiths.
What is “screen printing” and/or “silkscreen printing” exactly?
Silkscreen printing and screen printing are essentially now interchangeable terms for a very old printing process where each color is printed by forcing ink through a screen stencil, one print at a time. Every print is individual and uniquely created with painstaking craft.
Does hand printing a silkscreen print take a lot of time and effort?
Oh yeah, for sure. Hand printing an average run of 100 prints with 3 colors can take anywhere from 4-6 hours. If you’re having a good day. And that’s not including the time it takes to design & illustrate our work. Then, there’s time spent doing the pre-prep on files in order to output films to burn our screens. Next up, actually burning / making those screen stencils in our studio. Now it’s time to wash out those screens, let them dry and then prep and register those same screens…. then and only then can we get rolling on the actual hand printmaking process. It’s the super old fashioned way of printing, but we love it.
What’s your process?
Our designs are all done by hand, with a little computer magic and then we get to work again, by hand pulling our prints. It’s a lot of work printing the super old-fashioned way & very labor intensive, but we think it’s the bee’s knees.
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That rock poster I love is sold out! Now what?
You can always email us and ask about a specific poster. Occasionally we have slightly dented or scuffed copies of long-sold out posters, which, we typically reserve for in-person sales at a discount. Every now and then we receive back a few copies of a sold out poster from a gallery show or consignment shop too. Typically however, if a limited edition rock poster is sold out? It’s gone, son. Sorry! That’s the nature of limited editions. Since we work with the bands on their posters, all of the details like edition sizes have been pre-determined with them and we can’t (and don’t) just print a few more.
That art print love is sold out! Now what?
Email and inquire about it! Sometimes, (not always) when we super like an art print after it’s sold out, we will print another edition. If there seems to be a demand for a certain art print, you can bet that will move it to the top of the print queue. So let us know!
Are your rock posters real?
Yes.
Really?
YES! They really are for real. All of our rock posters are real posters, for real shows, that really happened. In short, we work for real live current bands. We work with band members, band managers, record labels, promoters, and venues. No, they aren’t bootlegs with randomly generated band names, venues, and dates slapped on an art print. And nope, we can’t take a band’s name from one poster and drop it onto the image from another poster. That would be bootlegging. And we’re not bootleggers. Nor can we design and print a poster for you for Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix. (Believe us, we’ve been asked.) They are long dead and not playing more shows on this plane any time soon.
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Wholesale & Licensing
Do you sell do wholesale?
Yes! We love wholesale! We do a limited amount of wholesale based on our stock levels and print demands, and we’re happy to work with all kinds of shops, big and small. (We really love our smaller shop clients!)
Come visit us and our current linesheet at Etsy Wholesale here. If you don’t have an account at Etsy Wholesale, we can send you a guess pass link or simply email us with a list of items that you are interested in to get the party started. Thanks!
Do you do license your art work?
Yes! We sure do. Email us and let’s talk about what you have in mind. We love creating new work for licensing as a number of our current designs are in use now.
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Hiring Us & Custom Work
Do you do custom design projects?
Yes! Absolutely. We take on custom work from the smallest project to large corporate work as budgets and schedules allow.
How much do you charge?
It depends. No, really. Your project could be simple design with 2 hours of design time, no revisions, and no hand screen printing. Or, your project’s scope might be 3-6 months worth of illustrations, 25 revisions per illustration and 1,000 copies of a hand printed component. There’s no ballpark for the variation in custom work. Contact us with as many of the details that you have regarding your project, including a rough budget it if you have one, and we can all go from there.
Do you work for free?
Generally? No. But sometimes yes. It’s called pro-bono work.
However, if your unpaid project is for a non-profit, please remember that non-profit employees are paid, just as we need to be as well. If your project is for a donation we take requests on an “as they come” basis, causes and schedules allowing. We make a substantial amount of donations in kind and in cash throughout the year to many of our very favorite charities such as Animal Friends, The Animal Rescue League, PETA, The Red Cross, The Arbor Day Foundation, Oxfam, PACER, The MS Society, and many more. Giving back is a huge part of our studio philosophy. That said, if we aren’t being paid, then we can’t contribute to the causes that we hold dear in pro-bono projects and donations.
And then there’s this: NO-SPEC.
So, you only design rock posters, right?
Not true! We do all sorts of design and illustration work, not just rock posters. We’ve done everything from t-shirts to book jackets to festival branding to logo and identity design. So take a look at our range in our Portfolio. If you have something in mind, feel free to contact us.
Can you change the size / color / text on a print or poster for me?
Normally? Nope, sorry. Occasionally it’s been possible with an art print (but not rock posters – see above regarding “Are your rock posters real?”), though essentially changes require us to re-do every step of the process from design, pre-prep, prep, printing, clean up, and then shipping. If it really means a lot to you, contact about pricing. We’re happy to do custom changes and work. It just costs a little (and sometimes a lot) more. Basically? If you’ve got the money honey, we’ve got the time.
Smaller sized giclee prints are sometimes possible, or a custom lithograph print as well produced by a trusted printer that we work with locally. However, depending on what you have in mind, it’s usually a case by case basis.
Do you design wedding invitations?
Traditional invites? Nope. Sorry. It’s just not our forte. Though we have been known to design and sometimes print a rock-poster-style wedding invite, save the date, favors, or wedding party gifts. We usually need just as much advance notice as a traditional invite designer though. 6 – 12 months is a good rule of thumb.
I can highly recommend some amazing artist friends who do beautiful letterpress designs for weddings that you should check out, should your nuptials be forthcoming.
Mok Duk – Chicago, IL
Sapling Press – Pittsburgh, PA
1Canoe2 – Columbia, MO
I have an awesome design! Will you print it for me?
Probably not. Sorry! We have enough of our own work on press that it’s rare we can take on contract print jobs any longer. But here’s a handful of other printshops that we’ve worked with directly on various projects and know firsthand they all do amazingly good work:
Coronado Fine Art Serigraphy – Austin, TX
Delicious Design League – Chicago, IL
Dieselfuel Prints – Portland, OR
Squeegeeville – Courtenay, BC Canada
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Business Basics
Can you share your client contact list with me?
Uhh, no.
I love what you do. Can you tell me how to do your job?
Likely no. We believe every artistic journey has it’s own path. And you can find yours with a moderate amount of work and persistence. But as Conan said: “If you work really hard and you’re kind, amazing things will happen.”
Beyond that, we suggest that you do lots of research, make lots of mistakes, learn to screen print at a local facility, ask technical and specific questions, surround yourself with knowledge and good people, you’ll be on your way. A few steps in that direction are:
Illustration Mundo – More resources than you can throw a Dr. Ph. Martin’s ink bottle at here.
Screen Printing Today – THE book on screen printing, for newbies to the tip-top pros, written by Andy MacDougall of Squeegeeville.
If you have specific questions, we love to talk shop and are happy to help!