Whimsical Fun At Fugu Fugu Press

Posted on December 18, 2013 by Rebecca Miller

With the combined talents of illustrator Shino and hands-on printer Ken, Fugu Fugu Press of Pasadena, California has been buzzing since its debut about four years ago. The printing pair muse over moving stories, churning out vibrantly colored letterpress pieces, and talking shop with us about the things they can’t live without, from great design to irresistible jazz.

LAUNCHING LETTERPRESS Shino went to Art Center in Pasadena for a degree in illustration, and worked as a freelance illustrator for about 13 years before starting Fugu Fugu Press. While freelancing she mostly did editorial illustration for print publications and some website work. Freelancing was a rewarding, if sometimes wild and unpredictable experience. She had the pleasure of working on pieces for Time magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Boston Globe, and Penthouse magazine. She did storyboards for movies and illustrations for a number of children’s books, and a regular column for the LA Weekly. It was interesting and fun to get different assignments and work with various art directors, but she’s very glad to be her own “art director” now with Fugu Fugu Press! Ken is a California State University, Chico grad and has a history of joining bands and roaming around the country playing music. He’s also done a fair amount of playing piano for musical theater productions, church services, teaching music to kids, recitals, and has worked on a number of TV shows and movies as a music editor along the way. He also likes puttering around with old machines. When he and Shino set off to launch Fugu Fugu Press he was very happy that his official job would include motor oil, knob twisting, and getting dirty.

IN THE BEGINNING While freelancing, Shino worked for a couple of friends who owned another letterpress greeting card company. She learned how to print on their C&P and Kluge there. They also encouraged her to design for them, which she did.

PERFECT COLOR IN PASADENA Our print shop is officially in it’s 3rd location so far. When we started looking for presses, we followed up on a Craigslist ad for a printshop in downtown LA that was going out of business and selling its presses and other hardware. We bought a Heidelberg windmill, C&P, a big stone imposing table and Challenge paper cutter from the owner Davy Chao at Olive Leaf Press as soon as we saw them… and then immediately started panicking about where to move them all to!

Luckily, Davy wasn’t in all that big of a hurry to actually close his shop, and we were able to keep the presses right where they were for about 6 months while we looked for another location. This was a very fortunate arrangement as Davy was very helpful with getting Ken up to speed on how to print well on the Heidelberg and C&P. Ken and Davy would often be printing next to each other on separate projects, but it was nice that Davy was always glad to lend a hand…although he wasn’t too sure about the part where you intentionally make an impression while printing!

We did eventually find a place closer to us in Pasadena and made the move. We liked it a lot there in the new location, and stayed there for about 5 years. We did holiday pop-up shops there, and hosted “open studio” weekends where our friends would come and sell what they made. Unfortunately the roof leaked whenever it rained though (sometimes right on the presses or paper), and after a while we started looking to move again. When we bought our house, we did a little garage conversion and moved everything into the garage. People talk about how bad traffic can be in Los Angeles.. but our commute from the kitchen to our printshop is about 30 seconds! It’s great! We’ve talked about maybe opening a workspace kind of shop at a “retail friendly” location at some point, but until then.. things are nice and we’re happy with everything as it is.

PRINTING MENTORS Hiroshi and Karen, the former owners of the company that Shino worked for, taught her how to print. Ken learned with Davy in Davy’s shop before we moved everything to the Pasadena location. Ken was very glad to have Davy there to help him learn the hidden secrets of running a windmill and getting the printing to look good. As far as inspiration, we looked to the beautiful work of Egg Press and Hello Lucky! among others. Great designs and great printing. They were definitely strong influences early on.

CREATE AND PRINT Shino is the main designer. She doodles constantly, and looks at images everywhere for inspiration. She is an illustrator by training, so her designs tend to be more image-oriented, not calligraphy or type heavy. We toss ideas back and forth all the time to help get ideas going, and Ken has done designs for some custom work we’ve done for people.

FULL TIME FUN Fugu Fugu Press is Shino’s full-time job now. It has been for about 4 years now. Ken prints and also has a regular thing playing the piano in the bar in the evenings at the Hotel Bel Air, and plays gigs on the weekends in different spots around Los Angeles with his jazz band friends.

PRINTING FEATS The first time we did the stationery show, and started writing orders. It was back in 2008. Getting ready for that show was a major hurdle. Just getting everything printed in time, and getting everything to New York in time, and getting ourselves there in the time took a lot of preparation and, well.. money. And there was no guarantee that we would get enough new accounts to make it worthwhile. We were very happy to come back home feeling good about having done that show.

PRESS HISTORY A 12×18 C&P and 10×15 Heidelberg.

BOXCAR’S ROLE When we got our presses and got into this business we really felt like there was little to no support group or information to help us along. We heard about Boxcar Press and visited the site regularly. We were so relieved to see that they had answers, and were making bases and plates, and had easy to find .pdf’s of important and hard to find things like the Heidelberg windmill manual and parts list. (We’ve used the parts list to order parts from press dismantlers and vendors.) And we’re glad to see that Boxcar is innovating and helping push the craft forward. We were just talking to a fellow letterpress friend of ours at the most recent stationery show about Boxcar’s new mechanical “flag” guide for the lay gauge bar that aids in getting the sheet to be printed to slide reliably into the correct position for registration without skipping the pin. We have our own method for doing that.. but are secretly really wanting to give that thing a try…

SHOP TIPS Use violin rosin to get some stickiness on your roller tracks and maybe shim your trucks to get “ghosting” under control. Oil your presses. Whatever you do, don’t die cut directly on the platen. Don’t let any pins you might be using on your guides hit your block, form or wooden type. Don’t “force” your press to do anything in doesn’t want to do.

Those little “doorstop” shaped sheet lifters you can get to lift the back of the pile on the feed table can absolutely do wonders along with the air blast in getting “double sheeting” problem under control on a windmill. And speaking of double sheeting, there’s that weird little trick where you reach behind the press and lift that little spring loaded piece that rides in the groove back there, and get your flywheel to temporarily spin… backwards. Great for clearing a jam where your press has double or triple sheeted and has gotten locked up, and you can’t manually advance your way through the jam. Our press tech friend Bob showed us that one the last time he was over to our place, and as far tricks and tips go and… yep…that was a good one to learn. These are some of the things that we’ve found that worked for us, but as with anything, proceed with caution and at your own risk whenever trying anything new!! Let common sense be your guide!!

WHAT’S NEXT We will be doing more split-fountain stuff and die-cutting!

Huge heaping round of kudos out to Ken and Shino for letting us get the skinny on Fugu Fugu Press!

Cutting Edge With Keeganmeegan & Co.

Posted on November 27, 2013 by Rebecca Miller

Katy Meegan and Keegan Wenkman of Keeganmeegan & Co. have grown a small idea into a large community-empowered printshop over the past six years. The power printing duo houses a love for the yesteryear production model, the smooth whirl of Vandercook, and the inspiring Portland, Oregon resident support . To find out how the vibrant printshop ticks, we rode shotgun with Keegan and it’s been one amazing adventure.

LETTERPRESS BEGINNINGS Keeganmeegan & Co. was founded in 2007. Known for hand-illustrated relief printing, Keeganmeegan has also been recognized for award-winning design and print & packaging solutions for local and global clients.

We live and work in Portland after moving out west from Minneapolis in 2005. Both of us have been printing since our teens — Katy doing Book Arts at MCBA and I did silkscreen most notably at Burlesque Of North America.

Art brought us to print, in order to duplicate our art and be an assistance in our artistic community. We’ve had the shop for 8 years now, and focus on commercial and artistic editions modeled from the job printing shop of yesteryear. We unite illustration and design with printing and die-cutting services all in house.

FOR THE LOVE OF LETTERPRESS Katy worked at MCBA and one day she casually showed me their shop. That was it for me.

BUSY IN THE BEAVER STATE We have a 2,500 square foot shop in SE Portland next to the iconic Burnside Bridge. It’s on the ground floor near the Towne Building and was formerly the warehouse for Blake, Moffitt & Towne Paper Company based out of San Francisco.

We still have the original payroll safe in the shop and we’re coveting seven Vandercook cylinder presses primarily used for art editioning services and experimental projects. The rare 232p, in particular, has one largest print areas of any Vandercook, an absolutely massive 32½ -inch by 30-inch. We also employ 2 Heidelberg windmills and 4 Chandler & Price printing presses for job printing.

PRINTING MENTORS Stumptown Printers mentored us early on, giving us business advice and direction. Midnight Paper Sales was a big inspiration. Also the crew of CC Stern Type Foundry helped with our shop up-keep.

DESIGN + PRINT We are illustrators, designers, print makers, commercial and artistic printers, we are fun loving idiots for art, problem solving, and perfection.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS Old books, pen and paper. If I go online for inspiration I just spin my wheels. I do what people did before computers: think for themselves.

FULL TIME FUN We have supported ourselves for 8 years, each receiving a salary as 50/50 ownership.

PRINTING FEATS We’ve grown a small idea into a large success thus far, through hard work and being kind to people. Hence, our clients are absolutely lovely being that they are makers and thinkers alike. They make us laugh, bring us gifts, and have allowed us to keep this going strong and grow more each year.

Additionally, we’ve been able to work with a lot of artists, touring bands, comedians, and people on the forefront of our current culture.

BOXCAR’S ROLE Boxcar Press makes the biggest poly plates available that I know of. You’ve allowed us to completely max out our Uni III / with 2 13×18 Boxcar based butted up together (take a look).

PRINTING TIPS Ask the right questions to the right people and you can get yourself far in life. It helps to fail a lot too. Otherwise, people always ask me how I cut my linoleum blocks, my answer is black magic and podcasts. Podcasts are a lone printer’s best friend.

WHAT’S NEXT We will just keep going, every day is a new day with new problems to solve and chances to learn. We will also go on vacation, gotta love vacation. We didn’t take one for the first 3 years.

Huge round of thanks out to Keegan over at Keeganmeegan & Co.!

Letterpress, Type, and Bears Eat Berries, Oh My!

Posted on November 22, 2013 by Cathy

There is something that pulls you in when chatting with Laura Wentzel of Bears Eat Berries — it could be the nonstop letterpress itch that started with a printing whim, the minimalistic cool look of her printed pieces, or her zealous determination for ink distribution. We talked with Laura in her studio about the many brilliant moments that define her love of all that is letterpress.

COLORFUL PRINTING VIEW I’m Laura, owner of Bears Eat Berries, a design + letterpress studio in the heart of the southwest in Arizona. When I’m not designing or printing, I prefer to be outdoors in the mountains or sitting by my backyard fireplace in the evenings. I kiss my dog’s head about 50 times a day, I’m crazy about textiles, and I love reading modern Chinese history as well as mountaineering stories.

THE LETTERPRESS ITCH I’m a graphic designer who, ‪a few years ago, was‬ itching to work with my hands a bit more than stare at computers all day. My sister wanted letterpress printed wedding invitations at the time and, though I only abstractly knew the concept of letterpress printing, I just told her, “I’ll do it!.” At that point, I had never touched a press before.

I highly recommend taking a class on printing because I did it the hard way and taught myself. It took countless hours, tears, sweat and blood before I had it down. Crying at 2am because your ink distribution isn’t right and you have no idea why is not fun. But when I finally pulled a perfectly printed piece off the press, I was in love.

BRIGHT IDEAS IN THE COPPER STATE I now print on my 100-year-old Chandler & Price 8×12 floor press of which I am only the third owner! It came with the original motor but a 100-year-old motor is a bit scary. I prefer to use the foot pedal where I have more control.

I live in Arizona so my press is in my garage because it never gets too cold here in the Valley of the Sun. My husband and I just moved into our house a few months ago, so I am still working on setting everything up. But if anyone needs advice on moving a printing press across the country, I’m your gal!

PRINTING MENTORS I am constantly in awe of Studio on Fire. They aren’t afraid (and must have great clients) to use the best quality materials and push the boundaries of letterpress.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS I’m a designer and printer. I went to school for graphic design and even at a young age, I was always drawing and creating. I have a love for visual simplicity, nature and animals. I also love a little twist of humor. I pull inspiration from children’s picture books, Japanese design, and any great use of negative space and clean design.

I start each design by sketching it out on paper. Then I’ll recreate it on the computer. I love the process of designing by hand, manipulating the design digitally, and then turning it back into a tangible object. But it’s not an easy process for me. There’s a lot of erasing, crumpled paper, and ctrl+z going on.

FULL TIME FUN With a very supportive husband, I launched Bears Eat Berries two years ago and it is what I do full-time. In addition to my product line, I do some freelance design work and custom projects.

PRINTING FEATS I am extremely proud that I learned how to letterpress print on my own. Again, it wasn’t the easiest route, in fact, it was one of the hardest things I’ve done. But I surprised myself at how determined and patient I was in the process. It’s that age-old adage of “if you put your mind to it, you can do it” and my business is proof of that. By learning myself, I gained a deep knowledge of techniques and of my own press’s quirks.

It may sound strange, but I’m also extremely proud of each sale. When a stranger buys one of my products it reminds me that there are people out there that share my aesthetic and value independent designers/artisans… and that’s a very rewarding experience.

PRESS HISTORY I was living in Pennsylvania at the time and was on the hunt for a press to start my brave/foolish new adventure into printing. On a random google search I came across Dolce Press, a print shop in New York. The owner was selling her 5×8 Sigwalt tabletop. I drove up one day with my father and picked it up. I then spent the next few months figuring out how to use the darn thing!

BOXCAR’S ROLE Because of Boxcar Press’ professionalism and high quality work, I am always confident in ordering plates and supplies through them and never have to worry about it. They’re also just really nice people to work with. They are flexible and as a small business themselves, they understands the needs of an independent business like mine.

Boxcar also has brilliantly morphed the concept of letterpress printing with their Boxcar Base and polymer plates and allow us designers to design freely and not be constricted by handset type or expensive materials.

SHOP TIPS My advice for letterpress printing is to not be afraid… there’s no one “right way” to print. Today’s printers are applying new techniques to this age-old craft and these new approaches are exciting. Develop a workflow and technique what works for you. It’s the end result that matters. Also, believe in your style. Though it’s always helpful to find design inspiration from others, it’s important to find your own voice.

WHAT’S NEXT Bears Eat Berries is a constantly evolving venture. I’m experimenting with new materials and I’m planning on releasing more limited edition prints and series. You’ll see more than greeting cards from my shop in the coming year. I also love to hear the wants and needs from my customers… so if anyone reading this has an idea they want to see, let’s talk!

Big round of thanks out to Laura for letting us take a sweet look at Bears Eat Berries!

Two Printshops, Only One James Jareb

Posted on October 8, 2013 by Cathy

Situated in the roaming, wild hills of Wyoming, lie not one, but two meticulously kept letterpress print shops of the cheerful and ever-ready James Jareb. From his personal Laramie, Wyoming studio to his printing abode at the Truman State Univerity, master craftsmanship and creative know-how flow effortlessly through both. Taking a short break from his print runs, James sat down with us to give us a tour of his gorgeous collection of presses and printed goodies.

THE PRESSES Ettan etching press (bed size 18 x 36), Fuchs and Lang litho press (bed size 28 x 40), Three copy presses, Daughaday Card press, Improved 3 x 5, Kelsey Model X (6 x 10), C&P old style (8 x 12), and a R. Hoe hand press, bed size (22 x 30).

TYPE OF SHOP The Laramie shop is shared with three artist friends; that space houses the Ettan, the Fuchs and Lang, and the R. Hoe. The other is a small section of the printmaking facility at Truman State University, where I teach courses in all kinds of techniques.

THE LOCATION The shop at Truman State is a converted classroom, on the second floor. Sure hope the presses don’t fall through! My real home is in a shop located in Laramie, Wyoming, and is housed in what used to be the town’s high school, c. 1930. Both areas have good natural lighting, and adequate artificial lights.

SIZE OF PRINT SHOP 16 x 20 feet (for the letterpress action each at both the Truman State University and Laramie locations).

FAVORITE THING ABOUT THE SHOP Probably the C&P. I have had it the longest; she’s my girlfriend. Well, either that press is my favorite piece of equipment, or it is the little paperback dictionary that I keep close by.

FAVORITE INK Because I was first trained in traditional printmaking techniques (and continue to make lithos, woodcuts, etc.) my ink knowledge is somewhat narrow in focus, using oil-based relief inks from Daniel Smith and Graphic Chemical Ink Co.

SOLVENT OF CHOICE For clean up of metal and wood type, I use regular mineral spirits and a red rag (we have a contract with the local linen service — they pick up our dirty rags for recycling). For the press and ink slab and photopolymer plates I use vegetable oil […] followed by 409 to degrease. Stubborn ink or grease? Out comes the Everclear! Wow! That stuff will strip anything.

PLATE AND BASE OF CHOICE When I print with photopolymer plates, I use the Boxcar Deep Relief plate system, first trying them about three years ago. I am still amazed at the great range of elements that can be brought out of the process: Print print print !!!

OIL OF CHOICE I lube the presses with 20w-50 oil, or multipurpose red grease where needed.

WHAT TYPE OF RAG DO YOU CLEAN UP YOUR PRESSES WITH Red rag for metal and wood type. Scott brand Blue Shop towels for the press and ink slab.

FLOORING MATERIAL Concrete

FLOOR PLAN TIPS I have planned and implemented and assisted in the layout of many shops across the U.S. In general, keep spaces tight where you need to do repetitious movement, but also have easy access to some open, clean, “breathing room”. That’s where I hang the motorized mirror ball from the ceiling: you never know when a person might need a spontaneous disco party.

PIED TYPE Oh, I did have, a couple years back, a large amount of pied type in the shop, as I was able to get a good deal on the remnants of type from the Columbia Journal in Missouri. Unfortunately, it had been dumped into black plastic trash bags. It took almost a year and a half to sort the usable from the rest. I finally got that accomplished, and still have some really nice, though a bit worn, selections. The rest — all 672 pounds — went to the foundry of Sky Shipley, before he moved to Arizona.

ORGANIZATION ADVICE A clean shop is a happy shop. Many years ago I read about Henry Ford and the notion of time and motion studies, which I apply to any shop I am asked to have a hand in designing.

PRINTING ADVICE Everything has its place and needs to be put back in its place. Machines, just like the human body, will perform only as well as they are taken care of. Go Print!

Letterpress Wisdom of LittleOwl Letterpress

Posted on September 12, 2013 by Rebecca Miller

There’s nothing small about it; sisters-in-law Gina and Katie Vallecorsa of LittleOwl Lettepress are big on keeping their rollers inked. From helping plan each other’s weddings, to acquiring a 3000 lb Heidelberg affectionately named Berkeley, to the thrills of printing their first 3-color invitation set, the labors of their love show in each detailed printed piece. Gina & Katie took a break to let us in on the whirling world of their custom letterpress home.

A CREATIVE TWIST We are sisters by marriage and have a love affair with stationery design, paper, and pretty much all things wedding related! We’ve both lived in Arizona our entire lives, even attending college at rival schools Arizona State and University of Arizona. Since graduating forever ago, Gina has worked in marketing for a home builder and Katie is a teacher.

IN THE BEGINNING Our letterpress start involved our two husbands and a C&P Pilot. We really had no idea what we were getting into, but luckily Mike O’Connor at Letterpress Central was there to help us on our way. We also follow quite a few people on their blogs and social media that we’ve never met. Looking at the work they post is always inspiring.

GREATNESS IN THE GRAND CANYON STATE You know the saying “you’ve put the cart before the horse”? We’ve lived that one! After spending 35+ hours printing a friend’s entire invitation suite using our tabletop press we decided we needed to make a change if we were going to pursue a letterpress business. And this is where the trouble started! At the time we were printing on our tabletop press that resided in the dining room of Gina and Max’s condo. We went ahead and bought Berkeley, our almost 3000 pound Heidelberg Windmill, and realized he would soon be on his way with nowhere to go. Even if there was room in the condo, there was no way to get him through a doorway!

So began the adventure of finding a home for Gina and Max in a great area with a detached garage or shop. After some searching, the stars aligned and we found a house that satisfied all our needs. The original backyard garage with nothing but studs and some outside paneling has turned into a fabulous semi-girly workspace that Berkeley calls home. If you could see our before and after pictures you would be amazed at the transformation! We are so fortunate to be able to walk out the back door and step right into our custom letterpress studio

THE CREATIVE PROCESS Neither of us went to school for design, but all of our current pieces we feature on our website and Etsy shop are our own creations. We’re self-taught in Illustrator (we have the books to prove it!) and we tend to design things that we’d like to buy. We would definitely be broke if we purchased all the different invites we’ve printed since we started!

A LABOR OF LOVE We would love to say that we do this full time, but we’re not there quite yet. Both of us have full time jobs, which means correspondence and proofing happens in the evening and printing usually takes place during the weekends. Sometimes those weekends feel very long, but they don’t call it a labor of love for nothing! Running LittleOwl Letterpress full time is definitely one of our goals.

PRINTING FEATS Our first accomplishment has to be that we’re still at it together! It’s been a long road of trial and error and we are still enamored by the items we letterpress print. We think we’re going to be doing this for a good long time! Another accomplishment was when we printed our first 3-color invitation set for a mock wedding shoot. The invite was designed by Purple Nickel Studio and it was amazing; mostly blind impression with a just a couple items, including the Phoenix skyline, in orange and gray ink colors. When we nailed that third run, it was an amazing feeling!

PRESS HISTORY We got married a year apart and had a great time planning our weddings together. It was at this time that each of us fell in love with all things wedding related, including paper products. Gina’s husband, Max, found a 1910 Chandler and Price hand press and purchased it as a gift. We figured we’d found a new craft and set about learning how to use it. Gina took a 3-weekend workshop in Tempe and then came home to show off her new skills. The two of us started out printing some cards here and there for fun and that transitioned into friends asking us to create their wedding stationery!

BOXCAR’S ROLE Boxcar Press has been amazing to work with! We’ve used Boxcar since the beginning with our Boxcar Bases & for our polymer plates and haven’t looked back! One of our most popular invites gets sent in for a plate often and we always wonder if anyone sees it and thinks, “I’ve done a plate like this before. There’s another one for LittleOwl!”

SHOP TIPS Read, read, and re-read your manual! It will become your friend! Also, when frustration levels are running high, having good tunes coming from the speakers can work wonders!

WHAT’S NEXT Most of our business so far has been wedding related stationery and we’re always working on adding more designs for brides. Currently we’re designing greeting cards for the holidays and general occasions. We’ve recently added a corner rounder from the 1890’s that we’ll refurbish. We’re also working on a concept that we’re calling Pen to Plate that will allow us to partner with graphic designers from all over. No rest for the weary!

Two rounds of applause and big thanks to Gina and Katie for letting us a get the big picture of LittleOwl Letterpress.

Printing Ace: A Look at Albertine Press

Posted on September 4, 2013 by Cathy

Shelley Barandes, the printer behind Albertine Press, is inspired by architecture and fine custom letterpress printing. It’s no surprise as both trades support the meticulous nature of crafting complex and carefully devised works through attentive planning and design. And like architecture’s founding core values: beauty, durability, and utility—Shelley’s letterpress printing has it in aces.

THINK INK Professionally, I am a trained printmaker who spent five years post college working in architecture in Paris and New York before coming back to printmaking, and then letterpress, where I stayed for the past nine years. I’m also a mom to two apprentice printers (4-year-old and 9-month-old girls), both of whom have grown up in the studio. I take the little one with me every day to the studio where she serves as mascot and favorite distraction.

FIT TO PRINT I have a printmaking background but was turned on to the Center for Book Arts in New York City where I took my first class in hand typesetting. That was the beginning of the end of my architecture career as I started printing more and more, taking on custom jobs and started Albertine Press.

BEAUTY IN THE BAY STATE Our studio is located in an industrial building in Somerville, Massachusetts which also houses two (yes, two) chocolate companies. Our neighbors down the hall (EH Chocolatier) routinely bring us over trays (yes, trays) of “mistakes” which we happily consume.

THE PRINTING PROCESS I design our wholesale line of greeting cards and note sets as well as much of our custom printing. Drawing from my architecture background, many of our designs feature cityscapes, which I’m particularly drawn towards. For a new city sketch I’ll do a lot of research to pinpoint iconic scenes, buildings and elements of a particular place and start sketching from there. My style of line drawing translates well to letterpress, so aside from cleaning up the images a bit, they’re ready to use for printing.

FULL TIME FUN The studio is a full time business, which was always the goal. In addition to me (and I’m behind the desk more often than behind the press these days) Albertine Press has four full time production folks who oversee the custom printing and the greeting card line, as well as two interns.

PRINTING FEATS I’m proud that our work has been recognized both locally and nationally in the press as well as for some awards. I’m also really excited to see that several of my former interns and employees have gone on to start letterpress companies of their own.

PRESS HISTORY A Kelsey 5″x8″ that I found at a flea market. The Vandercook arrived not too long thereafter so it was really just used for letterpress classes. I’m waiting for my daughter to be old enough to start using it.

BOXCAR’S ROLE All of our plates are Boxcar plates and I have printed exclusively with the Boxcar base / plate system from the beginning. The fast turnaround and super customer service and attention to detail have made it a real joy to have Boxcar as our partner. At times I look at the volume of plates we create and think about getting a platemaker, but then I think about how well you guys do it and I am just so happy to let you do what you do best, and you really do.

WHAT’S NEXT I could fill a book with my future plans, many of which I have to put on hold while I juggle the business and the girls. That said, I’m excited about the new designs planned for release in the new year – more city sketches, of course, but also some more organic designs, like fruits and vegetables.

Big round of thanks out to Shelley for letting us take a sneak peek around Albertine Press!

Printing Powers of Presse Dufour

Posted on August 28, 2013 by Rebecca Miller

To come full circle as a letterpress printer is a feat that is by no means easy, but it satisfies that creative itch deep down. Karen Dufour, of Presse Dufour, is a printing maven who has connected and entwined progress, adaptability, and design consciousness as showcased in her astounding command over the letterpress art. We sat down with Karen in between ink runs to find that over the years, letterpress will find a way.

CRESCENT CITY CREATIVE I am from New Orleans, Louisiana and I have a degree in Visual Art and Graphic Design from Southeastern Louisiana University in Hammond, LA. I consider myself a very happy wife, mom, and artist. During my career I’ve worked in Hammond and New Orleans, and in London, England for many years. My husband and I eventually settled back here in New Orleans, only to be forced to relocate a few days after Hurricane Katrina. And after seven years in Austin, we’re back home again! Presse Dufour is run within Bayou St. John, one of my favorite neighborhoods in the Crescent City. We are thrilled to be back home and watch the progress our city has made in so many positive ways since the flood.

IN LOVE WITH LETTERPRESS I’m a graphic designer by trade. My career has come full circle, really. In college, my first design job was working in a 2-color print shop. I loved burning film, collating, designing and taking in the smell of ink and the sounds of the presses. Over the years, I designed wedding invitations and other paper goods for friends and family. I always loved working with my hands best.

A serendipitous introduction to letterpress happened when I was looking to print our daughter’s birth announcement, which was letterpress printed. I researched the art of letterpress for nearly a year, took a workshop, and found my press. From then on, I’m self-taught, like most other letterpress printers I would imagine.

DOWN ON THE BAYOU My shop is inside our 110-year-old “shotgun” style Victorian home…in the living room! When you walk through our front door, my press is the first thing you see. I have an amazing drafting desk, which was custom made from reclaimed wood, and a table to mix my ink. It’s very pared down, as I don’t have a lot of room. I love printing from my home though, in the neighborhood which gives me so much inspiration.

PRINTING MENTORS My first introduction to letterpress was through Bethany with Thistleberry Press, who printed our birth announcements. Meredith with Punch Press runs workshops in Austin, Texas, where I was able to create my first print. There are many printers who have offered me countless advice, like Casey with Inky Lips, and Barbara with Lunada Bay. Thank you so much!

Oh, and recently I was fortunate enough to have Paul Moxon pay a visit to my studio to instruct me on how to keep my press in top shape and how to make a few repairs.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS I am both a designer & printer, and I find that most of my final designs start out as my first idea. I’ll have an idea, and then have a long think about it over days, weeks, or months. I think about my design ideas almost all day…when I’m walking around the bayou, driving, etc. Once I feel strong enough about the design I move forward. Some designs are hand drawn with ink, and some start out digitally. I prefer to hand draw my designs.

FULL TIME FUN It seems that I run Presse Dufour full time, but realistically it’s a part-time business. My first priority is raising our daughter and making our home a happy place. I’ve managed to balance my day pretty well at this point. Presse Dufour has been official since 2010.

LETTERPRESS VIBES In the short time that I’ve been printing I feel proud to have such positive feedback from my customers. Making my customers happy is most important to me. Whether or not my goods sell, I am most happy during the process of creating artwork, using my hands, or printing on my press. When my goods are selling well, it makes my job even more fun.

PRESS HISTORY The one and only press I have is my 1965 Vandercoook SP15 proof press.

BOXCAR’S ROLE I have used Boxcar exclusively for platemaking. You all make it easy and efficient, and your customer service always exceeds my expectations.

PRINTING FEATS I have a few. I laser print some designs on transparencies to help guide my plates with tight registration and multi-colors. I lay these on top of my base and slip the plates underneath. Also, I discovered that baby wipes clean ink off my inking surface better than any rag. I use them constantly to keep my hands ink-free while printing.

LETTERPRESS COMMUNITY I’ve been blessed to be a part of a very exciting creative project that I’ve been working on diligently for the past month. I’ve partnered with MESA Production Company, here in New Orleans, to design and sell note cards and limited-edition prints related to 33 VARIATIONS, a 5-time Tony Award Nominated play written by Moisés Kaufman. The story is about a modern-day music scholar driven to solve one of classical music’s enduring riddles – the mystery behind Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations. A story about familial love, romantic desire, and artistic obsession, this extraordinary play examines what it means to lose the things that define us, and what we end up gaining in their stead. The play will run here in New Orleans September 11-29 at The Contemporary Arts Center.

My Etsy shop will carry the note cards and prints throughout the month of September and proceeds from those sales will go to benefit The ALS Association Louisiana-Mississippi Chapter and Team Gleason in helping to create a world without ALS! Details and tickets for 33 VARIATIONS can be found here.

WHAT’S NEXT I have many designs in the works that express my love of the Gulf South. Watch this space!

A heaping round of thanks out to Karen Dufour for letting us get the skinny on Presse Dufour!

Of & Type and Men

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Rebecca Miller

Trekking northwestward from the the sprawling Milan palazzos rests the quiet & serene city of Varese, Italy, surrounded by rolling fields of the awe-inspiring Italian countryside. Taking a closer look into the city, you’ll find the vibrant camaraderie that flows from the & Type print shop. Claudio, Gabriele, and Simone, the founders of & Type, opened their doors for us, letting in the passionate and experimental energy that engulfs their letterpress and printing abode.

THE PRESSES We have four machines: 2 presses made by Saroglia (from Torino, Italy) 70×100 cm and 40×60 cm, 1 small manual press 23×32 cm, and 1 Nebiolo Ideale “a battuta” (as we say in Italian for “beat”), but this last one doesn’t work.

SIZE OF PRINT SHOP 70 square meters… almost 750 square feet.

TYPE OF SHOP We are just a laboratory, but often it is enjoyed with friends, interested people, or guests that join us for different purposes like projects, workshops, or just for type love sharing.

THE LOCATION Near the Liberty train station (in Varese, Italy).

FAVORITE THING ABOUT THE SHOP Our machines, wood type, typography, lettering books, and our friendship. We are surrounded by several posters, books, and music that are good sources of ideas. Last month, a beautiful puppy arrived, which is such great company!

NUMBER OF PRINTERS IN SPACE We have three printers. We don’t share the place with other people, but anyone is admitted to print with us or just to come enjoy with us. We prefer to be considered as only one mind because & Type is the mixing of the knowledge about letterforms of all of us.

MOST VALUABLE SHOP TOOL Pencil & hands.

FAVORITE INK Well, we always take time to figure out what color is most suitable for our purposes. We like to use typographic ink penetration, or rapid drying, that helps us to see details in our linocut matrix. Currently we enjoy finding and trying particular colors like metallic, fluorescent and glowing ones. In our country, it is not easy to find all the colors we want; some of them are prohibited because of their chemical compositions.

SOLVENT OF CHOICE White spirit (turpentine), self-cleaning mechanisms, old towels and of course elbow grease. If you have some good cotton sheets, it’s not hard work.

PLATE AND BASE OF CHOICE We mostly use furniture linoleum used by gauges, but we also like to work with wood, MDF and different kinds of rubber. If it comes up that we find some interesting texture materials, we love to try it.

OIL OF CHOICE For gearboxes: synthetic oil; for the lubrication of open parts: UV-40 or oil for sewing machines.

WHAT TYPE OF RAG DO YOU CLEAN UP YOUR PRESSES WITH Towels, sheets, pants, T-shirts, shirts – everything that otherwise should be in rubbish.

FLOORING MATERIAL Industrial concrete flooring.

FLOOR PLAN TIPS Work in an illuminated space.

PIED TYPE None.

ORGANIZATION ADVICE Clean up after printing and have a relaxation area with some comfortable chairs.

PRINTING ADVICE To center the matrix, we used to draw the matrixes’ shapes on the print area with transparent paper, so we would know where to put every different color for posters.

Discovering Pergam Press

Posted on July 17, 2013 by Cathy

We followed Fabiano Santos of Pergam Press into his inking abode settled in the breathtaking city of Carapicuiba, Brazil. Opening the doors to his shop for us, Fabiano let us tour his cozy shop as well as exemplifying the care and technique one acquires when a Heidelberg is present.

THE PRESSES We have two presses, a Heidelberg Windmill and a Minerva Catu, which is completely manufactured in Brazil. Our first acquisition was Catu, here in Brazil it is called Catuzinha. It belonged to a printer man for many years and when he was retired he kept it in his garage. He was very careful man and the press was kept in a very good way. One day, my wife Cris saw an internet ad about the Heidelberg. It was at a company and was used just to put numbers, even so it had a beautiful story because the press belonged to the owner of the company who left it to his son.

SIZE OF PRINT SHOP Our workplace size is 30 square meters. It is my parents garage and the place was a wallpaper warehouse. We made a big effort to take away all those wallpapers and nowadays we use some to cover the presses or as a carpet.

TYPE OF SHOP Commercial.

LOCATION We are at grande SP outskirts, a city called Carapicuiba, where I have always lived with my parents. It is an ordinary neighborhood, with nice people, good neighbors, like country-side where everybody knows each other. People who live here always ask me about what my business is and they get amazed at how the presses work. Around us there are not so many skyscrapers or many cars. It is a very calm way of life. There is no traffic, just small industries and we can feel the fresh air which is something rare in a big city like SP. Further, we want to contribute to help people who live here, it is a special place to us.

FAVORITE THING ABOUT THE SHOP I like to arrive early in the morning, open the doors and feel the typical Pergam Press smell. It is a mix of paper and ink that makes the place unique and allows me to say “Wow! I’m at Pergam Press”. We have a bookshelf full of books and antique toys and also many vinyl Long Plays. But our favorite thing is the antique clichés from the 70’s and 80’s that we found out in the garbage of an old company and today they are here at Pergam Press and we love them!

NUMBER OF PRINTERS IN SPACE We have two printers.

MOST VALUABLE SHOP TOOL I believe the most valuable tool is the Boxcar Base. It is really important to us because it improved the quality of our prints.

INK OF CHOICE We use ink from an antique factory called Tradição Bremensis made in Brazil. Nowadays, we are in love with yellow.

SOLVENT OF CHOICE The clean-up used to be the slow step of the process since we are very careful about the presses. Usually we use Kerosene but we are searching for eco-friendly products to do the clean up.

PLATE AND BASE OF CHOICE We always use the Boxcar Base and Photopolymer KF95 plates.

OIL OF CHOICE We use Petrobras motor oil.

WHAT TYPE OF RAGS DO YOU CLEAN UP YOUR PRESSES WITH The good and old cotton shirt is irreplaceable. Some friends always donate to us.

FLOORING MATERIAL Our floor is made of concrete covered with ceramic.

FLOOR PLAN TIPS We appreciate the natural way of concrete.

PIED TYPE No.

ORGANIZATION ADVICE Always keep the inks very well identified & we also make more than we need in case of reprints.

PRINTING ADVICE It took a long time to find out how important it is to have the correct height of the rollers and the ink volume. At the beginning, we put a huge amount of ink and today we deal it as a chef deals with the ingredients to prepare a dish: with just the right amount.

We are young and have so much to learn about letterpress but everyday is a new experience, a new discovery.

Many thanks to Fabiano for giving us a tour inside of Pergam Press!

Carimbo Press: Innovating Letterpress in Brazil

Posted on July 9, 2013 by Rebecca Miller

Up until recently, Marcelo of Carimbo Letterpress & Design was known mostly for his prowess in the letterpress circles of Brazil and South America. Now he’s becoming a name to those outside of Brazil, gaining attention for Carimbo Press and spreading the modern letterpress love. Marcelo sat down with us between press runs to talk about the tactile appeal of letterpress and expanding his line of printed goods.

MODERN LETTERPRESS Carimbo Letterpress is the sum of the enthusiasm and efforts from Érico and Marcelo, two graphic designers with a passion for typography, printing and old stuff. We went to college together but had been working on separate jobs for several years. In the beginning of 2009 we began to notice some great letterpress work featured on the web and wondered how people were doing those beautiful things nowadays. Then we came to understand the use of modern letterpress with photopolymer, thick paper, cotton paper, edge painting and all that tactile appeal. At the time there weren’t any printshops in Brazil really doing this kind of work, so we went looking for our first press and began making plans for our letterpress studio. Besides that, we thought it was great that we could do things ourselves and be our own bosses.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS Despite being graphic designers, we had no experience being actual printers. So in the beginning, after some printing for ourselves, we decided to offer letterpress printing to friends. Soon we felt confident with the results we were getting and decided that we could do it professionally and thus began offering our services in our area.

FULL TIME FUN For some time Érico still kept his job working at an agency but now we operate as a full time letterpress printshop. Our current goal is to have a nice balance between commissioned work and our own. We have a lot of custom orders (and that’s the priority), but we are always looking for ways to improve our processes and have more time to print our own designs and projects as well.

PRINTING FEATS We are proud of learning how to print by ourselves and overcoming all the difficulties to start this kind of operation here in Brazil. It was – and still is – hard in so many ways, but we feel that we’re always improving. We never had a mentor of any kind, so to understand how to operate all these machines and also to do maintenance is kind of a big deal for us. We think that we helped develop a Brazilian market as well. At first we noticed we needed to have an educational role too, explaining why letterpress printing was so exciting and how it was different from current and modern printing techniques. We had several clients that were looking for something unusual but did not know exactly what letterpress printing was. After some time, we started to get a lot of requests specifically because we were doing letterpress and people had started to ask for it.

PRESS HISTORY We have a small tabletop press from Japan (still on maintenance work), a Heidelberg Windmill (1974), a Vandercook SP-15 (1968), and a Catu (which is a platen press made in Brazil). We have a working Linotype Model 8 (1929), but it still needs to be plugged in. We also have a manual Krause paper cutter, one corner rounding machine and one stapler machine. Our first press was the Windmill and it still gets most of the jobs. When we were looking for presses I remember asking what would happen if by any chance my hand got stuck on the platen. A mechanic that was showing us the machines answered that my fingers would be like a sheet of paper – and so we decided to go with the automatic feeding on the Heidelberg. Now that we have more experience we are confident with our hand fed Catu. We try to equip ourselves with different presses for different types of jobs. We mix our inks by hand according to the Pantone formulas / guide and we are always improving our edge painting technique.

BOXCAR’S ROLE Boxcar helps us in so many ways. First, by providing the press manual for our Windmill (later we would find an original and physical copy in Portuguese, but at the beginning we were always reading the Boxcar PDF). We find a lot of information on the site very useful too, like the instructional videos by Harold. It is hard to find good supplies here in Brazil, so things like the Boxcar Base, swing away lay gauge, roller setting gauge, gauge pins, etc. are excellent additions to our printing gear.

SHOP TIPS Always try to go by the book: adjust the press thoroughly and try to learn and understand all of its moves. Then it’s easier to figure what isn’t working properly and to think on ways to solve the problems. We also find that baby powder is useful in so many ways as it helps cleaning the rails, preventing the plates from over sticking to the base, drying the printed tympan after a missed sheet, etc, etc.

WHAT’S NEXT This year we are trying to get everything in place around here: we are improving our shop and presses so things can be done more efficiently. We also have a lot of ideas that we want to put out and we expect to finally make it through with our line of printed goodies. Our website is in a desperate need of a revamp and we are trying to tie this loose end, too. We have some other nice projects coming along as well.

Big round of thanks out to Marcelo of Carimbo Letterpress & Design for giving us a closer look at the shop!

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