If you tried to call or email the R29 offices this past Thursday and Friday you might have noticed that it was a lot quieter around here than usual. That is because this past Thursday and Friday the R29 family packed their bags and took a brief hiatus up to the lovely land of Appleton, Wisconsin to hang out with some of our favorite people from Appleton Coated.

If you have never been, we highly suggest taking the trip and scheduling a tour of the Appleton mill. It is simply mind blowing to see hundreds of tons of paper being made right before your eyes.

Here are a couple amazing mill facts for you to consider:
In a single day the mill turns out around 300 tons of paper.
In one 30 ton roll you could get almost 7 million sheets of 8.5 x 11 sheets of paper.
In one minute, the mill produces 3500 feet of paper.

J-Fed giving us some instructions at the beginning of our tour. The model behind him is a replica of the Appleton Coated Mill.

Dawn rocking some serious eye protection.

Justin and Tim keeping this 30 ton roll of paper under control.

After you tour the mill, extend your trip up to Two Rivers, Wisconsin. This quaint little town is home to the  famed Hamilton Type Museum. In addition to getting a tour around their fascinating museum that includes hundreds of sets of wood type, and all the machinery used to create it, the R29 gang was able to book a class with their outstanding curator, Jim.

Jim is pictured to the left, making sure everything keeps running smoothly.

First, he is the coolest guy in Two Rivers hands down! Second, he is the most passionate person we have ever met when it comes to appreciating the art of wood type. He was more than happy to share his vast knowledge and show us how to use their many presses to create our own works of art. Appleton Coated was also very generous, supplying paper for us to do our printing!

Wood block printing (the great grandfather of wood type) can be traced back to the Chinese as far back as 868 AD. Wood type used in printing followed not long after, though it becoming increasingly popular in the early 19th century. Using wood type is an incredibly beautiful art that can be as complex or as simple as you choose.

One of the presses all set up and ready to print!

R29 love

The whole crew!

For us, it was a great experience to be able to try our hand at creating our own pieces, printing them and discovering the craft of a letter press. If you’re interested in trying it out for yourself Hamilton Type Museum is a great place to start! Another favorite of ours is Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tennessee. Both places are run by  passionate people who will give you a great education, allowing you to experience the craft for yourself.

During our trip we got the privilege to stay at the Appleton Farm House. We very much appreciated their generous hospitality and extraordinarily good food! Thanks so much to Ferko Goldinger and John Federico for the invite and all the Appleton staff from making our trip amazing!

Love Each Other!

Here’s the deal. (For the most part), we take safety seriously at Rule29. We have an alarm system. We use pocket protectors. We have limited Justin’s use of exacto blades. And most nights we remember to turn off the space heater (not really). But recently, we were paid a visit by our local Fire Chief. He’s a nice guy and is certainly looking out for our team. While we don’t want to get into the numerous violations we had, we did want to share about one that caught our attention… Apparently, our fire extinguishers were “out of date” and needed to be “disposed” of properly. How does a creative firm “dispose” properly? Well, how about we simply show you…

Filmed with our shiny new iPhone 4′s

Kellen, the newest intern and former Marine, made the mistake of mentioning that he had a sword. Justin, being the leader that he is, loves the idea of commandeering a fleet of designers. And, let’s be honest, that’s a tough task when you’re not wielding a sword. The only problem is that things got a little out of hand…

Who out there in Readerland brandishes a sword or other form of weaponry on a daily basis? Any good stories?

Looking through the R29 Film Vault™ provides us all here with fond memories of yore – many of which are never shared with the public. Looking through the archives, we came across a few pieces too good to let slip through the cracks:

What happens when you put intern v. intern in a mano-a-mano battle to determine who, for once and for all, can consider himself/herself the greatest intern of all time (relatively speaking, of course)?

We have whittled the hours and hours of footage down to its core highlights and present it to you, our loyal audience, as the epic Intern War™.

About a year ago, Craig and I had our duel at a table with funnel cakes and corndogs, and I… well, I got owned. Craig swiftly and impressively put me in my place when it came to intern eating abilities. Recently, Craig and Katrina threw down in metaphorical fisticuffs on our carpeted, miniature basketball court to see who would be the Slam Dunk King/Queen of the R29 office.

Now, keep in mind that our hoop is no stranger to magnificent displays of athleticism. But, could Katrina pull off an upset and beat Craig in this first of several Intern War™ challenges? Did Craig pull the hoop off the wall? Did Katrina go all NBA Jam style and catch ‘on fire’? Watch and see! And don’t forget to check out the next installment of Intern Wars™, coming soon!

More importantly, we are interested in hearing if any of you participated in some awesome office challenges? Do share.

Recently, Appleton Coated invited three design firms to the Calphalon Cooking Center in Chicago for a creative cuisine challenge (like the alliteration?). Faust Design, Grip Design, and Rule29 Creative joined the team from Appleton to participate in the great event. The results? Well, you’ll have to watch the video for that… but we can disclose that everyone’s meals were fantastic and the entire night was quite a bit of fun. Check out the recap video!

Recently, we purchased a case of Sprite Zero only to find that many of the cans had been damaged. Additionally, one can was only about a third of the way full. We decided to take a chance on this soda and try it out. And of course, we captured it all on film.

An update: So far, no side effects from drinking about a third of a can of the non-carbonated syrup goodness from Coca-Cola – besides that delicious after taste. But maybe there is still time. Regardless, I wish that I would have had an entire can of soda to fully quench my thirst.

What soda would you drink no matter what (Even if it was only a third of the way full and still that was only syrup)?

Ever wonder what it’s like to strap a sled to your chest and try to jump to catch a Nerf football in falling snow? We thought you might, so we sent out our brave intern, Craig, to see how he would do. Unfortunately, (hopefully) due to the falling snow – and the fact that he had a sled strapped to his chest – he didn’t fare too well. Not enough speed!

What’s the craziest thing you’ve done on snow? Pulled behind a moving vehicle while on a sled? Slid down a ski slope on your stomach wearing nothing but your birthday suit? Made snow angels on the side of the interstate during unfavorable weather? Let us know, share your adventures!

Here at Rule29, we encourage people to go that extra mile to achieve their dreams. With the addition of the new mini-basketball hoop in the office, Dan has been working on his dunks. From the “Tomahawk” to the “Around the Clock”, he is honing his skills on our court. Recently, we were able to catch a special moment in his training…

What is your favorite dunk? Tomahawk dunk? Under the leg dunk? The no-look-behind-the-back-upside-down-cake dunk? One you made up? Lets hear it.

Happy Friday!

There is a time in every intern’s life when they must ask themselves, “How many shirts can I wear at one time?” Recently, this moment was captured when Craig, the intern, attempted to achieve what many of us thought was impossible – to successfully wear 29 t-shirts… in addition to the bonus round at the end. Was he able to muscle all 29 shirts without toppling over faster than Humpty Dumpty? Watch and See!

(Now this may be the longest R29 Short out there, but as you’ll see, we just couldn’t bear to lose any of this fantastic footage. Stick around for the end, you won’t be disappointed!)

Let this be a lesson to all aspiring interns out there: never give up, even when you’re trying to wear 29 shirts and can barely keep your balance.

We are honored to share with you the presentation reel we created for LIA. Please check it out and let us know what you think. We will be going back in 2009 to learn more about how we can help. Any questions about what LIA does? Let us know…or better yet tell us who you support, work with or you think is just downright swell.

PS: Be their Facebook pal!