loaded hips press

Small Block Prints

Each postcard design is hand-carved from blocks of linoleum and printed using a clam shell table-top letterpress on acid-free archival paper.
 
Loaded Hips Press is a one woman operation! Shannon Buck designs, draws, and prints each and every card. Not all designs are available. Please check out her Etsy shop, where you will find the most current designs available. If you don't see the card you were looking for, check back — it will print again!

Chinese Village, 82nd Avenue People Housekeeping Reservoir Blue Line Damen Stop #2 View from Navy Pier Old Style Blue Line Damen Stop #1 Cityscape Savannah Vauxs Swifts Water Tower Untitled Hippos Dancing Bears Winter Portland: Curator of the Past
Portland: Curator of the Past
Portland: Curator of the Past

Souvenir Series

What drives a man to save a used matchbook cover from a hotel lounge in Alabama for over 30 years? What are the desires that explain a collection?
 
The Souvenir Series is a collection of handmade one-of-a-kind lithographic transfer prints.
 
I used a litho press and a unique Xerox transfer printing technique. The prints (not digital, but hand pulled from a press) are on pieces of wood prepared with hand-cooked gesso (ground) using the same techniques as the masters. The result is a creamy, textured, almost candy-like surface the color of eggshells and unlike anything else. The edges are detailed with vintage ric-rac and bias tape.

For Your Comfort Avion Birds Untitled Dial 5811 Hickey's Coffee Shop Please Rely Via Air Mail Stet 4 to Choose
4 to Choose

Pendants

These are wooden charms made with original drawing from my paintings and sketchbooks. Each part handmade by me, so variations do occur.
 
The charm itself is made from pine, and 2" by 1 1/2" in size, so it is light and comfortable. It is on an adjustable cord of ribbon approximately 23" in length. So cute as a choker.
 
Here we see Jasmine modeling the "Cutie Pie" charm in red so you get an idea of what it looks like on the adorable person in your life.
 
Packaged in decorative kraft box with vintage book page, ready for gift giving, if you can bear to let it go!
 
Photo of model by Emily of www.tastemakerschoice.com.

Cutie Pie Pendant (Blue) Debate Team Captain Pendant (Red) Bird Pendant (Blue) Flapper Girl Pendant (Blue) Flapper Girl Pendant (Red) French Club President Pendant (Red) Girl Pendant (Blue) Lady Pendant (Blue) Prom Queen Pendant (Red) Cutie Pie Pendant (Red)
Cutie Pie Pendant (Red)
Cutie Pie Pendant (Red)

More Works
by Shannon Buck

Shannon Buck has studied printmaking and painting at Portland State University and the Pacific Northwest College of Art. Her work has been exhibited in such galleries as Motel, the Littman Gallery, and Reading Frenzy in Portland, Oregon; and Craftland Gallery in Providence, Rhode Island. Here is a little sampling of some of her other works...

Cityscape Girl with Bird in Red Missing Girl and Tree Girl and Bird Migraine Return Untitled Vauxs Swifts In the Library In the Cemetery Noralins Notice An Extra Arm in the Woods Untitled The Key Valentine Park Blocks Two of Swords
Two of Swords

About Loaded Hips Press

Loaded Hips started as a zine about French pop stars and friends who made clothes. The name came together after I saw a billboard featuring an under-aged girl seductively swaying in leather pants, whose face had been cropped so that you couldn't see her eyes. It became an annoying part of my day to see this billboard, so I decided to take back the power of the female form. The driving force behind my creative process is to care about what image you project unto the world, and what images you select to appreciate.

About Shannon Buck:

I grew up in a swamp in the South, sheltered by AC and cable tv reruns of Gidget, Bewitched, and I Dream of Genie. I became a member of the Independent Publishing Resource Center, volunteering sporadically. Fed up with collating and copying, I discovered that carving into linoleum and waiting for an etching plate to burn was better meditation.
 
The masters at Stumptown Printers taught me everything I know about letterpress. I make postcards using linoleum and print them on a C&P letterpress. I also paint, but can't stop making the cards. I was told that I had to choose between the two — either you're a fine artist or you're "crafty" — what do you think?
 
My work is heavily inspired by nostalgia, both real and imagined. My studio is 60s girl group powered.

Loaded Hips

email Shannon

The Process

Loaded Hips Press creates handmade cards and other unique works of art. Each postcard design is hand-carved from blocks of linoleum and printed using a C+P letterpress onto acid-free archival paper. All printed text is handset type, also printed on a letterpress.
 
If you like the look of Loaded Hips Press cards, then you appreciate the old fashioned ways of printing that were commonly used before the days of computers, scanners, and inkjet printers. Every card is individually printed on the press for a unique feel.
 
Loaded Hips Press believes that each postcard is a work of art, and that art should be accessible to anyone. With that in mind, we keep the prices modest. These prints belong in the gallery that is your home, or sent to a loved one far away.
 
Now that television and computers have saturated our lives with images, we've become removed from the process of creating them. Hopefully these cards will inspire you to think more about the value of handmade things, and maybe even to create something that is uniquely your own.

C+P letterpress
linoleum block carving