The cover reveal!

How will a sweater look with a particular yarn? What will a quilt look like when it's done? How will inks layer in a silkscreen? How will a sketch translate to final art? How will the ceramic vase look when glazed and fired?

When you embark on creating something new, it's all about having confidence in your ideas—and the ability to visualize what you want. The same is true in design for print: although you can approximate how something will appear in print, there are plenty of instances when you have to use your imagination, have faith in your idea and just go for it. 

I've been imagining the next cover to have a shiny silver foil on the spine and on the number 23. Like this:

In contrast to the summer colour issue, the fall edition is decidedly toned down in hue—but not in inspiration or creative excitement!

Celebrating things monochromatic—and the graphic appeal of black and white—issue #23 contains a special calligraphy and lettering section featuring Seb Lester (the cover artist who created this fun calligraphic grocery list), master penman Jake Weidmann and profiles of Joy Deneen, Maybelle Imasa-Stukuls, Erica McPhee, Barbara Calzolari, Neil Tasker, Pietro Piscitelli and Molly Jacques. The experts offer tips for beginners and our talented pool of readers share their amazing calligraphy work as well.

This issue also has articles about modern-day heraldry and how to use tradition and crests to design your brand; silver spoons painted and collected; the dynamic mother-daughter duo Tag Team Tompkins; a field trip to an in-house sign painter at an old-fashioned department store; a visit with the enigmatic inhabitants of a House of Cardboard; and a trip to a Parisian calligraphy guild.

I've got one week left to get the design finished up and off it goes to the printer! 

Want to keep that summer feeling? You can still subscribe starting with issue #22. I'll mail it to you right away and then you'll get the fall issue when it is released in October. Or if already have a copy of #22, subscriptions starting with fall are available here.