Spade Work - Lead & Roses Letterpress Card
SPADE WORK
4.25 x 5.5in (A2) letterpress printed folded card
w/white cotton envelope
How it’s Printed
Letterpress printed using hand-set antique lead type & vintage letterpress ornaments, arranged to form a stylistic spade. Card backs are printed with photopolymer plates.
About this Design
“Spade work” is a term that Black liberation organizer Ella Baker often used to refer to the small, daily tasks that make up deep organizing work. It is a reminder that every single organizing engagement—no matter how small—is a fundamentally important part of how we build toward collective liberation. I find this idea endlessly inspiring: that the magic is in the mundane, and that moving with care in all relationships is the most effective—and the most ethical—way to practice our values.
Here’s to taking the time to do our spade work. Thank you, Ella, for your clarity of vision.
About Lead & Roses
The phrase “bread and roses” is usually attributed to the 1912 Lawrence, Massachusetts textile strike & originated in a James Oppenheim poem:
“Our lives shall not be sweated / from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies: / give us bread, but give us roses!”
Bread & Roses has been used in many social movement contexts as a metaphor for the importance of art, beauty, & rest as critical forms of sustenance. Lead & Roses gives this phrase a letterpress pun: much of the type used in hand-setting & printing these cards is made of lead.
These are cards to bolster the hearts of organizers so that they remain deeply invested in working for collective liberation for as long as it takes.
Interested in a wholesale order? Visit wholesaleradical.com Thank you!
SPADE WORK
4.25 x 5.5in (A2) letterpress printed folded card
w/white cotton envelope
How it’s Printed
Letterpress printed using hand-set antique lead type & vintage letterpress ornaments, arranged to form a stylistic spade. Card backs are printed with photopolymer plates.
About this Design
“Spade work” is a term that Black liberation organizer Ella Baker often used to refer to the small, daily tasks that make up deep organizing work. It is a reminder that every single organizing engagement—no matter how small—is a fundamentally important part of how we build toward collective liberation. I find this idea endlessly inspiring: that the magic is in the mundane, and that moving with care in all relationships is the most effective—and the most ethical—way to practice our values.
Here’s to taking the time to do our spade work. Thank you, Ella, for your clarity of vision.
About Lead & Roses
The phrase “bread and roses” is usually attributed to the 1912 Lawrence, Massachusetts textile strike & originated in a James Oppenheim poem:
“Our lives shall not be sweated / from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies: / give us bread, but give us roses!”
Bread & Roses has been used in many social movement contexts as a metaphor for the importance of art, beauty, & rest as critical forms of sustenance. Lead & Roses gives this phrase a letterpress pun: much of the type used in hand-setting & printing these cards is made of lead.
These are cards to bolster the hearts of organizers so that they remain deeply invested in working for collective liberation for as long as it takes.
Interested in a wholesale order? Visit wholesaleradical.com Thank you!
SPADE WORK
4.25 x 5.5in (A2) letterpress printed folded card
w/white cotton envelope
How it’s Printed
Letterpress printed using hand-set antique lead type & vintage letterpress ornaments, arranged to form a stylistic spade. Card backs are printed with photopolymer plates.
About this Design
“Spade work” is a term that Black liberation organizer Ella Baker often used to refer to the small, daily tasks that make up deep organizing work. It is a reminder that every single organizing engagement—no matter how small—is a fundamentally important part of how we build toward collective liberation. I find this idea endlessly inspiring: that the magic is in the mundane, and that moving with care in all relationships is the most effective—and the most ethical—way to practice our values.
Here’s to taking the time to do our spade work. Thank you, Ella, for your clarity of vision.
About Lead & Roses
The phrase “bread and roses” is usually attributed to the 1912 Lawrence, Massachusetts textile strike & originated in a James Oppenheim poem:
“Our lives shall not be sweated / from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies: / give us bread, but give us roses!”
Bread & Roses has been used in many social movement contexts as a metaphor for the importance of art, beauty, & rest as critical forms of sustenance. Lead & Roses gives this phrase a letterpress pun: much of the type used in hand-setting & printing these cards is made of lead.
These are cards to bolster the hearts of organizers so that they remain deeply invested in working for collective liberation for as long as it takes.
Interested in a wholesale order? Visit wholesaleradical.com Thank you!
