Two weeks ago I had the first session of my second round of letterpress class at Atlanta Printmakers Studio. (You can read all about my initial adventures in letterpress printing here.) It’s the same idea as the first — letterpress basics — but I’ve got a different teacher and the studio has made some upgrades in the meantime. This is the kind of press I did most (all?) of my work on last time:
Our first printing assignment was to set our names in metal type and make some stationery. Easy peasy, right? I found a cool typeface to use (Twentieth Century Medium, 12 pt) and set it in the composing stick,
then I mixed a lovely grey,
inked up one of the Vandercook presses and locked up the form,
futzed with the registration and cranked out about 75 notecards.
I started running short on ink (somebody else had cleaned it up before I was finished), so I have a few duds in the pack, but on the whole it was a successful run. I feel way more comfortable with the Vandercook already. I’m not sure what my future projects will be, but I’m planning to try printing in multiple colors and/or with tight registration — and I definitely want to make some coasters. More on this to come!
They look AMAZING!
Thanks Lena
this is so cool that you’re taking a letterpress class! I love that typeface that you chose.
Thanks! I like the typeface a lot too… I sorta want to make more, but I guess I should probably work through my current supply first.
Letterpress class is so fun — I love making things with my hands after typing into a computer all day!