letterpress workshop

The Letterpress Workshop I took last Friday was fantastic (and now I can check this off my Love To-Do List)!  I was surprised to discover that Hollander's has a large basement studio space complete with worktables, stools, and a variety of letterpress equipment - proof, platen and cylinder presses, an assortment of type, and all other related equipment to complete a project.  And if you need paper, just run right up the stairs and you're in a printers and crafters heaven.

The full day course walked us through how to set type in a composing stick, print proofs to check our work, lock the type form into a chase, and ink and operate the platen press to print to our heart's content.  We were all tasked to start by setting a small amount of text - a business card or tag - in our composing sticks, and after printing, we able to work on whatever we wanted.  And, after finding out that we all now have access to the studio during Hollander's free open studio hours (are they serious?!), I scrapped my planned project and decided to use the remainder of my time to experiment.  I can't say I'm over the moon about anything I printed BUT I am excited to spend many future Monday evenings practicing a new craft.

With these valuable lessons under my belt of course:

1. To go into the course, never having printed before, with an image of what I wanted to accomplish was dangerous.  I am used to working on computer software, like Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, as my primary medium for graphic representation.  It was therefore very difficult for me to adjust my thinking and work within the constraints of a new medium.  All mediums lend themselves better to certain visions and it will take a lot of practice for me to discover all the potential of letterpress.
2. Setting type is extremely time consuming, so with that . . .  
3. ALWAYS proof your type form before final printing (can you find my mistake?)!  

letterpress workshop: prep

I am preparing to attend a one day Introduction to Letterpress Workshop this coming Friday at Hollander's here in Ann Arbor's Kerrytown.  I am beyond excited as this is something that has been on my Love To-Do list for a long time.  Among other things, I need to come prepared with some sort of text to print.  I have collected many quotes and pulled a few other ideas from sketch books past, but I can't seem to decide on a direction.  So until I do, I'm going to share some of my favorite letterpress (or just plain typographic) projects that have inspired me to learn more.

From left to right:

New Year's Poster, Happy Deliveries, Etsy. I like the placement of the text here, justified to the left in such a way as to not only read as one complete statement, but also to bring attention to each individual word.

Pablo Neruda Letterpress Print, Miss Cline Press, Etsy.  I am a big fan of Pablo Neruda, but aside from that, I like the experimentation here with multiple fonts and the in-line scaling up of the text.

Untitled (I am an invisible man), Glenn Ligon, MoMA.  Glenn Ligon is one of my favorite contemporary artists. Though not letterpress, I especially love his pieces like this one, with layers of text, moving from clear to indistinguishable.

Zeichen Press-Type Limited Edition Alphabet, no longer available.  I've always loved these prints, from the first time I saw them at Room & Board.  They were probably the first pieces to spark my interest in printing methods and the alphabet as potential graphic material.

Kennedy Prints, Amos Kennedy. Amos Kennedy is a prolific print maker.  He uses bold colors and bold text for pieces that are guaranteed to stand out.

No Whining Art Print, Hammerpress.  I am very attracted to the signage quality of this print and the way the bold type is used for the prohibitive phrases and the light type for the permissable phrases.

Black Numbers Print, Inspire U Art, Etsy. Though not a letterpress print, I couldn't help but fall in love with this mid century mash up of numbers.

Paris Parsnip, Alan Kitching, Printed Editions.  I really like the idea that the text can become image, as in this work by famous letterpress artist Alan Kitching.  Apparently, he is also a trained architect too (best education ever but I am biased).

What are your favorites?