It’s no secret that we at Edible love all things, well, edible. But sometimes even a piece of paper can bring a smile to our faces.
Such was the case with these food-themed baseball cards, part of the Edible All-Stars series created by Brooklynite Amelie Mancini, 29, owner of Left Field Cards. Instead of featuring any old Hall of Fame-bound players, each card depicts a guy from the leagues with a food-related last name–Darryl Strawberry, Jim Rice, and Herman Franks, to name a few–along with a clever illustration. As a bonus, the unique letterpress cards are actually postcards, so you can frame them or mail them to your friends.
Mancini, a die-hard Mets fan and painter originally from France, started making the cards with a handpress at a church in Greenpoint, where she lives. The process involved carving her illustrations into linoleum blocks, rolling ink on the images and pressing down on a piece of paper using a flat tool. But printing the cards one by one was slow, so when business picked up she switched to using a rented letterpress machine from a studio in Williamsburg.
Food jokes aren’t the only ones featured on Mancini’s baseball cards. She and her boyfriend like to make lists of things that will make them laugh, which led to her other current series–Bizarre Injuries–and soon more, like the upcoming Marvelous Mustaches. “Every series is a just a silly idea,” she said. “The common point that they all have is that they all have a food name, or they all have a funny mustache or they all got hurt.”
She’s only been at it since October, but the Edible All-Stars cards have already made their way into stores and markets in Brooklyn, Chicago, Portland and Seattle. You can check out Left Field Cards on its website, or stop by Artists and Fleas in Williamsburg this Sunday and meet the artist yourself.
