local love: Orchard Street Press

 

I’ve learned that an integral part of creativity and inspiration is curiosity, exploration…movement. The best way to continually remain inspired? By constantly seeking new experiences. What better way then to explore your surroundings?

I truly believe in a “love where you live” philosophy, wherever that may be. And I’ve really come to realize how fortunate I am to live in this awesome city. I’ve heard people say Milwaukee is a “hidden gem” of the Midwest, and I couldn’t agree more. We may be a smaller big city that’s known for our beer, but there is so much more to discover. More than anything, I think Milwaukee’s creative community is full of opportunity and I’m continually amazed by the unique and independent spirit here. We even just had a neighborhood named one of America’s Top “Artplaces“!

In an effort to keep exploring and connecting, I thought I’d share a little “local love” every now and then through the process. Whether it’s getting to know an artist or maker, visiting a local business, or trying something new…the point is to stay inspired and connected. Maybe you’ll begin to understand why I’ve grown to love this place.

I recently had the honor of touring a local screen-printing company, Orchard Street Press. Whitney and Julie are an inspiring couple helping shape Milwaukee’s creative community. Whitney began screen-printing in his basement (in their first home on Orchard Street) and that hobby has since become a full-time business for both him and his wife Julie. They were generous enough to give me a tour of their studio and teach me more about screen-printing along the way. It is truly an art and their business is such a labor of love. I love that their work is environmentally-friendly, using only water-based inks. Besides printing locally for other businesses designers, and artists, Orchard Street Press also has an Etsy shop of their own unique screen-printed designs (like these sweet flour sack towels).

Below are some photos from my time there and words from Whitney and Julie! Be sure to read on to learn how screen printing works and get their take on Milwaukee!

 

How does the screen-printing process work? What is your favorite part of the process?

Screen printing is more less a sophisticated form of stenciling. The first shirts I ever made were just spray painted through a cardboard stencil. In screen printing you use emulsion and transparencies printed out from a computer to put a stencil into a mesh screen. Then you put ink in the screen and print it onto the shirt using a squeegee. The process allows you to make much more detailed stencils and the the variations in mesh, squeegees and ink allow you much greater control over the look and feel of the finished product. What I love about the process is the simplicity at it’s core. There are limitations to the complexity and detail the process will allow. But with experience, research and experimentation you learn to push the boundaries with finer dots and lines, and blending of colors to make secondary and tertiary colors within prints. One of my favorite parts of the job is getting well done full color artwork to print, with detailed shading and more colors than we can print on our presses. It becomes a game trying to dissect it, and separate the colors, and figure out how to recreate the image within the confines of the medium.

 

 

 

 

How did you choose the location for your business? What do you like about Walker’s Point?
We have lived in Walker’s Point for years now and we’ve fallen in love with its gritty charm, its hidden treasures, its diversity and its exciting progress. Orchard Street Press began in the basement of our first home — on Orchard Street — and then moved with us to the basement of our second home. When it came time to find the business a home of its own, we knew we wanted to utilize one of the many industrial buildings in our neighborhood; it just made sense both for the commute and for our commitment to our community.

 

 

 

What’s another Walker’s Point business that you’d recommend checking out?
There are so many! But if I have to pick just one, it’s The National Cafe on 9th & National Ave. Owner and Chef Nell Benton has done wonders with the place and the menu. It’s delicious, quality food that is affordable. The place is always warm and welcoming, with good music playing and lots of interesting people.

 

What do you love about living and working in Milwaukee?
As an entrepreneur, the support we get from other local small business owners is amazing. People really support one another here and genuinely want to see you succeed because we all seem to have a shared goal of making Milwaukee as exciting, vibrant and accessible as possible.

 

(Orchard Street Press was at Art vs. Craft this past November)

 

Favorite restaurant in Milwaukee ?
We’ve got two small kids now, so we don’t get out to dinner all that often. So when we do, it has to be great. The last two places we’ve chosen to eat have blown us away — The Noble (another Walker’s Point wonder!) and Odd Duck.

 

(Above from left to right: Julie, Whitney, and team member Kenny amidst their collection of screen-printed posters)

Thank you so much to Whitney and Julie for having me! It was such a pleasure meeting you. Be sure to check out their shop on Etsy (some goods shown below!) and stay updated by following them on Facebook or Twitter!

 

Thursday, January 31st, 2013, 8:00 am   |   Local Spots  |  RSS feed |  Respond  |  Trackback

7 Comments to “local love: Orchard Street Press”

1. 
   Jenny
   January 31, 2013 at 10:10 am

   couldn’t agree more about Milwaukee … I love living here! It’s small enough that I really feel a strong sense of community, and big enough that there’s always something inspiring going on! Wish it was a little warmer today, but after living away from the city/state for two years and missing it terribly, I realize that there are sacrifices we must make wherever we choose to live. Awesome to meet Julie and Whitney, and love the series idea!

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   Colleen Reply:
   January 31st, 2013 at 3:36 pm

   Hi Jenny! I so agree about the weather…even though I think snow is beautiful, it’s a love/hate sometimes. We might as well make the most of it! You’re so right – there will be sacrifices wherever we live. Glad you are enjoying the series! :) xo

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2. 
   Amber
   January 31, 2013 at 11:01 am

   We’ve known Whitney since he was a kid and it is so exciting to see all the wonderful things he and Julie have done with their business! We’ve been loving all the beautiful things we have bought from them and it is a pleasure to support a local, family run business run by two wonderful people! Thanks for doing a story on them!

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   Colleen Reply:
   January 31st, 2013 at 3:37 pm

   Aw that’s so cool to hear! Thanks for commenting, Amber! They’re such inspiring people that really help make this city so great! xo

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3. 
   melissa
   January 31, 2013 at 1:22 pm

   The women I work with in Uganda would be fascinated by this! We do a more old school way of screen printing our logos on all our goods. You can see them in action here: http://vimeo.com/36467518

   Great post!

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   Colleen Reply:
   January 31st, 2013 at 3:38 pm

   Wow, that’s amazing Melissa! Thanks for commenting from across the globe and sharing that incredible video! Glad you enjoyed the post!

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4. 
   Abbey
   February 1, 2013 at 5:55 pm

   The first item of clothing I bought for our baby (coming in May) was from Orchard Street Press. Incidentally, this little one didn’t exist yet, but we bought a Represent Wisconsin tshirt for our nephew and weren’t able to give it to him before it would have been too small. So alas, our child will be wearing it.
   And I totally agree with you about Milwaukee. It really is a wonderful place to live and I have truly come to appreciate it’s awesomeness moving back here after college.

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