GPO in the 21st Century

We've written several times about the Government Printing Office, the behoemeth print operation just down the road from us. Though it isn't humming at quite the same rate it did in its heyday, an article in today's Washington Post talks about how the GPO is preparing for its future:

"Pressmen are being trained to operate digital presses designed for shorter runs. When they retire, their jobs will move to a new generation schooled in building e-book partnerships and designing iPhone apps."

Though the GPO is going digital to stay relevant, paper lovers needn't get themselves too dogeared:

"For whose who fear the end of the printed word, there is good news. GPO officials, working with librarians in the federal depository system, have come up with a canon of about 160 titles that will continue be printed by the GPO indefinitely, from the Economic Report of the President to the Internal Revenue Bulletin."

Personally, I can't think of better bedtime reading than the Internal Revenue Bulletin. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.

The piece also features an historic photo gallery.

City Maps in Lettering

If I ever get lost in a city, I want it to be this one. No, not Washington, per se, but a city that's built entirely from type. Axis Maps has created a series of five city maps that weave together nothing but letters to shape the city form. From waterways to the street grid, the posters aren't only accurate, they're distractingly compelling. So much so that your mind might actually get lost just looking at them. Finally, a map that you get more lost the more you look at it.

Pictured above is DC. You can also find Boston, San Francisco, Chicago, and New York City on their site.

Government Printing Office, Part 2

So whatever became of all those forms we saw in the previous post? After their printing they were likely sent to this room -- the bindery -- to be stitched and trimmed into a finished product.

The above bindery photo also comes courtesy of Shorpy's Harris+Ewing Collection. Though at the time this photo was taken (c. 1910) DC's neighborhoods were mostly segregated, the workplace needn't be. The GPO served as a growth environment for many African-American printers, including several who lived in our house. Could this have been Duckpin Press' forebear?...

enlarged from top image

Government Printing Office, Part 1

We're fortunate to live so close to what was once the world's largest printing plant, the Government Printing Office. Being only a mile away from the facility, it would be an easy commute if, instead of being occasional practitioners, we toiled full-time in the Black Art. Perhaps it was this easy commute that appealed to previous occupants of our house. Several GPO printers have called our house home, starting just after the turn of the 20th century.

Shorpy's Harris+Ewing collection has some great glass-plate negatives from the GPO's heyday. We favor this particular shot from the composition room. Note the endless pile of forms sitting in galley trays down the center of the photo. That right there is more type than we'll likely set in our entire life. We kinda get the feeling that the previous occupants of our house are looking down and smirking at our humble basement operation.

enlarged from top image

And Now A Globe Poster Imposter

That Globe poster post got us thinking.

Back in 2007, Washington City Paper ran a cover story on Elvis' one and only DC appearance. Pete, then the art director of the paper, channeled the old Globe poster aesthetic for the design of that week's cover. It was no match for a Globe original, but then again, you know what they say about imitation...

Click on image for a honkin'-huge view.

Globe Printing Company

When most people think of a print shop being deeply intertwined with a local music scene, they think Hatch Show Print. For years the Nashville-based shop helped promote the Grand Ole Opry brand of country music.

A little closer to Duckpin's home, the Globe Printing Company has been a mainstay in the DC go-go scene for years. From early pioneers like Junk Yard Band and Experience Unlimited, Globe has been there to spread the word about DC's homegrown music. For much of the 80s and 90s, a trip along DC/Maryland commuter routes offered a cluttered, visual panopoly of Globe posters. Fluorescent-splashed signs tacked to traffic poles greeted you at every stoplight. How many times a week can Rare Essence possibly play? I remember often thinking.

Various "beautification" ordinances and a declining number of clubs have conspired to eliminate most of the signage. Globe has since diversified into more mundane "Houses from the mid-$400s"-type advertisements. These new signs (bland, plastic and text-only) are no match for the heyday signage of Globe.

Baltimore City Paper ran a great article on the long history of Globe, from it's start as a letterpress shop through the present day. The article is accompanied by beautiful -- and often haunting -- photography of the shop's composition equipment, type cabinets, and some now-quiet presses. To us, they look eager to be pressed back into service. Just as Hatch has experienced a revival, perhaps the time is ripe for Globe.

Shop photos by Frank Hamilton, Baltimore City Paper

50 Years of the Hockey Mask

Fifty years ago this month, goaltender Jacques Plante took a stick to the face. It was pretty much just a day at the office for goaltenders of that era. But not for Jacques. The Montreal Canadiens' goaltender refused to skate again unless he was able to wear a mask. Since at the time there were no hockey mask designers, he came up with the structure himself (at left). Soon after, others followed.

Those early hockey masks look like crude cousins to today's über-polished, air-brushed designs, but along the way there have been some innovative designs and eye-catching paint schemes. Some of the more bad-ass masks incorporate the logomark of the teams, often in an intimidating manner:

Left: Philadelphia Flyers' Wayne Stephenson; right: Quebec Nordiques' Don McLeod


Team-for-team, our own Washington Capitals match up with anyone. Throughout the late '70s and early '80s, there was a unwavering patriotic bent to the Caps' masks, no doubt fueled by bicentennial fever. Old glory has never as good as when it was mantled across Bernie Wolf's cranium. And how about Wayne Stephenson's Peter Criss-esque design? (Could it have been inspired by KISS' 1979 visit to the Cap Centre?) For pure Americana-on-steroids, you can't beat the Caps' golden era:

Clockwise from top left: Wayne Stephenson ('80-'81); Gary Inness ('79-'81); Bernie Wolf ('78-'79); Gary Smith ('77-'78)

Linotype Makes Me Happy

Anytime I feel overwhelmed by the ceaseless march of technology at work, I take a stroll over to the headquarters of the Washington Post. See, outside their front doors, they have permanently moored a Linotype machine from their old composition room. You can see it huddled in the alcove above.

Envisioning this hulking piece of machinery chugging away in concert with its pipe-smoking operator (in my mind all newspapermen smoke pipes) is a great way to unravel my mind from present-tense worries. The mechanical action of the machine -- setting, casting, redistributing -- seems a distant memory from today's silent, glowing screens.

At work I relish the sparse opportunities to actually do something mechanical with my hands-- anything, really. (Unfortunately, this usually involves something mundane like trying to adjust my chair.) Oh, to actually have that physical connection with what we create. I wonder if I worked as a full-time Linotype operator, all I'd want to do is go home and stare at a glowing screen. Maybe someday I'll find out the answer. Until then, I'll keep making the pilgrimage over to the Post.

See a Linotype in action:

Crafty Bastards

We had a fun time at the Crafty Bastards Arts and Crafts Fair in DC this weekend. Beautiful weather brought out a slew of buyers looking for the latest in octopuses, Edgar Allen Poe, anatomically-correct hearts, and animals in formal wear. There was plenty of great printed work , too, including the above examples. At the top is work by illustrator Robert Ullman, with Rar Rar Press' letterpress postcards in the second photo.

One of the highlights of Crafty Bastards is the B-Boy Battle, which always attracts a big crowd. Seems everyone loves to see the kids spin -- even the free government money guy, Matthew Lesko:

State of Craft

The alt craft caravan is in full swing this time of year. Markets across the U.S. dedicated to the handiwork of alternative crafters draw shoppers from all corners of society. The handmade movement has been propelled by sites like Etsy, but it's the face-to-face encounters these markets offer that are at the center of the hobby. Buying directly from the person who crafted your stuffed animal, sewed your skirt, letterpressed your stationery, or hand-dyed your vegan yarn is as eye-opening as it is gratifying.

One of the biggest stops on the DIY circuit is the Crafty Bastards Arts & Crafts Fair here in Washington, DC. It's a one-day bonanza full of crafting, eating, bartering, how-tos, music and breakdancing. This past weekend I had the honor of sitting on the jury to decide which applicants from across the country get to hawk their handmade wares. I've done this for the past 3 or 4 years, enjoying the perspective it offers into the changing tastes of the craft world. And there's no hobby that lives by trends more than the craft community. These folks are cutthroat when it comes to appropriating whatever fashion tops the sales chart on Etsy. If you're selling a ton of pirate-themed tampon cases, you'd better bet that 20 crafters will copy your idea and start selling them, too. No idea is immune to this blatant theft. (Ever wonder so many craft collaboratives refer to themselves as "craft mafia".)

So what's a fledgling crafter to do? In the spirit of helping out those who want to cash in on the latest craft trends, here's a quick guide to what's soaring and what's waning, based on this year's jury:

OUT: owls
IN: octopuses

OUT: Abe Lincoln
IN: Edgar Allen Poe

OUT: ninjas
IN: wild animals in formal wear

OUT: recycled
IN: upcycled

OUT: heart shaped hearts
IN: anatomically-correct hearts

OUT: bacon
IN: wood grain

OUT: anything cupcake
IN: anything drunk or piratey

Now hurry up! This list will soon be outdated.

Theresa Brown

LeDroit Park, home of Duckpin Press, lost a true champion last month. Theresa Brown, founder of the LeDroit Park Preservation Society, was the neighborhood's biggest advocate and a fierce watchdog of its architectural heritage. Terry pretty much single-handedly fought for LeDroit Park to be registered as a historic district. It turned out to be a prescient move given the encroachment the neighborhood was facing from all sides. And though we lost some grand homes, the housing stock remains remarkably intact. (Above is a mural showing the entrance to the neighborhood; below are assorted homes.)

Today, LeDroit Park's enduring scale and charm stands as a tribute to Terry Brown's work. Fortunately, she lived longed enough to see the fruits of her labor, and to the end relished sharing her neighborhood's story with all who visited. Recently, the Washington Post shared her story.

RUN DC

Plastered to the side of a Washington Hispanic newspaper box is this image of the president as Darryl McDaniels, AKA D.M.C. An embedded DC flag replaces the M. T-shirts with a similar image have been around since the inauguration, but this version's sourcing is more aggressive than most. In this one poster alone there are at least a half dozen bits and pieces sampled from other work. Hmmm, kinda like a Run-DMC tune. How cool would this look as a letterpressed poster?