Thank you card

For the Amalgamated Printer's Association's monthly bundle, we created this piece using just wood type. We received a couple inquiries on how we did it. Here's the scoop:

First we printed the backsides of wood type to create a field of brown. We added strip material between the blocks so one could see each individual one, rather than a monolithic rectangle. We selected the pieces to include a wide variety of wood grain patterns.

Next we mixed up 3 batches of ink side-by-side: blue, white, blue. Then we took a wide brayer and commingled them so the color on the brayer transitioned from blue on one edge to white in the middle to blue on the other edge. They're mixed well so the gradient is smooth all the way across.

We locked up the rightside-up type in the proof press and hand inked it with the brayer from corner to corner. This created the blueish hues near the "T" and exclamation point . Next came the paper and a pull of the press. Presto, a thank you card!

Each of the 155 copies had to be individually hand inked to get the gradient effect. We don't have fancy equipment like a cylinder press with a split fountain, so it's all manual, all the time. The side benefit is now our biceps are jacked. Printing is the new steroids.

APA August bundle

Tucked among the other printed pieces in this month's APA bundle is a sheet of stamps printed by Phillip Driscoll. The 3-color stamps feature Charles Darwin, author and naturalist, and L.L. Zamenhof, creator of Esperanto. Phillip produced these stamps under the auspices of the Uteg Republic, his micronation. The stamps are worth 1/2 of a Favler. (You won't find that at the local cambio; a Favler is the value of a pound of lead.) But the real worth of these stamps lies in their stellar production quality. Plus, it's nice to see lickable stamps are still alive and well. At least in Uteg.

APA July bundle

There something appropriate about doing small letterpress projects in the summer. Perhaps it's the beckoning
smell of fresh-cut grass, the promise of a garden blooming, or the desire to sit lazily on the porch and watch the fireflies float by. There are too many temptations pulling us away from the shop. A bite-sized project is perfect for getting the printing fix, then getting outdoors.

These two pieces arrived in the July APA bundle courtesy of Bob Oldham (left) and Rich Hopkins (right). Simple gestures make these small projects (each roughly 2" x 4") little gems. Especially nice is how the elongated ascenders in the name of the gardening company sprout into flowers, courtesy of a couple of well-placed orange dingbats. Sometimes it's the quiet expressions that add all the sparkle you need. Like fireflies on a warm summer night.

APA preview: Trees are our friends

A pearl of wisdom from the master of the fanbrush.

Paper is Crane Lettra (110#, pearl white); type is handset lead; image is lino cut; 3.67" x 4.25"

APA June Bundle, part 2

A good letterpress shop has a small selection of fancy initial caps to choose from when setting text. By this measure, Arlene Popkin and Stephen Hirshberg's Thomas Jefferson Press is a great shop. Their offering in the June APA bundle showcases 26 different decorative capitals, from A to Z. Each capital kicks off a passage from a famous literary work, so not only is their booklet a pleasure for the eyes, but it provides satisfaction for the soul. Above is the cover and two examples of the beautifully set pages, with excerpts from Ulysses (S) and Zip-A-Dee-Doo-Dah (Z).

Printed on a 1908 7x11 Golding Improved Pearl. Edition: 200.

APA June Bundle, part 1

Couple of nice pieces in the June APA bundle. The wedding invite on the left features almost a dozen different fonts. What could be a design disaster in the making instead is deftly executed, as the fonts hang together in a surprisingly cohesive way. The monochromatic printing no doubt helps this, but you gotta appreciate the risk taken in using such a wide array of faces and making it work. All in all a fun little invite.

On the right is a rather simple one-color bookmark from Gary Hidden that makes great use of a tropical cut. The elongated palm tree scene feels right at home on the 7 inch tall bright-orange paper -- perfect for finding what page you left off on. It will be finding a home in my summer reading: The Dord, the Diglot, and an Avocado or Two: The Hidden Lives and Strange Origins of Common and Not-So-Common Words.

APA preview

March o' the Bobs.
(Halfway through my next APA project.)

APA Preview: Blog Promo

Here's a look at what we printed up for the June APA bundle to promote this blog. We also made a half-dozen alternates using an azure ink.

Paper is Crane Lettra (110#, pearl white); type is handset lead; 3.67" x 4.25" with rounded corners

APA Bundle: April

Some nice pieces in the April APA bundle, including a fitting commemoration of the Vandercook composed of ornaments and borders.

Top image: Mike O'Connor's story of working a Washington Hand Press; middle: Sven Olaf Nelson's serene 2008 holiday card; bottom: Gordon Rouze's Vadercook celebration.

"E"s and Carrots

Davey D. dropped by the other day with Evan, the cutest kid Bloomingdale ever did see. Just after he was born, Evan, mom, and dad all helped create his birth announcement. A variation of the announcement was included in the APA bundle last summer. For that version, I replaced the blind debossed "E" with one inked in transparent blue. (The humidity in the basement sometimes compromises the effect of a blind deboss.)

Can't wait until lil' E turns one and we can do another project for him. And I really can't wait until he turns 16 and becomes an apprentice at the shop. Someone's gotta distribute all that type!

Paper is Crane Lettra (110#, pearl white); type and ornaments are handset lead; big E is 16-line Clarendon; approx. 3.75" square

Don't forget to eat your veggies, kids!

Tis the Season

In addition to Typographic Curiosities 18, the March APA bundle delivered this seasonal reminder from Colorado's Bird Dog Press. Besides the cherry blossoms and other harbingers of Spring, the warmer weather means the shop is finally thawing out. Though we still print during the winter, it's a much more pleasant experience when the space heater isn't choking and coughing just trying to chase away the chill. The heater will soon get a deserved rest and a long summer vacation. Bon voyage!

Tinker, tinker, tinker

The March bundle from the Amalgamated Printer's Association arrived last week and contained the usual mix of printed pieces, spanning the spectrum from novice to professional. APA members send samples of their work to all the other members at least 4 times a year. Each month every member receives around 50 pieces of letterpress matter printed by fellow APAers. It's a wonderful way to see the work of new printers, as well as marvel at the skills of those old hands who have bridged so many generations of printing technology.

What caught my eye in this bundle was a lavishly illustrated and impeccably produced booklet entitled Typographic Curiosities 18. I'll let the colophon tell the details:

The series Typographic Curiosities has been done intermittently over the past 45 years by Richard L. Hopkins. Subject matter has ranged widely, but always related to hot metal type and/or typesetting. It is Monotype composed and letterpress printed at the Hill & Dale Private Press and Typefoundry, Box 263, Terra Alta, West Virginia 26764.

This installment is titled Finishing the Work of an Unknown Designer and details the arrival of a package of ornament matrices sent to Rich by a long-time printer friend. Rich takes us through the process of how he analyzes the mats to divine the intention of the designer. What were they to be used for? Were they meant to go together or were they successive variations on a single design?

The layout is simple, revelatory, and generously illustrated. But what's most telling is the fundamental approach Rich takes: physically handling the cast pieces. He reminds us that it's okay to take a dingbat (or a letterform or cut) and play with it. Hold it in your hand and study it. Rotate it around, try it as a border, or combine it with multiples of itself in different arrangements. Do something unexpected with it. In fact, it's not just okay to try this, it's vital. It's how we dissect and rebuild.

It's a good lesson to remember in the shop. Why not combine some rarely-used dingbat set into a background pattern? How about doing the same with various widths of rule? What about using a numeral 9 as a lowercase g? Tinkering around in the shop is what makes us creative typesetters, analytical thinkers, and better printers. Rich should know; he's one of the best.