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.

Yer Old

Happy Most-Common-U.S.-Birthday Day!
According to all the smart people on the Internet, today is the most popular birth date in the United States. Fittingly, Duckpin Press' own mom -- always part of the popular cowd -- is celebrating her birthday today. That gives us an excuse to show off the above piece we made earlier in the summer on the Pilot press. Enjoy. And happy birthday, Jackie!

Paper is Crane Lettra; Gray text is 24pt Ombree; orange text is unnamed wood typeface (well, unnamed to me, anyway -- suggestions, anyone?); 4.25" x 5.5"

Plumbing the Depths of Typography

How easy is it to get information these days? As easy as turning on the tap, according to Richard J. Evans. To illustrate that, he completed the installation informationleak_part two (pictured above) as part of his studies in Birmingham, England. For those letterpress purists out there, don't fret: no vintage type was hurt in the making of this art. The wood type used was cut specifically for this.

And if you're wondering, yes, there's an informationleak_part one.

Rock Star

We revived an old linoleum block we cut last year for a new curling poster this year. Combined with (mostly) 16-line Clarendon wood type and lead stars, this 6-color concoction was printed in an edition of about eight. Maybe ten.

ED. NOTE: The type in upper right -- a nickname for curling -- was originally going to read "hurry hard", but I didn't have enough Rs in the proper size. I figured this out only after cutting the lino for the blue splat which the type sits on. While "hurry hard" fits neatly inside the splat, "the roaring game" is a bit snug for my tastes.

Various color papers are from the French Paper Company; assorted wood type; handcut lino blocks; lead ornaments; hand inked in 5 passes on the cylinder press. 12.5" x 19".

Alphabet Soup: Ten Qs

Sixteen-line wood type and transparent ink

Digital Wood Type Catalog

The city of Austin has always been good to letterpress, and this holds true even in the digital age. The University of Texas at Austin has digitized its Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection. Besides images of the specimens, the site includes a great history of American type, profiles of different font families, and plenty of resources for further study. This is a true gem of an introduction to wood type.

Samples above are from the collection

Wood Type Haul

After returning from a very fruitful trip to Dave Churchman's letterpress warehouse in Indianapolis, we're looking forward to putting our latest finds to work. We bought 6 or 7 fonts of wood type to fill out some missing areas of our collection, plus various lead slugs, rules, borders, etc. that would be too expensive to ship by mail. Kind as always, Dave threw in some extras to make the 1000-mile roundtrip journey well worth our while. But honestly, just seeing all the presses and parts in person is worth it; it's an education you won't find elsewhere.

Pictured are some new acquisitions: an advertising cut and 25-line Playbill wood type

A Movie Film

We can't seem to kick this recent, um, kick we've been on. We've examined the typography of movie posters. We've explored the typography of movie titles. So now it's time to look at typography as movie. That's right, it's Typeface, the film.

The film centers on the Hamilton Wood Type Museum and the artisans who converge there for a celebration of the letterpress arts. Here's the trailer:

Like Chess, but with Type

On a visit to the homestead, my brother and I sat in the living room playing Wii curling for what seemed like hours. I mentioned to him that a big part of curling involved calling the right strategy. I gave him the old line that curling was "like chess, but on ice." Characteristically, he came back with a wise-ass comment:

Every sport tries to bill itself as being like chess. [Imitating a hayseed] "It's like chess, but with big tires and a mud bog!!!"

Okay, point taken, James. But what about letterpress?

Post Number 100

We made it to the century mark! Boy, that's a lot of wasted time -- for both you and us. But we managed to learn a bunch, and hopefully you have, too. While we stuff our gourds with celebratory gluten-free cake, click on the links below to enjoy a recap of the highs and lows...

Who knew that poop rainbows were nature's way of saying, "blog about me!" We found a pot of gold at the end of that particular rainbow and determined once and for all the true master of the fanbrush. (One hint: it wasn't a man who looks like Kenny Rogers.) Speaking of man, human evolution provided a jumping off point for our look at patterns in modern poster design. But just so we didn't appear too erudite, there were plenty of visits with NASCAR paint schemes, including a post on the 200 mph history of Valvoline. In other sports news, we paid a visit to the curling sheet to see the latest in curling fashion. That may inspire a great gift idea for the little'un being feted in our favorite baby shower announcement. You can look here to see more announcements and other self-printed projects that we put on the blog over the past 100 posts. Enjoy!

Wedding Shower Card

There's often lotsa super-sized stuff in weddings: the cake, the bouquet, the bride's ego. So why not a huge card to match?

We made this card (roughly 12"x14") for a recent wedding shower. The idea was that a whole office would sign the back, so it had to be large enough to accommodate everyone's well-wishes. Using a variety of wood type, it's a 2-color job sent through the proof press in a single pass. The fall colors match those the couple picked out for the wedding. Some lockup photos appear below.

Bon voyage, love birds!

(Don't fret, this bride's ego is in full check.)

Vegas Vic By Inky Lips

What's better than letterpress and Las Vegas? Not much. Inky Lips Press has produced an outstanding poster celebrating the Fremont Street icon "Vegas Vic". FPO has some nice behind-the-scenes process shots, including a close-up of the intricate lino cut used for the poster. Yee-haw!!!

Dave Churchman's House o' Letterpress

Fresh back from Indianapolis with a pile of letterpress supplies. We loaded up with a couple cases of lead type (36pt Airport and 36pt P.T. Barnum); 2 fonts of wood type (8 line Futura and 8 line French Clarendon Condensed), both all caps with figures; various cuts and tons of dingbats; a furniture cabinet; paper, tympan, pressboard, and a few blank type cases for the cabinet*. More pics of Dave's place in a later post. For now, onto finding a home for the new arrivals!

* This leaves us with a surplus of type cases (the divided drawers used for holding type). If you are interested in them, let us know.

Master of the Fanbrush

When it comes to American painters, there is no artist quite like Bob Ross. His everpresence on PBS is testimony to his innovative techniques, his encouraging tone, and his ability to mesmerize viewers with a soft-spoken, reassuring voice. Sure, his canvases sometimes looked like the cousins of Thomas Kinkade's sappy works, but it was his philosophy that was his strength. Bob taught us that we may not have power over our everyday lives, but we are the sole determiners of what goes on in our artwork. He let us know that we are the creators of our own little worlds, and through our own creations we can experience unbridled joy.

We certainly experienced that when creating these poster tributes to him.

Paper is from the French Paper Company; assorted wood and metal type, metal stars, arrows and rules; handcut lino block; hand inked in 3 passes on the cylinder press. 12.5" x 19". Thanks to Mom and Dad M. for their assistance. Special thanks to WHUT for continuing to air episodes of the Joy of Painting daily.

Happy Mother's Day

A great big shout out to all you moms out there—especially ours. We appreciate your dedication and guidance, and thank you for not judging us when we wanted to fill the basement with lead. You are the best.

Card above is one we designed for Mother's Day, 2008; paper is Fabriano Medioevalis; wood type is 10-line gothic bold

"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!

Happy Half, Jase

Most of the time half-birthdays aren't worth the calendars they're printed on. But when you're a lazy blogger, they're the perfect occasions to give a shout out to your family. Pictured is a birthday card we made for my brother James back in October. Instead of sending to his house in LA, we shipped it down to Florida where the family was meeting up to celebrate Mom's birthday. We didn't even consider the logistics of Jase attempting to carry such a monstrous card (16"x20") back on the planeride home. Doh!

Enjoy the day, Jase. You're already halfway there to getting another card. But this time we'll make it a normal size.

Paper is Hot Fudge-flavored Poptone from the French Paper Company; assorted wood type, metal stars; hand inked in 3 colors on the cylinder press. Approx. 16" x 20".

A different kind of composing stone

Like peanut butter and chocolate or The Captain and Tennille, occasionally there comes along a combination that seems so natural, you wonder why no one had thought of it before. This is not quite one of those instances, but a dream I had last night did offer an inventive combination of two of my interests.

I dreamed I was curling, but instead of delivering the usual granite stones, I was throwing wood type. (I imagine throwing wood type down a sheet of ice is easier than running a granite stone through the press.) From what I recall of the dream, I was playing pretty well, too. Maybe we're looking at a new Olympic sport for 2014?

VOTE D*E*E

Mary E. found an old printing plate that was passed down through her family. The plate shows a proud Donald Endres. And why would he not be proud? -- he's sporting a smart herringbone suit jacket. The plate was probably made in preparation for his run at an elected district judgeship. Because no campaign signs survive, we decided to make some for ol' Don.

On the proof press, we first ran the plate of Don using a transparent cyan(ish) ink. Then we set VOTE in 20-line Clarendon wood type; DEE (his initials) is set in 16-line wood type of varying fontage. The stars and rules are lead. We inked the wood and lead with brown and red ink and printed atop Don's noggin. We printed on several colors of French Paper Co. Muscletone stock. The completed piece measure about 12 x 16. I'm sure Mary will send you one in exchange for a generous campaign donation.