I came across a meme on Facebook that said " I'm Not an Early Bird. I'm Not a Night Owl. I'm an Exhausted Pigeon". It was just text without any drawings or photos. I loved it! I started a Google search and could not find any indication that it was copyrighted or belonged to anyone.
I checked Etsy and found 12 shops selling their own goods with the saying on it, so I was in the clear!
I designed the lettering layout and made an engraving of a little pigeon. After posting the mock-up on our INSTAGRAM page, a few people mentioned that I should site "Gemma Correll" as this was her idea. YIKES!
So we stopped the press (literally), and I immediately found Gemma's website and her comic featuring the "Exhausted Pigeon" idea. I emailed/messaged her and asked for permission to use the idea for one of our cards. Our wording was a little different and our card features an engraving very different from her style of artwork. She got back to me via Instagram and said it would be fine to use, as it's already been plastered all over the internet. So we went forward with the card!
Our Finished Card!!
Nice deep impression!
The cards looked fun, but they needed a little something... so i used a grey watercolor wash for the pigeon along with a little orange. That did the trick!
I decided to film and put together a YouTube video of the printing process for these cards. I chat alot on Instagram about printing letterpress cards using an etching press. I wanted a higher quality, slightly longer video that would be helpful to printmakers looking to do the same!
The entire process for these fun little cards was worthy a blog entry. It's important to reach out to artists if you want to reference or use their ideas or work in any way. Gemma's a very busy artist in high demand and I'm grateful she got back to us and allowed Spofford Press to use her funny concept!!
These are available in our Etsy Shop right here: PIGEON CARD!
