stamps – Enfant Terrible

Out now: 2 x new Vrystaete

It took me some time but the two new Vrystaete releases are ready and will be on there way to people and (web)shops from later this week onwards…

So both Lend Me Your Underbelly and Ô Paradis can be enjoyed during your Xmas dinner…

I always miscalculate the amount of time needed to complete the Vrystaete records… next to printing the artwork and the info sheet there is the numbering of the artwork and the applying of stamps on the record labels (4 on each record) and on the info sheet (1 on each info sheet)… then there is the assembling of it all… so well… if I would include my hours spend on this in the price of the records they would become too expensive to sell…

So… think about that when you have in your hands sooner or later… these records are quite priceless… 😉 And… I saw in Discogs lately that at least one is already a real collector piece but I am quite sure a few more will become that too shortly… most titles are sold out or low in stock at most places…

Brannten Schnüre

The printing work for the Brannten Schnüre record in the Vrystaete series is nearing completion… but it is definitely more work as expected and the most labor-intensive record I ever did until now… I would not even start to calculate what this record would really cost if I would sell it for a reasonable price related to all the hours put in it…

BUT… it is absolute nice to see how great the result is… and that is the only thing that counts: how it turns out in the end…

Shipping of the private pre-orders and to shops will start next week… and you can also still order the record directly through me…

Homework

insertET044Gooiland23 This weekend I finished the insert for the upcoming Gooiland Elektro compilation “Noblesse Oblige”… next to the silk screen printed sleeve this compilation includes an insert… this insert is printed on a risograph machine and I finished it by stamping it by hand…

Now all is finished and the waiting is for the vinyls… then some assembling needs to be done and then I can ship this one out… I expect I can start shipping at the end of March…

In my recent mixtape / dj set two tracks from this record are included… to kill time while waiting…

stampingprocesET044Gooiland23

Perfect vs. imperfect

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Even though I go for perfection this does not mean my idea of perfection is the same as for all people… since a very long time I cherish the imperfect… something flawless is often without a soul to me… a little imperfection is what makes a record perfect from my point of view… so somethings can be perfectly imperfect…

Recently I incorporated two imperfections for the upcoming Gooiland Elektro compilation “Noblesse Oblige”… first thing was a little glitch in one track… this track was recorded in one take as a jam… so the energy in it is pure and raw… so not to be copied in a new recording session… for this reason I decided to include this version of the track…

Next to that I was working on a stamp for the insert which comes with this record… not a handmade like the Vrystaete stuff but designed on a computer… when the design was sent to the company which I asked to produce the stamp I got a message it was not possible to make a stamp out of the design… it was not clear enough and would become a bit blurry they said… what they meant was that is was not clear like the other designs they get and they did not know what this would mean for the final product… I just told them to continue and I would pay whatever the end result would be… so they did… and when I got the stamp I was just very happy with it… being a bit imperfect as it is…

Some people simply do not understand the charm and (aesthetic) value of things being just not perfect… and some others are uncertain of taking a little risk with small imperfections in the production process… for me imperfection is what sets something apart from other things… it is what makes a record daring and edgy… and it is simply fun to not know exactly what will be the end result until you hold it in your hands… just perfect!

Blood, sweat and tears…

It looks like a true artists workspace here at Enfant Terrible HQ as we are finalising the Brunnen and Diamantener Oberhof records for shipping… this means the inserts need to be stamped, the labels on the records need to stamped and the art prints need to be numbered…

This is a lot of work on itself as the ink needs to dry… so it takes time between stamping the A side label and the B side is possible… and even more as only a few record at once can be done due to the limited space on the table/at the ET HQ…

Same goes for the inserts… even though they take less room and can more easily be piled up to dry without things getting messy…

So… shipping starts soon but first the ink on the different parts on my fingers need to dry a bit…

Diamantener Oberhof

This weekend I printed the art prints for the Diamantener Oberhof release coming soon on Vrystaete. I could not have done this without the help of printing chief Ramon from Kapitaal as it turned out to be quite a difficult job…

The print coming with Diamantener Oberhof is a three color silk screen print… meaning it has three layers to print on top of each other… we printed first the red tongue, after that the yellow mask and then the black background which also gives shape to the face and the symbols beside the mask (see the photo)… it is nice to see the image taking shape with every step you take…

So the prints are finished now and I am more then satisfied with the end result… now it is time to wait for the vinyls to arrive so I can finish these with putting stamp prints on the labels… and then they are ready to leave the ET/Vrystaete HQ… I guess in about two to three weeks from now…