Printing Details At Clove St. Press

Posted on August 25, 2015 by Rebecca Miller

One of the first few things you notice when you step inside Clove St. Press is the gentle whirring of the Heidelberg Windmill and the trio of smiles beaming from Daniel Heffernan’s family. This letterpress mecca is a culmination of Daniel’s passion for detail, the love of a good pulled print, and the joy of bringing more letterpress into the world. We caught Daniel between ink runs to catch up on how he maintains perfect registration between life and love.

(Top Notch box designed by Ben Johnston and printed by Clove St. Press)

BRAIDING THE PAST WITH THE PRESENT I’m Daniel Heffernan, a husband, dad, and owner/printer of Clove St. Press in San Diego, California. To me, letterpress printing isn’t a romantic or vintage way to make antique looking prints. It’s a completely viable process for printing contemporary work that has a physical significance today.

PRINTING MENTORS Bill Kelly, founder of Brighton Press, was the one who first introduced me to printmaking and steered me towards letterpress. The conceptual environment of that printmaking class was much different than the production one I’m in now, but it was a very important time for me to learn the rituals of printmaking and get some ink in my blood.

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT Bill, upon observing my art and design work, saw how I was combining typography into my drypoint etchings and wood cuts and suggested that I check out letterpress printing. I’d never even heard of it, but with his recommendation and my limited amount of research I was convinced I would love letterpress.

PRESS HISTORY I’m aware that not many people get to say this, but the very first press I ever touched was the press I bought. I knew I wanted a proof press and after about 9 months scouring Briar Press classifieds, craigslist, and ebay, I finally came across this press and pulled the trigger immediately. It was a 1954 Challenge 15MP (Vandercook SP-15 ripoff) that I had shipped to San Diego from Oklahoma City. Now that it’s been cleaned up and is in San Diego, it’s probably worth 2-3x what I paid for it, but I don’t think I could ever sell it.

CALIFORNIA COOL If the shop were a typeface, it might be Akzidenz-Grotesk. Built from tradition, but with all the fluff stripped away. We’re going for more like an operating room and less like a rustic barn. We’re located in the Linda Vista area of San Diego, just below the University of San Diego & the San Diego Mission. We are surrounded by other businesses who are doing rad things, so anytime one of us finishes a client meeting we’re likely to walk them over to our neighbors to check out their hardwood slabs or custom wood eyewear.

DESIGNED FOR PRINT I am a designer who’s currently a printer. I studied graphic design at PLNU and worked as a designer for the year following my graduation while printing nights and weekends. This design background is extremely valuable in communicating with designers and knowing exactly how to print a job based on their expectations.

FULL TIME FUN Yes indeed, running Clove St has been my full time gig for 3 years now.

PRINTING FEATS Awesome projects have snowballed for me lately – it seems like every time we do a rad print, someone sees it and has a better, bigger project to share with us. A recent project that comes to mind is boxes for playing cards for Dan & Dave Buck. Maintaining perfect register between offset, letterpress, foil, embossing, and die cutting is always a nice challenge!

BOXCAR’S ROLE Boxcar was, and still is, one of the few resources available online where you can not only buy supplies, but learn some of the basic functions of letterpress equipment. And they make that gridded piece of aluminum that we all need. We have one for each press.

(Aristocrat box designed by Dan & Dave Buck and printed by Clove St. Press).

SHOP TIPS Nail the registration. Nail the color. Slice your crop marks in half. Do the simple things really well.

WHAT’S NEXT Take less rush orders!

Huge round of applause out to Daniel of Clove St. Press for letting us take a sneak peak around his wonderful printing world!

The Creative Muscle Behind Able Bodied Press

Posted on July 21, 2015 by Rebecca Miller

John Bethell of Able Bodied Press has transitioned fluidly from one endeavor to another. The translator turned chaplain turned printer has an engaging personality that speaks volumes (and so does he – John is fluent in four languages!). From working with the FDNY as a chaplain to translating Arabic in service of the U.S. Navy, John found the wonders of printing on his Kelsey his true calling. We stopped in with the ever-humorous printer to get the ins and outs of his printing world.

TRANSLATION INTO PRINT My name is John Bethell and I was born and raised in New York City. I’m an Episcopal priest by trade who is spending some time away from regular church work. I was an FDNY chaplain for a few years and now work with the Clemson Fire Department in North Carolina. I’m the uncle to a beautiful set of twin boys who just turned one: Roman and Jude.

I spent five years in the Navy as an Arabic translator and I miss it a lot. I’m looking at going back. I’m also fluent in four languages: English, Spanish, Arabic, and American Sign Language. I’m prevented from getting too boast-y about it by reminding myself that I can’t pass a math test or spiral a football. But I do love language.

LAUNCH INTO LETTERPRESS I went to I.S. 72 on Staten Island (we number our junior high schools there) and Mr. Sprague taught graphic arts. We set and printed our own business cards and notepads and it was amazing. I printed for a bit in high school and then stopped for years. When my sister got engaged, I realized it would be a cool time to relearn the craft and bought a rusted out Kelsey Excelsior on eBay. It’s been a great way to feed my latent introvert.

PRINTING IN THE PALMETTO STATE My dining room has been converted into a print shop – I had to once I picked up the Rear Admiral (on account of his one star). I live in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains in South Carolina. Clemson is a great town where football reigns in the fall, if you’re into that sort of thing. Otherwise, we’re not far from the Appalachian Trail.

DESIGN FOR PRINT I mostly just print! I’ve been printing full time since February 2015. It had been a hobby for a while. To be honest yet diplomatic, I was working in a place that wasn’t the healthiest fit for a number of reasons. I left my full time job and have a pretty decently-stocked print shop in my house. It’s been great.

SHOP TIPS I’m most productive cranking Wu Tang while I work. 36 Chambers has gone triple platinum in my shop. Try it. Oh – if you include trivia in the comments on your Boxcar order, you might get a reply on your plate when it arrives. Might.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS It’s real tough to get momentum without getting distracted and my least favorite part of printing is cleaning the press even though it only takes a few minutes. Once the press is clean, I can go for hours. It all hinges on having a clean press for me. And there’s the Wu Tang part of it, too.

PRINTING FEATS It’s simple, but I bought a run down Kelsey Star and the runners were in pretty rough shape. Getting my roller gauge right where it needed to be was cause for celebration. The other would be when I finished my sister’s wedding invitation set. It was pretty basic and didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted it to in my head, but I was pretty proud of it.

FAVORITE INK COLOR + TYPEFACE What a question! It’s like asking me my favorite Veep or Arrested Development episode — tough to narrow down. My favorite typefaces are Caslon and Porter Sans Block. Caslon’s the first typeface made for English and the Declaration of Independence was set in it. I think it’s got a neat pedigree and it’s pretty solid and classy. Porter Sans Block by Finck is just great fun to work with and look at. My favorite ink colors are Marian Blue (285U) and this yellow green over by 382. The former is the color used in art to represent Mary and the yellow green is my best friend’s favorite color.

BOXCAR’S ROLE Boxcar has helped in a ton of ways – from the free videos to the gauges and guides to the phenomenal (and fast!) customer service, they’re the reason I’m able to work as much as I do.

PRESS HISTORY A 5×7 Kelsey Excelsior named Swabbie. A few months ago, I found a decent Kelsey Star on Briar Press.

WHAT’S NEXT I just saw the Indigo Girls in Asheville in concert for the first time two weeks ago, so I can basically close the books on 2015. Who knows what’s going on next year.

Huge round of applause and thanks out to John for letting us get a sneak peek at his wonderful printing abode & world at Able Bodied Press!

Quick Take At The Baddeley Brothers Press

Posted on July 16, 2015 by Cathy

Located north east of London proper and near the wondrous London Fields in the borough of Hackney sits one of England’s best kept printing treasures: The Baddeley Brothers press shop. Cultivating and drawing from a over a hundred years of rich craftsmanship history that had its beginnings in clockmaking, engraving, and die-makers, the company transitioned to engraving and printing. Charles Pertwee was able to let us take a quick look at some of the printing riches that bloom within their walls.

PRINTING HISTORY Essentially we are specialist printers and envelope makers. Techniques covering engraving, die stamping, letterpress, blind embossing, foiling, gilt edging, machine and hand machine envelopes plus other types of paper conversion. Typically our output involves: business cards, invitations, letterheads, folders, envelopes, tissue lined envelopes, labels, and color edged cards.

(photography courtesy of The Baddeley Brothers)

(Gold ink in a die-stamping press courtesy of Glithero and Paper Planes video/project)

IN THE BEGINNING In the 1850’s this [type of printing, letterpress printing] was the staple method of commercial print and Baddeley Brothers are a trade house. I was first introduced by being given a lino cut print set at the age of seven.

(Baddeley Bros. Embossing Press in a printing book by Herrick circa 1900s. Scan courtesy of the St. Brides Library, London)

(photography courtesy of The Baddeley Brothers)

THE BEST PART IN PRINTING I am a Specialist Printer and Envelope Maker. Watching an envelope machine convert paper into high quality envelopes is hypnotizing.

(Photo courtesy of Josh at Wallpaper Magazine)

PRINTING FEATS Working with Wallpaper Magazine and international designers Glithero on the collaboration “Paper Planes” which exhibited in Milan, Harrods and Miami.

PRESS HISTORY Due to our history as engravers and die sinkers, our first press is more likely to be a burin, engraving glass and pad. My favorite is the envelope cutting press and the automatic die-stamping press.

(Heidelberg Press – letterpress courtesy of Glithero and Paper Planes video/project printing No3 Spirograph (Black layer litho, Blue layer letterpress, Red layer letterpress, Silver layer diestamped on Zen 120gsm))

PRINTING ACROSS THE POND In the area, there’s lots in the London’s East End, from artisan bakers, breweries to fish smokers. Lots of designers and hipsters!

(photography courtesy of The Baddeley Brothers)

SHOP ADVICE Always blind emboss on an uncoated material to enable the light to catch shadow of the image, this is not nearly as effective on a coated or gloss material.

(photography courtesy of The Baddeley Brothers)

WHAT’S NEXT In the process of writing a book that seeks to tell a compelling story about the company, its locations, and characters up to the present day.

A huge gracious round of thanks and appreciation out to Charles Pertwee of Baddeley Brothers press for letting take a quick peek at their wonderful letterpress printing world!

El Calotipo: Slinging Ink In Spain

Posted on June 29, 2015 by Rebecca Miller

If you meander past the Roman Ruins, the craftsmen workshops, and the musical festivals in the San Pablo District of Zaragoza, Spain, you’ll find the hidden gem that is El Calotipo Printing Studio. Carla Nicolas started her letterpress print shop in 2011, and recently took the time to sit down with us to talk shop. She shared her story about starting up a modern letterpress print shop amongst the hustle of the ancient Spanish city.

THE GAME IN SPAIN I’m Carla Nicolas. My background is a Bachelor of Arts in printing and printmaking techniques and I completed my artistic training at Massana School of Barcelona, Spain. It was at this Arts and Crafts school where I learned experimental and creative paper editions techniques (Artist’s Books) and first got involved with the manual printing. I’ve scoured some printmaking workshops both in Spain and foreign countries (Betanzos CIEC Foundation, Edinburgh Printmakers, or Pyramid Atlantic Art Center of Maryland, USA). After an artistic residence at Pyramid Atlantic where I taught workshop classes and also took part in some graphic art exhibitions, my passion for letterpress printing began.

In 2011, I started to build and shape my studio “El Calotipo Printing Studio” where we combine the most commercial version of handmade printing (business cards, wedding invitations, posters, restaurant menus etc), graphic design, and my own hand edited personal work.

ALL ABOUT PRINTING El Calotipo is a printshop and design studio in Zaragoza, Spain and we also carry out some little bookbinding jobs. The printing techniques we work with are: screen printing, printmaking, hot foiling, and letterpress printing.

What I most like of my job/studio is not tangible or physical (in that case I would say “any of my presses”) but the uninterrupted search of new materials and ways to work them. We learn much from our mistakes (and the time spent finding reasons for those mistakes) as well as how to succeed creating products that nowadays are really difficult to find on the market. That entire process produces a constant and highly satisfying learning rhythm.

Since the beginning in the studio, we always looked for the link between graphic design and the most pure manual type of printing in order to manage optimal results regarding product quality.

SPANISH BEAUTY Our studio is located at San Pablo District, one of the most ancient ones in the city of Zaragoza. Just around 200 meters from us are some Roman ruins that were built between the first and third century A.D. and are popular for visitors. This district’s history was formerly occupied by craftsmen workshops and that´s why streets are named after the former workshops there, such as Armas or Street of Weapons. With our downtown city location, we are surrounded by museums and tourist attractions. At Las Armas, we share spaces with other workshops. In addition, our neighbor is a culturally active musical center. Although we are established here, we hope to soon find a bigger studio where we can keep growing and enjoy our machines.

PRINTING MENTORS From my time as a student, there was a person who especially believed in my possibilities as a printmaker, the artist Silvia Pagliano. She was my teacher in the beginning and my mentor from that moment on. She introduced and recommended me to the finest studios in Spain so I could keep learning. I applied my etching knowledge to letterpress, where I had no mentors. I adapted to the machines and techniques that we work with.

PRINTER THROUGH AND THROUGH I am printer and printmaker and I have no design notions per se. My co-worker, Nelson Moya, is our graphic designer, and he is the one dedicated to that part of our enterprise. We offer design, design + print, or just printing jobs for others’ designs. I am a full-time printmaker and that’s been my only job since 2011. As any craftsman, I have printed a lot of hours, as you can imagine. I also print my own artwork on my free time.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS For our design process, first we have to know the client, find out their needs and preferences. We have an in-depth meeting in order to understand and define the clients’ ideas the best we can. Very often, we always reach that necessary client-designer connection, although sometimes the task becomes complicated when the client or ourselves haven’t been able to convey our ideas fully. You just keep working and making changes until the client is satisfied.

When a job requires design + printing services, we have to educate the client: the final result will never be exactly the same as the computer screen as there are all the factors that influence a handcrafted outcome (the paper selection, the printing technique, the ink drying, etc.). We try to realistically portray the final results are as exact as a handcrafted job permits. We are proud of our finishing quality and we have a customer base that is increasingly knowledgeable and demanding of our best efforts. Customers often start with something they saw in our portfolio or RSS and the final design can mean different material and technique selections.

PRINTING FEATS I´m proud to have started El Calotipo Printing Studio, although the beginning was tough. At the time, Spain was in the midst of an economical crisis, so I had a lot of doubts and fears knowing it would be a really difficult path. Two years ago, Nelson Moya joined me due to the amount of work already existing, and I needed more assistance. We just recently hired our first worker, Laía (which was unthinkable for me two years ago).

Watching how a highly-beloved project grows, something you built with so much dedication and effort, that is what I am most proud of. I remember the first international incoming jobs and how happy I felt. From that point it became something usual and now we receive daily design and printing assignments from other countries. Another achievement I can point out is the fact that I never let myself get negatively influenced by those people who didn’t share any faith in my future when El Calotipo was just an idea. You have to be brave to start such a kind of project, and if we realized we were already living in a deep economical crisis….well, it is natural that they called me crazy! I’m proud to be a stubborn person and after much sacrifice, four years later, I can already look back and feel satisfied with what I have already done. That is my pride, my braveness and stamina that made me able to work in a field I studied in, pursuing my vocation and I am so happy for that.

PRESS HISTORY My first printing press was a little bookbinding and relief press. The first proof press press was the FAG Control 405 SwissProof Press.

WHAT’S NEXT La Calocleta (“The Calocycle”), a printing workshop on wheels built by our neighbor, Alfredo, an industrial designer at Undo Studio. We´ll send some pictures. I would like to fly back to the United States next year and apply for a residence at Hatch Show Print in Nashville. It is a place I would have loved to visit a lot of years ago…

An immensely huge round of appreciation and thanks out to Carla of El Calotipo Printing Studio for taking the time to let us get a glimpse of her beautiful printing world!

Entrepreneurial Spirit At Ruff House Art

Posted on June 22, 2015 by Cathy

From day one back in 2009, Jill Shepherd of Ruff House Art had an entrepreneurial gleam in her eye as she started her business out of the basement of her home in southwest Kansas. Fast forward six years later, and you’ll find that Jill has expanded her letterpress company into a solid brick and mortar retail shop featuring the whirl of a 1915 Chandler & Price, the laughter of her daughter as she skirts through the shop, a full custom-invitation & wholesale everyday line, and of course, the warmth of Jill’s smiling face as she greets you when you come into the shop. We caught up with Jill between press runs to learn about her inspiration, how she got started, and what made taking the plunge worth it at the end of the day.

ROOTED DEEP IN THE MIDWEST I grew up in a small, rural farm town in southwest Kansas and went on to graduate from the University of Kansas with a BFA in Graphic Design in 2004. I spent several years working in marketing & branding as a designer. Coming from a family of farming entrepreneurs, I had always daydreamed about owning my own business someday.

Due to the struggling economy, I got the opportunity to pursue that dream when I was let go at my corporate job due to downsizing in early 2009. Initially, I envisioned doing what I had been doing, marketing, but on a freelance basis. During this time, I was asked by several friends to design wedding invitations and I quickly realized that was way more fun than corporate marketing! So, I said goodbye to the corporate world and went all in to the stationery world. I grew my wedding line, eventually added a wholesale/everyday line, and most recently expanded again with a brick & mortar retail shop!

TRY, TRY AGAIN (AND REPEAT AS NECESSARY) At the start of Ruff House Art, I didn’t envision it turning into a letterpress company. I had taken a letterpress class as an elective in college, so I was familiar with the printing process, but I didn’t start Ruff House Art with a press from day one. About a year into it, I was gifted my first press by a friend’s family. It had been sitting in a warehouse for 30 years and they weren’t even sure what it was or if it worked. They asked if I wanted it and of course I jumped at the opportunity. It had been a while since my college class and I wasn’t familiar with this type of press (platen). I restored it and taught myself how to use it. It was a lot of trial and error, a lot of frustrations, a lot of asking other printers for advice and doing research, but eventually I found my stride and felt confident enough in my printing ability to add letterpress to my wedding line. Shortly after, I decided to add a retail line, focused primarily around letterpress.

WINDOWS TO THE WORLD Up until this year, our shop as located in the basement of our home. In November of 2014 we moved our presses to downtown Lawrence and opened up a retail brick & mortar shop with a print/production studio in the back. We have big windows that look from the shop into the studio so customers can see the presses in action. It has been so fun to watch the community get involved and to hear how many people actually have some connection to letterpress. Whether they have taken a class, their fathers/grandfathers were printers, or they used to own a press. We also get asked on a regular basis if we actually use the presses or if they are “just for show” which always makes me giggle. When we are pressing, people gather around and watch which is so fun (and a little nerve-wracking!). My very first press is still the press that we use the most – a 1915 10″ x 15″ Chandler & Price.

A STUDIO WITH MANY PREVIOUS LIVES Lawrence is full of history and Mass Street (downtown) is the heart of the city. Our shop/studio is located in one of the oldest buildings in the city, built in 1858. The building was built by the Miller family who were print makers (how cool is that!) and it briefly housed the first post office in town. in 1862 it was taken over by the House Family and ran as a clothing store. It went on to house a Furniture Store, Daylight Donuts, and a brewery. It amazes me to sit here and hear about the people & stories that have passed through the door and it is so fun to now be a part of that history.

FAMILY AND LETTERPRESS COMMUNITY INSPIRED I am mostly inspired by my everyday life. My husband and our friendship, my daughter and her laughter and all the wonderful people I have met in the stationery industry. There are so many truly wonderful people in this industry and I love how it is more of a community that supports each other rather than a competition. I am driven everyday to make a positive impression on my daughter so that she will learn the value of hard work and determination, just as I did from my parents.

FULL TIME AND THEN SOME I feel like I wear nearly every hat that could be worn. I am the designer & printer for Ruff House Art. I am also customer service, sales, shipping, buyer, retail associate & mopper. When you own a small business you tend to learn how to do everything and be able to juggle that work load.

In my dream world, I would have way more time to design, and my line would be constantly evolving and full of wonderful things. But the truth is, I have to pencil in design time and sometimes that gets pushed to next week!

Ruff House Art is my full-time career. It has been my full-time job since day 1 in 2009, and I have been fortunate to have grown it over the years to be able to support myself & my family. It’s tough, demanding and at times all consuming. This business (or any self-owned business I would presume) is not for the weak of heart. It takes dedication, hard work and lots of coffee. But at the end of the day, as I shut the lights off and lock the doors, it is all worth it – so worth it.

WHERE IDEAS ARE SPARKED As I said, I am inspired everyday by normal life. And often the start of a card or product is a seed that gets planted by something my daughter says or an experience I have had. Such as our “Eat Cake For Breakfast Card” – growing up, my mom would occasionally let us indulge a little at breakfast with a cookie or piece of cake or brownie.

I in turn do this with my daughter without even thinking, even though my husband about dies each time he sees me sneak a cookie to her at breakfast! So I thought, everyone should be able to eat cake for breakfast on occasion! A card was born. From the spark of an idea, I wrap up the design on the computer and send it off for the plates to be made and turned into a letterpress card.

THE COMPANY WE KEEP I am proud of so many things that Ruff House Art has accomplished over the years. We have been featured in some really great magazines alongside other great artists. And our garden cards were featured on the Today Show for Earth Day! I have also had the privilege and honor of working with some great national retailers such as Paper Source, World Market, Nordstrom & West Elm.

In addition, I have been nominated 2 times for the Louie Awards (once for our garden cards & once for classically printed wedding invitations). We took home the Louie in 2014 for Classically Printed Wedding Invitations. That award was even more special as it was won for the invitations for my husband and I!

BLAZING A TRAIL It’s funny, in my mind, I feel like I am always just kind of “winging it” in my own way. Since I was self taught, I feel like I likely don’t do things the same way other printers do. But who says there is a right and wrong way as long as it works! Since opening our public space, I do feel I have gained confidence in my skills & techniques, offering advice to others who are just getting started in the printing business.

A BIG TO-DO LIST The opening of the brick & mortar put a pretty big stall in the growth of my own wholesale line. It has been all consuming and demanding learning how to balance another facet of my business. But I do think things are smoothing out into a well oiled machine and I am really looking forward to getting back into the growth and marketing of my own line. Being in the shop everyday has also given me great insight into what the consumer is drawn to and really looking for. I am going to take that knowledge and grow my own line accordingly. I am really looking forward to a release of new cards and coming back to my own product line with fresh vision.

Huge round of thanks out to Jill for letting us take a fresh look into the wonderful world of Ruff House Art (and then some)!

Letterpress Blooms at Maude Press in Creative South Pasadena

Posted on May 27, 2015 by Cathy

Dee Cutrona of Maude Press is sustained daily by the artistic flavor of her community and the people she considers mentors. She recently welcomed us in for a peek at her studio and shared how she got her start in letterpress — as well as the path she’s set herself on for the future.

BY ANY OTHER NAME Well, I suppose the first thing you should know about me is that my birth name is Christen and I can thank my sister for calling me “Christie Dee” the first time that she saw me. This, of course was shortened to Dee and here I am!

NECESSITY DEMANDS ACTION I first got involved in letterpress when I met a gal, Mable, in a design workshop. She was operating a letterpress studio and we thought, hey, let’s start a greeting card line! And so we did, and we called it Dee&Lala. In a funny way, I learned letterpress out of necessity–we were selling cards all across the U.S. and abroad and printing all day to keep up!

LOCATION, LOCATION, LOCATION I print in a studio right in my neighborhood of South Pasadena. What’s so great about the space is that I share it with a cake company, so the smell of baking cakes fills the air and it’s a team of girls, so we have this nice camaraderie. My favorite thing about my studio is that it’s nestled among traditional craftsman homes and tree lined streets, so my commute, whether by bike or car, is idyllic.

WALKABLE AND WONDERFUL SOUTH PASADENA is a hidden gem. It’s like this magical little pocket of Arts and Crafts architecture, cafes, family friendly neighborhoods, lots of art, music, festivals, parrots — yes parrots — and small independent shops…including Annika Buxman’s De Milo Design Studio & Letterpress [check out the profile we did on Annika’s studio a while back]. It’s an 8 minute metro ride away from downtown Los Angeles, so, in my opinion, it’s the best of both worlds. We actually have a small museum up my street — Meridian Iron Works — wouldn’t that be a great place to print!

SAGE ADVICE I considered Mable as my first printing mentor, and since that I’ve learned so much more. I do have a friend in town, who has a beautiful, very traditional, letterpress studio. I assist him with his printing as much as I can and consider him not just a letterpress mentor, but a life mentor. I also had design and style mentors in my Gramie and Grandad. They lived life to the fullest, did it with style and I am influenced by that philosophy daily.

INSPIRATION + THE CREATIVE FLOW I do not print full time. My days and weeks are equally balanced between designing and printing. I am planning to print more pieces for retail, so I’m anticipating more time at the press. As much as I appreciate the authenticity of working with type, I’m just so wired to be able to tweak and manipulate words and images digitally, so my process is more modern. I’m a digital artwork to photopolymer girl. When I first started Maude Press, I was working with magnesium dies, but I quickly switched back to photopolymer for the consistency and because the process isn’t toxic.

I enjoy working with fun wedding couples like Sheila and Casey. They wanted chic and modern and since they wanted a map, we decided to play with layers, a pattern and die cutting to add dimension. So much opportunity to be creative!

PRIDE IN THE ROAD I’VE TRAVELED Launching Dee&Lala was a huge accomplishment. I am/was really proud of our brand and the illustration work that I contributed. A lot of that work was very personal to me, so it meant a lot that our line was so well received. I still have a stack of samples. I still truly love them, even after printing them over and over and over…

I am equally, if not more, proud of launching Maude Press. It has been a wonderful experience so far and now that I’m about 4 years in, I’m ready to take it to the next level. I love the custom side of what I do, so it’s truly been a pleasure.

THE FIRST LADY AND NAMESAKE I wish I could list off a tally of presses, but to date, my only press is Maude, my 10 x 15 New Style Chandler & Price. She’s a work horse, but I can’t say I wouldn’t mind a cylinder from time to time..maybe someday. Maude is named after a movie that is a personal favorite of mine — Harold and Maude.

MUTUAL RESPECT FOSTERS GOOD RELATIONSHIPS Not only is Boxcar super informative and amazing, you provide my plates and plant trees when I purchase enough! What I like most, though, is your true love for letterpress and the letterpress community.

SHARING FROM EXPERIENCE Acetate is my friend. Not only is acetate great for packing, I actually tape it down to my platen to register my artwork. I tape the acetate to the platen, ink the form and print on the acetate and then I register the paper to the print on the acetate. It saves so much time and helps with those hairpin registration jobs.

I’m a fan of Van Son Holland Ink (rubber or oil), but if you want a good rich black ink, my friend introduced me to ‘Sable Black SO 1 lb.” from Graphic Supply, Inc. — it is THE best black I’ve printed so far. No need to add a little warm red to this black– it’s gorgeous au naturale.

LEAPING OFF THE PAGES IN 2015 This is the year that I’m finally ready to produce more products for retail (mainly for my own site and a few local shops). Nothing major, no reps or stationery shows, just exclusive MP products to share with the world. I have pages of ideas that I just have to bring to life–it will feel like old times. Oh! And this year, hopefully, I will finally actually print my own stationery and if I’m really on a roll…holiday cards!!!

Thanks Dee for the glimpse into Maude Press. You are moving ahead full speed and you embody a quote from your favorite movie “Try something new each day. After all, we’re given life to find it out. It doesn’t last forever.”

In Type-Top Shape With Archivio Tipografico

Posted on April 2, 2015 by Rebecca Miller

Nestled in the northwestern corner of Italy is the vibrant city of Torino — city that boasts beautiful plazas, gorgeous views, and of course the hidden gem that is Archivio Tipografico. Davide Tomatis, a cheerful member of the type-based shop, was able to take a minute between press runs to talk shop, the overflowing array of rare type and the joy of coming home to his letterpress “family” on the weekends.

(from left to right: Emanuele Mensa (our mentor!), Davide Tomatis, Davide Eucalipto, Anna Follo, Nello Russo, and Gabriele Fumero)

LETTERPRESS ADDICT I am not a conventional printer… I’m primarily a graphic designer addicted to good type, and I’ve always been fascinated by type in all of their shapes and typologies. About three years ago, I found a letterpress workshop online in my hometown. My brain stopped for a second watching the screen, and I remember thinking something along the lines of “what the hell are those wooden letters? Did there really exist a printing technology before the inkjet printer?”

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT When I entered a printshop for the first time, I was 20 years old and knew nothing about typography, but it was clear to me that I needed to learn everything about that world. Back then, Archivio Tipografico was “just” a huge collection, not a real printshop as it is right now. I started working there in my spare time, cleaning old type and ordering them in their drawers. During the following two years the team got bigger, and now it is comprised of six people (Anna, Davide, Emanuele, Gabriele, Nello, and me).

INKING UP IN ITALY Archivio Tipografico is a really big printshop: housing more than 1,600 type drawers, one flatbed press, five platen-presses and two proof-presses. As I said before, it’s not mine but I’m a part of it. We don’t like to think that there exists an owner of the printshop — we see it as the home of our typographic family. Our shop is located in Torino, Italy, and the “letterpress revival” phenomenon is still in its early days here. There are some old little printshops that still use platen and flatbed presses, but we are the only printshop in our area to integrate graphic design, digital tools and traditional printing techniques.

Speaking of exceptional printers, just out of town there’s Enrico Tallone, a great friend of ours and the last Italian publisher that is still composing and printing his books by hand only using movable type. We often visit each other to see the latest printed matter!

THE BEAUTIFUL TYPE Our collection comes from the dismissal of other printshops in Piemonte (our region) and Liguria. So most of the specimens and typefaces are obviously from Italian Foundries like “Nebiolo” (that was located in Torino) or “Reggiani” (in Milano). We own specimens of nearly all the typefaces designed by Aldo Novarese, one of the most prolific type designers ever and our national “type hero”.

We generally like to use Italian type to revive that “geolocation” effect that got lost with the possibility of having an endless choice of digital typefaces. I think the rarest typefaces we have are “Inkunabula”, a typeface designed by Raffaello Bertieri in 1921 for “Società Augusta” (the previous name of Nebiolo) and “Fontanesi”, a really elaborate ornate typeface designed by Aldo Novarese in 1954 for the Nebiolo foundry.

PRESS HISTORY I first learned to print on an Asbern proof press and later on a platen-press called Hohner Rapid II, with the help of Emanuele, the skilled printer who founded Archivio Tipografico. He is my mentor. He actually knows how to solve any problem about letterpress printing. I’ve never felt like I couldn’t ask him a question as there isn’t one that he can’t answer.

LATE NIGHT PRINTING Printing is primarily a passion. It’s not our first job so we print after our main work and on every Saturday, but we’re trying to fix this situation.

THE CREATIVE FLOW Every one of us was born as a designer and is now learning to print, except for Emanuele, who was mainly a printer. Thanks to our different backgrounds we’re always searching for the perfection in both printing and graphic composition. We don’t have a defined style as we like being inspired from everything that we stumble across — from old books, to modern graphic design, passing through Italian specimen-books designed in the seventies.

PRINTSHOP FEATS Our main accomplishment is actually moving the whole printshop last year. It took us more than two months and a lot of sweat. The moving of the whole collection was very hard. All the platen and flatbed presses were moved by a professional carrier because it’s really impossible to move tons and tons of cast iron perfectly without knowing what you’re doing.

We also decided to donate to a museum two of the machine we owned: a flatbed press from the late 1800’s called Voirin, and a Linotype, as we weren’t really using them. We rented a big van for two weekends to move everything else (type drawers, cabinets, tools, ink cans, etc…) and that was the first time we counted how many drawers we own: it was a bit of a shock!

In the process of emptying the old space we found many typefaces we forgot about, and we managed not to lose anything! We divided in two teams, one in the old space removing all the drawers from the cabinets, numbering them, loading them on pallets and then loading pallets on the van. The other team was in the new place, unloading the van and reassembling the cabinets. I made a map of the new layout of presses and drawers that was ignored during the moving, but everything magically fit in anyway! Special equipment that was needed: gloves, pallets, transpallet, latino music, elbow grease and patience. It never seemed to end.

SHOP TIPS If you’re printing on a platen press always remove the gauge pins when setting up a new job. Emanuele always told me that in order to correctly learn… one has to make every mistake at least once, but that one is the kind of mistake that I sadly keep making.

WHAT’S NEXT Our main inspiration has always been “Tipografia Marchisio” of Torino. It was a legendary printshop in Torino, the best place to have one’s business cards printed regarding printing quality and elegance of typographic composition. Our aim is to become 50% like them and 50% like an American letterpress & graphic design studio. Our new printshop gave us the possibility to be more productive and organized so we can print more and work on multiple projects at the same time.

Another big plan for 2015 is to sort and catalogue our whole type collection (so to use it more and better) and digitalize the coolest and rarest fonts/type we own.

Extremely huge round of thanks to Davide for letting us getting a peek at the beautiful & amazing Archivio Tipografico! Molto bello!

The Creative Buzz of Wasp Print

Posted on March 2, 2015 by Rebecca Miller

Through nearly a decade of printing adventures (from printing with Hello!Lucky to opening up shop in his current printing abode in the creative neighborhood hub of East Williamsburg, Brooklyn), Nicholas Hurd of Wasp Print continues to deliver whether it’s serving up a fresh batch of letterpress printed goodies or being inspired by the non-stop creative forces that swirl in New York City. We were able to catch Nicholas for a hot minute to talk shop, where to get the best delivery for those late night print runs, and of course… the mesmerizing awe of watching a Heidelberg Windmill & his beloved Vandercook in action.

CREATIVE MAVEN I am a printer, artist, tattoo collector, maple syrup snob, whiskey drinker, paper fanatic, amateur gardener, drummer, and lover of ink. I live in Brooklyn with my wife Erin, who is an excellent printer on the Vandercook and a poet & writer. We have a 9 lb chihuahua named Reno, who is an extremely accomplished and obsessive fetcher.

LETTERPRESS OBSESSED I was first introduced to letterpress while studying printmaking at the San Francisco Art Institute. After spending three years learning etching and lithography I was excited to print something where the machine was doing most of the work and large editions were made with ease. After school I worked for 4 years mostly printing greeting cards for Hello!Lucky. They were a wonderful company to work for and it gave me a lot of experience in production printing. The deeper I waded into letterpress printing the more obsessed I became. It’s pretty much the only thing in the world that makes any sense to me.

EAST WILLIAMSBURG WONDER I share the space with another awesome designer/printer, Dan from Sheffield Product. We both love collecting old equipment but operate in a tiny space. Together we have a 10×15 Windmill, 219 Old style Vandercook, 305MC Challenge Paper Cutter, a ton of type and other little bits of equipment. We’re located in a big warehouse building in East Williamsburg in Brooklyn. I print a lot of business cards and some personal stationery as well. I love the hustle and bustle of the city and feature quick turnaround times for those New Yorkers who are moving at lightning speed. We also love collaborations with artists and making political posters with hand set type.

DESIGNED FOR PRINT I’m both a designer and a printer. I enjoy designing but really love collaborating with other artists and printers. It is fun to work with people who don’t understand the process because they always bring something new & challenging to the table.

CREATIVE INFLUENCES I really enjoy looking for old printed design elements. I love bright colors and patterns. New York City has a wealth of inspiration for me. Hand painted signs, architecture, and mosaics all influence my design work. A meandering walk through the city always leads to exciting inspiration. I once made a design based on chewing gum on subway platform. I was designing something that looked spacey and noticed that the gum on the platform looked like planets in a solar system.

FULL TIME FUN Yes, this is a full time operation. After working for other printers and stationers for 10 years I finally set up my own shop a year ago. I work some seriously long hours. Fortunately there are tons of awesome food delivery places nearby and Fleetwood Mac albums to keep me sustained. I see a lot of old printers going out of business who are not keeping up with the design aesthetic and print needs of people in this city. It’s sad to see them go but they are operating on an outdated model of what printing is presently used for. I have found that there is actually a huge market for printing and letterpress. There’s a real longing in this digital age for a well made and tangible object.

PRINTING FEATS I love making wood type posters and every time I make one I am proud of it whether it’s a political poster that I can distribute at a demonstration or a poster for a local whiskey distiller.

BOXCAR’S ROLE The Boxcar Base and plate system has been great to letterpress printers everywhere. Plate switchover on a Boxcar Base is the easiest and fastest system.

PRESS HISTORY I learned how to print on Vandercooks but the first real press I ever bought was a Windmill. It really is the most beautiful machine. Once you start using one of these it’s hard to go back to any other machine. The feeding, registration, inking and impression are all top notch with this press. It looks like a perfectly choreographed ballet every time I turn it on.

SHOP TIPS I keep my best tricks a secret, but the best advice I can give anyone who is interested in letterpress is to have patience and enjoy the problem solving aspects of the work. We do this not because it is easy but because the finished product looks great. Expect every job to be a struggle – you might have to fight the paper, ink, press or design- but hopefully not all four.

WHAT’S NEXT I plan to keep on printing, expanding our equipment and making more posters with members of NYC’s passionate and amazing activist community. I would like to get into making ‘zines and books too!

Huge round of thanks out to Nicholas Hurd of Wasp Print for letting us take a peek into his inspiring world of letterpress!

Printing Traditions at The Tympanum Press

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Cathy

When you step over the threshold of the warm & cheery Goshen, Indiana apartment that houses The Tympanum Press, you find yourself surrounded by the delicate smell of ink, the intoxicating jingling laughter of Amy & Richard Worsham’s daughters, and a Kelsey set-up lovingly in the living room (next to the accoutrements of a shop that’s steeped deep in family printing traditions). We sat down with the husband-and-wife duo to talk shop, printing at home, and the joys of leaving the house with relatively clean fingernails.

HOME-STYLE PRINTING I’m Amy Worsham from the The Tympanum Press. My background is in graphic design, with experience in bookbinding and paper making. I homeschool our two youngest girls and operate our press out of our home in downtown Goshen, Indiana.

THE INK RUNS DEEP My husband has printing ink in his blood. His great-grandfather took to printing early in life and as a boy earned enough to pay for his small press and buy a bicycle before leaving school. He went to work for Joseph Bryan, a prominent Virginia newspaperman, who shortly after acquired the Richmond Times. He was sent to New York by Bryan to learn the operation of the linotype machine and met its inventor, Ottmar Merganthaler, in Baltimore on his return trip. In 1892 he set up the first linotype machine in Virginia, and eventually went on to found the Richmond Press, which he ran into the 1940’s. We still use the Kelsey Excelsior that he bought for his son, Richard’s grandfather, who in turn ran it as a job press for many years. In 1998, Richard trained under Walter Clements at the Rugby Print Works and had been running the press since then on small jobs for friends and family.

We started working together shortly after we were married to bring in a little extra money while we were still in college. We didn’t advertise and considered ourselves mostly a hobby press, but were amazed at the interest in our work. Graduate school drew us to South Bend, Indiana in 2009 where we decided to open as a job press. Since then, we have gradually expanded our portfolio from business cards and invitations to everything from broadsides to even small books.

CLOSE TO HOME Our print shop has always been run out of our apartment. We have our old reliable Kelsey 5×8, so we’ve always managed to set aside a corner of our living space dedicated to our press. Recently the area needed for our press space has increased as we’ve expanded our line by taking in more jobs from online sales sources like Square Marketplace and Etsy.

Our current workspace is what some might call a living room. The press, tables, shelving, and equipment take up most of the space, but since both Richard and I are self-employed, we don’t have much time for lounging around anyway. It is truly amazing how much can be accomplished with the right attitude and well-made equipment, no matter what size.

DESIGNED TO PRINT My background is in graphic design. Richard takes the side of the cranky printer, and enjoys setting in cold type with a light impression, while I have brought the adaptability of digital design and graphic arts training to our letterpress process. Our goal is to pair the tradition of printing with modern techniques and create things that remind us of the power of the printed word.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS Depending on the project I’ll either grab a pencil and start sketching or go straight to the computer. For many of our cards and graphics I use Adobe Illustrator, but I also do a good number of linoleum block cuts on or off the press. For custom projects, I like to start with a number of precedents, honing it in with a pencil and paper, and finally moving to the computer for a final pre-proof design.

FULL TIME FUN Since starting the Tympanum Press, we have transitioned from small jobs, mostly for fun, to part-time job printing, to regular work, but in the last year it has become a full-time operation for me. As orders continue to come in, we are looking for a larger press and additional equipment, as well as space outside our home. It is amazing how far we have come operating the press just like those old advertisements promised in the 20’s.

PRINTING FEATS Gosh, this question is tough. Sometimes in our hectic schedules mixing the perfect color is an accomplishment… Sometimes leaving the house with relatively clean fingernails is an accomplishment!

PRESS HISTORY We’re still printing on our very first press, the reliable 5×8 Kelsey Excelsior. Richard was trained on a Pearl and we are definitely looking for a larger floor press. We never had the space since we’ve always printed out of our home, but since we’ve gone full time I am very excited at the hugely expanded potential of a larger press.

BOXCAR’S ROLE Photopolymer plates, especially with the Boxcar Base, have allowed me to tailor our printing to our community and combine my love for design with the versatility of letterpress. Boxcar has allowed me to create a cohesive line of products within my budget.

SHOP TIPS Never rush a print job. Take your time. When nothing is working, clean it all up and start again.

WHAT’S NEXT 2015 is going to be a great year for us. We’re not only investing in a larger press and plenty more lead type, but we also have big plans for much more platemaking through Boxcar as way to get many of our customers the types of stationery styles they are looking for.

Huge heaps of thanks out to Amy and Richard for letting us take a sneak peak into the wonderful world of The Tympanum Press!

(photography courtesy of Grant Beachy)

Hitting the Mark With Ted Ollier

Posted on January 28, 2015 by Cathy

A whirlwind of creative energy, Ted Ollier of the Bow & Arrow Press & Mindhue Studio is a creative tour-de-force who loves blending art & education via letterpress (and with gusto we might add). When he’s not getting students and the letterpress-curious up to speed at the Crash Courses and Open Press Nights found at the Bow & Arrow Press at Harvard University, Ted moves deftly from part-time teaching to pursuing his own fascination with typesetting, designing conceptual artwork, playing bass, and the enjoying the thrill of finding type still wrapped in foundry sealed wax paper. We caught up with Ted amidst the fun to see why the fascination with printing still reigns supreme.

PRINTING DEXTERITY I was born in Toledo, moved to Austin during the 80’s Rust Bowl, and moved to Boston in 2008. I have a BA in Liberal Arts from the University of Texas at Austin, a BFA in Studio Art and Communication Design from Texas State University, and an MFA from Massachusetts College of Art. I’ve been a designer, prepress technician, type designer, printmaker, photographer, bass player and artist at various times in my life, sometimes all at once. My BFA concentration was in metalwork and fine art printmaking, and I worked prepress and design in a small offset litho shop in Austin while I was getting that degree. That dual experience — seeing printing both as an art and as a business — definitely has come in handy dealing with letterpress.

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT A friend of mine was running the Bow & Arrow Press, a letterpress shoehorned into the basement of Adams House, a residence hall at Harvard University. When I moved to Boston, he asked me if I’d like to take it over, as he had other projects coming up. I did, and the rest is history.

THE PRINTING BEAT IN BOSTON We’re shoehorned into three-and-a-half connected rooms in the basement of the Adams House Residence Hall. Odd corners, protuberances, closets and shelving are just part and parcel of the Bow & Arrow experience. We have a Vandercook No. 4, a Vandercook SP-20, an old Vandercook roller press, a C&P Pilot tabletop press, a Charles Brand intaglio press, and two museum pieces: a C&P windmill press and a Pearl treadle press. The Pearl is, alas, too fragile to run and I don’t really trust the C&P around so many inexperienced people, so they stay quiet. The Charles Brand intaglio press is our most recent addition, donated by a printmaking colleague of mine, and it’s nice to be able to demonstrate forms of printing even more obsolete than letterpress.

Our type is old and has not always been handled properly, but that doesn’t stop people from setting amazing things with it. Some of my favorite faces in our collection are a nice selection of Futura Light, a nice selection of Stymie, a case of New Century Schoolbook, and a case of Kennerly Italic. We also have more than 500 printing plates and linoleum blocks in our library.

We have the full complement of rubber-based PANTONE inks, and have an uncoated guidebook for mixing custom colors. We use California Wash, NTT type wash, and Super Rubber Rejuvenator. I’ve heard there is some controversy about SRR in letterpress circles, but judicious use over the last five years has kept my rollers looking as smooth and matte as the day we installed them. We have a small manual Challenge guillotine cutter, and the usual complement of composing sticks, pica sticks, leads, spaces, coppers, chases, quoins, keys and other ancillaries.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS I’m both a designer and printer. It depends on if it’s for a commercial job or for my own artwork. The commercial jobs tend to be relatively straightforward: legible type, minimum of ornamentation, some judicious color if that’s what the client wants. These days it’s an uphill run explaining the concept of spot color or the limitations of the letterpress to people who are used to immediate CMYKOG inkjet printing, but it usually works out to everyone’s satisfaction. I definitely subscribe to the idea that design is there to facilitate the transfer of information, rather than a chance for an art director to demonstrate some faddish stylization or pointless gingerbread.

My own artwork, on the other hand, is heavily conceptual and very intellectual. I spend quite some time tweaking and mulling the concepts that I find intriguing and compelling, and then thinking about what’s going to end up on the paper. That said, I try as best as I can to distill things down so that someone seeing the images for the first time will find them interesting enough to explore the concept further, rather than be put off by a hermetic sterility or ivory-tower isolation. My main intention is to get people to see these ideas in the same fascinating light that I do. This desire to show and share interesting information about the world keeps me from getting too far into outer space — at least that’s what I hope.

FULL TIME FUN I also teach part-time, and have a day job doing scanning and Photoshop work, along with some intermittent design. I’ve taught printmaking and intro graphic design, and recently I’ve been able to use the Bow & Arrow Press to teach letterpress and intaglio. That’s wonderful because I’m able to keep the Press busy and engage students in a more formal teaching environment than our informal classes and open press hours. Plus, the heightened visibility of the Press has allowed us to work with people from all over campus, including the Harvard Summer School, the Harvard Extension School, the Graduate School of Design, and the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies. Printing is only one of the several hats I wear, but I’d love to do more of it.

PRINTING FEATS When I got to the Bow & Arrow Press, it was somewhat underutilized and chaotic, and although I had printmaking experience, I didn’t have much printing experience. In the last six years, with the help of many of the people who run Adams House, I’ve been able to grow the Press into a bright, busy, organized place. Since we reside in a undergraduate dormitory, we are required to have Open Press Nights where students (and others) can come to see what this obsolete printing process is all about. Through weekend Crash Courses supplementing these Open Press Nights, we’ve enabled the Press to accrete a growing population of people who keep coming to explore not only typesetting, but also bookmaking, relief printing, engraving and drypoint, page layout and imposition, and many other things. Through all of this, and probably because of it, I’ve also been able to find my way toward gaining experience as a letterpress printer. Nowadays, I’m very pleased that I can run multi-color tight-registration jobs with a reasonable throughput on both our Vandercook No. 4 and Vandercook SP-20.

PRESS HISTORY The first press I ran was the Vandercook No. 4 that has pride of place at the Bow & Arrow Press. It’s still my favorite. It’s small, but it’s bulletproof, and I’ve been very pleased with the registration I’ve been able to get on what is supposed to be a proofing press.

BOXCAR’S ROLE Boxcar Press has been an integral part of this whole thing from the very beginning. I know that letterpress people are supposed to extoll the romance of cold lead type and disown anything digital, but when you’re running a four-color design with modern typefaces, complex line art, and a final emboss, it’s time to examine one’s base assumptions. It’s the final product that really matters. Designers can be just as obsessive with thousandth-em kerning in Illustrator or InDesign as they can be with coppers or brasses, and with OpenType glyph sets, you have more ligatures, swashes and ornaments than you really know what to do with. That’s not to say I don’t bliss out when sitting down to typeset with the font of Standard Italic 18-pt that I found at Letterpress Things in Chicopee still wrapped in foundry-sealed wax paper and binding string, but one has to recognize that there are things that formalized lead typesetting cannot do.

Since I have an extensive technical background in prepress, I haven’t needed the help of Boxcar Press in solving problems, tweaking designs, and fixing trainwrecks as other people might, but I think that’s a bonus for both of us. I think of Boxcar just as I did about the service bureau where I used to get film positives and offset printing plates made back in the day: I send you my files, you process my files, you send me my plates, and I run them. No fuss, no muss. In the five years I’ve been using your services, I’ve only ever had one hiccup in the process, and that was dealt with swiftly. I can’t think of higher praise to give.

SHOP TIPS Running a Press with a substantial public component takes patience and care. At any given time there are probably three or four people in the shop who have never touched a piece of lead type in their lives. Although I have Student Pressmasters and kindly regulars to help smooth over the bumps, the Crash Courses that I started teaching in 2009 have really kept the worst kinds of newbie mistakes to a minimum.

WHAT’S NEXT Recently, some of my regular Open Press attendees and I were able to purchase a Vandercook SP-20 for a joint-use project. We’re still looking around at lease options and way of organizing the business, but our intent is to take some of the lessons learned at the Bow & Arrow and pursue them in an independent venue. Will it become a full-time printing gig? We shall see, as I still love the Bow & Arrow and everything that surrounds it.

Huge round of thanks to Ted for letting us get a sneek peek at both the Bow & Arrow Press and Mindhue Studio!

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Category Archives: Shop Talk

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Letterpress Blooms at Maude Press in Creative South Pasadena

In Type-Top Shape With Archivio Tipografico

The Creative Buzz of Wasp Print

Printing Traditions at The Tympanum Press

Hitting the Mark With Ted Ollier