W E S T E R N G R E E K A M E R I C A N N E W S M O N T H LY

VOL. XXXVI I I , NO. 2 • H E L L E N I C J O U R N A L . O R G F E b R U A R y 2 0 1 3

INSI

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Folk Dance & Choral Festival returns to Anaheim President’s Day weekend

page 7

Theofanis Economidis honoredat San Francisco Metropolis Gala

page 6

Founder Julie Karatzis ImPRESSes page 4

artoules PressC

February 2013 Hellenic Journal 3

contents

SIGNSBANNERS & STANDS

POP-UPSPORTABLES

printing displays websites

DESIGNDEVELOPMENT

HOSTINGEMAIL

BOOKLETSSTATIONERY

DIRECTORIES& MUCH MORE

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Commercial Construction

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Letter from the Editor

Labor of Love, Gala, FDF FellowshipDear Readers: In this day and age of emailed invitations and digital prints, Cartoules Press cards and invitations are a refreshing reminder of a more elegant, leisurely time. The secret is in the letterpress, “Each piece is hand fed into the press

for each run of color,” says founder Julie Karatzis. “No two pieces will ever be exactly alike.” I invite you to turn to page 4, for the rest of this inspiring story. Next month, the SF Metropolis honors the extraordinary leadership and dedication of Theofanis Economidis. We at the HJ also offer a collective “Axios!” as Fanis is our HJ Board President as well. To join the celebration, please see page 6. I said it before and I’ll say it again: “We’re going to Disneyland!” Or better yet: “We’re going to FDF!” Once again, hundreds of dancers from throughout the SF Metropolis have been practicing for weeks for this annual dance and choral competition. Follow the HJ’s Facebook and Twitter posts for updates throughout the weekend. For all of the details, see page 7. Opa!!!

Frosene Phillips

Editor

Julie Karatzis’ Cartoules Press Impresses . . . . .4

SF Metropolis honors Theofanis Economidis . . . .6

FDF returns to Anaheim to ‘Inspire’ . . . . . . . . . .7

Summer Camps, Programs & Scholarships . . . .9

Remembering Rev . Fr . E . Anthony Tomaras . . .14

Profile . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Orthodox News . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Calendar . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Northwest and Pacific Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .12

Southern California Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .13

In Memoriam . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .14

Business Directory . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .15

On the cover:

Cartoules Press Founder Julie Karatzis.PHOtO by VANGIE OGG PHOtOGRAPHy

PHOtO (INsEt) by CARtOULEs PREss

Deadline to enter: March 31, 2013

HJ Contest: Enter to win a Cartoules Press 8x10 print of Mykonos, Greek Island 5x7 cards or a set of Greek Easter Cards at www.hellenicjournal.org

For more HJ news and to subscribe visit hellenicjournal .org and follow us on Facebook

at www .facebook .com/hellenicjournal

Phil Economopoulosreceives Elios Award page 8

Dr. Christos Papakostasreturns to judge at FDF page 8

Dr. Stam and the major advance of DNA research page 12

Hellenic Journal February 20134

When it comes to Cards and Invitations Letterpress Trumps TechnologyBy Athan Bezaitis

When Queen Victoria wed Prince Albert in 1840, she forever changed the wedding ceremony. She married for love – at first sight, she proclaimed – and as a result

turned upside down royal traditions of arranged marriage. She did the same for wedding fashion. Instead of jeweled robes she wore a gown of white satin, mid-length sleeves, and lace. The regal invitation included a sketch of the couple exchanging vows.

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It was handmade and was most likely produced by letterpress, still a relatively new, evolving technology in the mid-19th Century. The letterpress involves locking moveable type into the bed of a cast-iron frame, inking it, and pressing it onto paper.

The result is a crisp impression that gives visual definition to the artwork, producing a quality effect that is still very much in demand today. The texture of letterpress cards and the way the ink spread across the paper is what first

appealed to Julie Karatzis, 30, who decided she wanted hand-printed invitations for her own wedding in 2009. Compelled by her interest in design and a natural curiosity for the 200-year-old technology that runs counter to everything web-based, she enrolled in a few classes

at the International Printing Museum in Carson. With the encouragement of her instructor she printed all 225 invitations in a single afternoon, a laborious affair that would normally take two days. She enjoyed the process and the results – others did too. Soon after she purchased her first tabletop press, a Kelsey, relatively small at a mere 80 pounds, and thus her company Cartoules Press was born. “Cartoules” is Greek for little cards. Once the business started to take off, Karatzis sold the Kelsey and purchased an 800 lb. Golding & Co. Pearl press - from 1887 with

a foot treadle. To transport it to her home, her husband and a couple of friends rented a U-Haul, hoisted it into the truck, and tied it down with furniture moving straps and a dolly. The next year she

purchased a 1,500 lb. Chandler and Price press from 1926 with a motor. This time it required a team

of men, an even bigger truck, and a car jack to transport. She keeps the presses in the backyard garage of her Belmont Shores home in Long Beach, California. “These presses typically aren’t moved around very much, so it’s really important to take extra care when you do,” she said. “One wrong move and you crack the cast-iron body. At that point repairs are difficult and parts are hard to come by.” Karatzis says that because of their age, the presses have a

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Cartoules Press founder Julie Karatzis

PHOtO by VANGIE OGG PHOtOGRAPHy

All of the inks are hand mixed and the plates are registered onto the press by hand. Pictured: Valentine’s Day cards (left) and baptism announcement (above).

PHOtOs by CARtOULEs PREss CARTOULES PRESScontinued on page 5

February 2013 Hellenic Journal 5

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personality of their own. “You really need to learn how the press works, what its challenges are, and then compensate for that. Parts break or become stuck and there isn’t exactly a team of ‘letterpress repairmen’ I can call on, so it’s a lot of troubleshooting, long conversations on the phone with other old-time printers, or my engineer dad to solve the problem.” Compared to digital prints, she says there’s an obvious difference from the impression of the type onto the paper, the tactile feel, and handmade quality, which she says can’t be compared or replicated. “Each piece is hand fed into the press for each run of color, no two

pieces will ever be exactly alike,” she explained. “It’s as if each piece, invitation, or card is a unique piece of art, a tangible keepsake from our important life events.” Her largest order was for a Greek wedding, a two-color invitation with 250 wedding suites, or sets. The suite is comprised of the invitation, response card, insert card, hand drawn map, printed response, and outer envelopes. Two hundred fifty sets multiplied by six pieces multiplied by two colors comes out to 3,000 hand fed impressions. Each piece of paper went through the press two times, once for each color.

“All of my inks are hand mixed and the plates are registered onto the press by hand, so set up generally takes a lot of time and attention as well,” she said. “This is why I usually have a 4-6 week turnaround time.” Cartoules has done a number of

bilingual wedding invitations, including French, Armenian, Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch, and of course a large number of Greek. She downloads the fonts leaving it up to her customers to check the spelling and the wording so that everything is correct. “The bilingual thing started because I couldn’t find a one-stop-shop to design our wedding invitations in Greek, so I wanted to fill this gap in the market,” she said. “From there people came up to me asking if I could design something for them in their own language.” Karatzis is a team of one, managing everything from designing, to production,

distribution, accounting, client services, marketing and public relations. For help she calls on her husband whom she refers to as “Super Spiro” to lend a hand when he can. Most of the business comes from word-of-mouth, through social media, and press pickup. Her website at

www.cartoulespress.com features samples of her work and contact information. “I’m on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram at least once a day,” she said. “I also have a blog (blog.cartoulespress.com), where I post bits of inspiration and what I’m working on.” The quality of letterpress cards is unmatched, making it yet another fitting symbol for the enduring bond of marriage. Prints of Queen Victoria’s 1840 wedding are still available for purchase. One fond customer online described an appreciation for the thick paper and rich ink of letterpress well, “…if it were food it would be chocolate, if it were architecture it would be the Louvre, if it were fabric it would be silk, if it were liquid it would be Dom Perignon.”

“I also have a blog (blog.cartoulespress.com), where I post bits of inspiration and what I’m working on.”

CARTOULES PRESScontinued from page 4

Cartoules Press Greek language Happy New Year cards feature a playful Vasilopita.

PHOtO by CARtOULEs PREss

Home-Style CookingGood Food, Large Portions, Reasonable Prices 3638 Castro Valley Blvd.Castro Valley, CA • 510-733-6300

Founded in 1975

Board of Directors• Fanis Economidis, President• John Gumas, Vice President• Ted Laliotis, Secretary• Anthony T. Saris, CPA, Treasurer• Kenneth Frangadakis, D.D.S.• George M. Marcus• Steve Padis• Gary M. Vrionis

Managing Editor• Frosene Phillips

Advisory Editorial Board• Rev. John Bakas, Dean,

St. Sophia Cathedral• Robert Bruce, Community

Newspapers, Editor Emeritus• George Korkos, M.D.• Markos Tsakopoulos-Kounalakis,

Journalist• Virginia Lagiss, Educator• Mort Levine, Community Newspapers,

Publisher• Professor Pan Yotopoulos

The Hellenic JournalFounder and Publisher, the late Frank Agnost

Athens Correspondents• Greg Mazarakis • Alekos Rigas

U.S. Correspondents• Theodora Dracopoulos Argue• Mavis Manus

Special Correspondents• Virginia Lagiss • Willard Manus• Markos Papadatos • Terry Phillips

Greek News• Compiled by Ted Laliotis

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Administrative Director• Joanna Phillips

Graphic Designer• Stephanie Leal

THE HELLENIC JOURNALis published monthly for $35 in CA ($31.96 outsideCA) by the Western Hellenic Journal, Inc., a non-profit 501 (c) (3) corporation.

Western Hellenic Journal, Inc. © 2013 All rights reserved.

Contact Info & Address ChangesThe Hellenic Journal,696 San Ramon Valley Blvd., #176Danville, CA 94526-4022Tel: 925-939-3900Fax: 925-407-2931Toll Free: 877-939-3988Web: www.hellenicjournal.orgEmail: info@hellenicjournal.orgwww.facebook.com/hellenicjournal

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