Letterpress City Tour: Colorado Springs

Posted on March 14, 2018 by Cathy

For this edition of our City Series, from the peaks and presses and the outdoors to the Olympians, Ladyfingers Letterpress owners celebrate their energetic community of Colorado Springs. Arley-Rose and Morgan call The Springs home amidst the bluffs and beauty. They give us some insight into reaching the summit both in the mountains, and in the artistic and progressive culture around them. Come along as they share their favorite places to chill out, drink down, and read up.

COMING HOME We’ve officially been here since July of 2014, but my wife and co-Ladyfinger Morgan Calderini is from here, so she’s cumulatively been exposed to this Rocky Mountain air for longer than I have. In 2013, a wildfire demolished her family home while we were living in Rhode Island, so we moved our business – presses and all – out here a year later to be closer to her family as they rebuilt their lives.

(All photography courtesy of Ladyfingers Letterpress unless otherwise noted.)

Daily Life As proud parents of a pretty darn adorable year and a half year old, we see the daycare a lot! Because let’s be real, we both work and the kid isn’t gonna change his own diapers. Yet.

Now that you know that we’re parents to a tiny human, you probably won’t be surprised that we don’t get out much during the rest of the week. Aside from the basic staples – the grocery store, Fedex, the liquor store, you know, JUST THE ESSENTIALS – we try to squeeze in a hike on our time off. Luckily, natural beauty surrounds Colorado Springs, so a gorgeous and secluded nature hike is only like 5 minutes away.

Growing City for Sharing the Printing Love It’s a really easy place to live! I know that’s not really a letterpress-related answer, but as a general rule, being in a city where it’s easy to live and raise a family makes it easier to run a business, thus making us happier and more productive people overall.

It was not so easy – on the other hand – to find a studio at first. We found ourselves constantly competing with the Medical Marijuana (MMJ) industry to find affordable light industrial space. Who knew that stoners and letterpress printers had so much in common?

We finally found a studio that had a nice retail presence, so we opened up a little store in the front of our letterpress shop. People were able to come in to buy a card or a gift and see the presses at work in the background. Many people didn’t know what they were (a lot of people assumed they were just heavy props to make our space look cool or something?), but it also made people more curious about printmaking so we started to offer classes and workshops. Having a retail storefront has been a great way to share our passion for letterpress with the community and educate people about this craft we love so dearly.

Melding of Minds and Resources Being involved with our local community is a critical part of Ladyfingers Letterpress’ vision. We see the hustle and experimentation of our fellow artists as something we try to engage with and support as often as possible. From selling local artisans’ work in our store (and even collaborating with them on some new products) to inviting visiting artists to teach classes and workshops, we are always searching for ways that we can uplift the craft of the people working alongside us in as many ways as possible.

One collaboration sticks out in my mind and that is The Work Continues Project. After the 2016 election, Aaron Cohick, who runs The Press at Colorado College, set up some wood type on one of his presses with the words, “THE WORK CONTINUES. STAY…” Students who visited the press throughout the day took turns finishing the sentence and the result was a suite of six posters that read, “STAY KIND/TRUE/IN LOVE/FIERCE/WOKE/STRONG.”

A lot of people expressed interest in buying these posters, so we offered to handle the logistics of sending them out into the world by managing all the inventory and shipping, and tracking each sale so that 100% of the proceeds would benefit The ACLU, the Southern Poverty Law Center, the NAACP, Inside/Out Youth Services in Colorado Springs, and the Black Educators Network in El Paso County, CO.

Pop Goes The Color Ladyfingers Letterpress prints exclusively from polymer plates, which allows us to print our hand-lettered weirdo illustrations in neon inks on thick, cotton paper. Morgan handles all the expert letterpress printing and I do all the illustrations, and together we have a style that is distinctly Ladyfingers.

Fav People & Mutual Love We love our paper rep, Julian from Spicers Paper! He not only helps us find the perfect paper, but he also occasionally brings us lunch and in return we shower him with our undying affection and invite him to our kid’s birthday parties.

We also love our foil stamping buddy, JS Letterpress. Charles is always in a good mood, but that could be because he probably just finished a session of aerial yoga which he is also super good at.

Victorian Homes And Small Town Feel We love the Old North End, but we’re biased because we live there.

(photography courtesy of oldnorthend.org)

Morgan grew up in the north part of town in Black Forest, but when we moved back here after the fire we knew we wanted to be downtown. The streets are lined by huge old trees, well-loved arts and crafts bungalows and Victorian-style homes. Our neighbors care about historic preservation and environmental conservation, and also throw a hell of a neighborhood-wide yard sale every June. Also it’s nice to be able to walk to work!

Rubbing Shoulders With a Cast of Thousands Colorado Springs has a reputation for having a high concentration of military personnel and Christian Evangelicals, which is not exactly the cross section that would scream “WELCOME QUEER ARTSY LETTERPRESS PRINTERS,” so I guess what I’m trying to say is it makes craigslist transactions really exciting.

(photography courtesy of Colorado Co-op)

What Colorado Springs doesn’t have a reputation for (yet) – and what we were most surprised to discover – is its incredible community of poets, writers, artists and community organizers. There are two colleges nearby (Colorado College and The University of Colorado at Colorado Springs) that nourish our community with events and culture and supply our workforce with their best and most innovative graduates.

In 2017, more millennials moved to Colorado Springs than any other city in the U.S., so we are seeing an influx of bright-eyed young-uns ready to work hard and live the dream. Well, some of them work hard. The rest just want to live the dream. Just kidding! Hi Millennials! We love you! Sorry, we’re not accepting any interns at this time! 🙂

You wanna know who else lives here? Olympians. Yes, you heard me. U.S. Olympians. Like, the real-deal gold and silver and bronze medal winners who you watch on TV every 4 years accomplishing super-human feats.

(photography courtesy of teamusa.org)

People don’t just jog here, they do push-up handstands while sprinting up a mountain. The Colorado Springs Olympic Training Center attracts athletes who are looking to train at high altitude, and a lot of them put down roots here and become part of the community. Then you get to know them and discover they are actually really insanely nice people, and you’re like sitting there feeling proud of yourself that you did 2 miles on the treadmill without stopping.

Chance Encounter Seals The Deal We actually moved here because of a random interaction in a locally-owned coffee shop. We had been considering moving to Denver and were driving around both cities to scope them out and to try to get a feel of what neighborhoods we’d like to live in. We stumbled into a coffee shop and the woman behind the counter gives Morgan a curious look and pegs her for a newcomer. Morgan squints her eyes suspiciously, but is also simultaneously kind of impressed, so she replies that we’re considering moving to the neighborhood and we’re letterpress printers. The woman, who was one of the owners of the coffee shop and is now a close friend of ours, demands that we become part of her “30-Something Happy Hour, where we all get together on Friday evenings for dinner and are home and in sweatpants by 9pm.” So that’s how we decided where to live because of a barista who seduced our friendship with a sentence that included dinner plans and sweatpants.

(photography courtesy of Switchback Coffee Roasters.)

The coffee shop is now called Switchback Coffee Roasters, and although our happy hour pal is no longer there, we still love their coffee and egg sandwiches.

Not To Be Missed We love supporting our fellow downtown local businesses! From outdoor gear (Mountain Chalet) to kitchen supplies (Sparrow Hawk Cookware) to books (Hooked on Books) to toy stores (Poor Richard’s – which also sells books and makes pizza and has other rad stuff!) to just excellently tasteful apparel and jewelry (Colorado Co-Op) we are so fortunate to be surrounded by so many other rad and locally-owned small businesses!

(top photography courtesy of Hooked on Books; bottom photography courtesy of VisitCOS.com.)

Colorado Springs is also all about brewing! And it’s not just beer! There is a huge craft coffee scene here so don’t you dare get caught with a chain coffee cup in your hand.

(photography couresy of csindy.com.)

Dynamic Culture With High Peaks View Colorado Springs is FULLLLLL of attractions. They may not all be cultural (but in that category we give the Fine Arts Center a million thumbs up) but there are still a ton of amazing things to see and do around here.

(photography courtesy of csfineartscenter.org.)

We even made a print to commemorate the sights!

(photography courtesy of we-know-colorado.com.)

Some highlights include: Pikes Peak (it’s America’s Mountain, y’all!), Seven Falls (which I recently learned is manmade, but whatever it’s still hella beautiful), Garden of the Gods (which fortunately for us has nothing to do with church), and the Olympic Training Center (go Team USA!).

(photography courtesy of gardenofgods.com.)

Location, Location, Location When we moved into our space nearly 2 years ago, our neighbors on one side were meth dealers who illegally lived in their unit (they sold t-shirts and bongs, obviously), and on the other side was a row of empty retail spaces that no one wanted because there was no foot traffic on our block.

Fast forward just a little bit and Ladyfingers signs a lease, nabs a grant from the Downtown Partnership to renovate not only our own facade but also all the retail spaces in our building (which are now occupied by rad and legitimate businesses), and now we get compliments all the time from customers about our “great location!”

I’m not saying we’re responsible for revitalizing our block, but we definitely got in at just the right time.

Fun + Downtime Spots Every special occasion/window of time that we don’t have anything planned we spend it at Sun/Water Spa.

(photography courtesy of city-data.com.)

They have these incredible cedar-walled mineral spas that have the most grandiose view of Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountains. They also have yoga and wellness classes and offer massages and spa treatments if you’re fancy like that.

(photography courtesy of Atlas Obscura.)

If you’re in that part of town, you definitely should also stop by the Manitou Springs Penny Arcade. They have vintage games and attractions – some even still costing a penny or so – that still work and are in amazing condition. A great place to get some cotton candy and a corn dog and play some old-fashioned skeeball. It’s like the Jersey Shore without the Jersey. Or the shore.

Last Thing to Say Come for the weed, stay for the bleed! (Sorry, I can’t help but make bad printmaker jokes!)

Letterpress Studios in Central Colorado

Further Other Book Works – Colorado Springs, CO
JS Letterpress – Colorado Springs, CO
House Forteen – Denver, CO
Cedar Park Printing – Lakewood, CO
Genghis Kern – Denver, CO
Method & Madness – Arvada, CO
Smokeproof Press – Boulder, CO
SWEET letterpress – Boulder, CO

Other Must-See Stops

Manitou Springs Penny Arcade – Fall in love with vintage and old-fashioned arcade games. Give the flippers a whirl with the Arcade’s many pinball machines!
Nations Museum of World War II Aviation – A magnificent and tucked-away gem in Colorado Springs, the Museum features B-52 bombers to an amazing collection of aircraft memorabilia.
Cheyenne Mountain Bunker – The infamous bunker that housed NORAD (Northern American Aerospace Defense Command) in the late 1960s. While the bunker isn’t open to the public, you can drive by it while on the road on Route 115 off of I-25. Bonus fact: the bunker was used for exterior shots in the movies Independence Day, Stargate SG-1, and Wargames.
Cheyenne Mountain Zoo – A mountain-nestled zoo that stars a mountaineer sky ride and open-space enclosures/exhibits.
Glen Eyrie Castle – Built by Colorado Springs founder, General William Jackson Palmer, this gorgeous English Tudor style castle is a beauty in the mountains.
Western Museum of Mining and Industry – Take a trip back in time to explore 19th and early 20th-century pioneer and mining life in Colorado.
The Stanley Hotel – A 2-1/2 hour day-trip drive north from Colorado Springs, Estes Park, CO is home to the iconic exterior location for the hotel featured in suspense/horror classic The Shining.

We hope you enjoyed our latest installment of the letterpress city series guide! Interested in shining a spotlight on your hometown? Contact us today! And if you are planning a letterpress-centric trip, be sure to check out the super cool print trip map on Letterpress Commons to find a printer near you!

The Printing Realm of Genghis Kern

Posted on June 24, 2016 by Cathy

A decade has passed and the creative gleam in Jason Wedekind’s eye still outshines even the brightest of metallic ink accent in his impressive printing portfolio. The Colorado-based printing realm of Genghis Kern has grown from two dozen cases of lead type & a single press to setting-up camp (and shop) in his dream workspace (not to mention acquiring a drool-worthy collection of hand-set and metal type). With one foot rooted in both the design & job world, Jason and his exceptionally gifted team have repeatedly pushed letterpress printing boundaries and amped up the creative oomph to their printed work. We stopped in to chat with Jason about the joys of printing, working with his mentor Tom Parsons, balancing life with two wonderful kids, and keeping up with the flow of community workshops.

(from left to right: Jason Wedekind and Jeff Shepherd of Genghis Kern)

DECADE OF PRINTING INGENUITY I founded Genghis Kern 10 years ago this May when I started printing for friends while working as an art director for a small design firm in Denver. I still remember the day when I bought my first press, leaving with 24 cases of lead type banging around in the back of my SUV and saying “what the hell did I just do? I don’t even know if I like this?!?!” I had been introduced into this wonderful world by Tom Parson, Denver’s poet/printer grandfather of letterpress, and founder of the Englewood Depot Letterpress Museum. The letterpress bug bit hard and hasn’t stopped biting yet. I spent many a night printing all sorts of fun stuff while learning the trade.

The firm I worked for got hit hard during 2009 and I was thrust into the world of self employment. With an 18month old daughter, it was stressful, but the payoff was rewarding. From day one it’s been a nice mix of design work and job work, with the goal being producing tactile work that makes both us and our clients proud. “One foot rooted in each world” is how a recent shop visitor described what we’ve built.

CREATIVE IN COLORADO Our current shop is my dream space. I drove by it in 1999 and said “That’d be a cool place to work” and now we do. It was a Hispanic Furniture and Record shop 2 blocks from my house. We have 2,000 square feet up front which we turned into a co-working space for creative types, and our 1,000 square foot print shop is in the back.

When I brought my current pressman/designer Jeff Shepherd on over a year ago, he mentioned he had a windmill in his folks’ garage. My garage shop was full to the gills at that time, but I knew growth was in our future. You see, I had moved my design arm of Genghis Kern out of my bedroom 2 years prior into a shared work space with 4 other creative firms. When I brought a pressman on, they worked in my garage and I ran back and forth the 5 blocks from the new “office” to the print shop. It worked, but grew tiresome. Let alone having to keep my house clean in case they needed to pee. I started looking for a new space that would allow us to combine a print shop and office space, and reached out to the owner of the furniture store blocks from my house. It had been vacant since 2005.

He agreed to my crazy plan and we broke ground in January of 2015, gutting the space and crossing our fingers that our floorplan for the pressroom would work out. Then the dominoes began to fall. We started with my original 10×15 C&P, an Asbern ADR-1 (German SP-15 Clone), a 10×15 Windmill, and a 30″ Challenge cutter. While doing the buildout Jeff saw a Heidlberg KSBA at auction that had inkers on it. My “dream” press. So we added that to the mix, quickly shuffling our floor plan to be to make room. Then one of the printers from our bimonthly printer’s lunch in Denver walked into our garage and said “Did you guys see that Vandercook for sale on the western slope?” Jeff ran inside and put an offer down on it. HIS dream press, a Vandercook 4.

We figured we’d deal with the floorplan when we had a floor to plan. SOON. So that became our current shop. We set the two proof presses up in our “type alley” where we host an occasional workshop. It’s fun having different presses to turn to when something goes south.

TL;DR: Our shop started out in my garage 10 years ago. 1 C&P and a cutter. I then moved 3 blocks and built my second “garage” shop, large enough to fit a C&P, Proof press (not yet owned), and a windmill (not yet owned), a stone and a cutter. What I neglected to tell my wife when we were designing the floor plan, was that if the presses were to move out one day, my dad’s vintage BMW motorcycle collection could slide right in where the presses once stood.

INTRIGUED BY LETTERPRESS While working as an art director back in 2003, someone brought in a beautiful custom duplexed letterpress/foil stamped card and said they wanted to add 3 initials to their name in 6pt. I looked at my print broker and asked “How the hell are we going to do that?” She told me letterpress. Hand-fed letterpress. I was intrigued. I knew of letterpress from the design annuals but had never been up close. That was about to change in a big way. I walked into the printshop of Tom Parson, our local “godfather” of letterpress and was transported to a different time. Tom printed that job and I said “I want a press (like every designer in the mid 2000s)” and he put me on the list. I asked him to teach me the process and he showed me how to do everything from hand washing plates to treadling. When it came time to print, he started kicking and I asked if I could try. He let me. The rest is history. I ended up kicking 600 cards in 40 minutes to which Tom asked “where did you learn how to do that?”. I told him my childhood was spent working in a decorating tool factory in Chicago, our family business which was started in 1908. Slave labor at its finest. But that slave labor instilled some hand eye coordination that I surely don’t complain about now.

FIRST PRESS 1922 10×15 C&P

PRINTING MENTORS Tom Parson will always be my first mentor, but my inspirations are the people out there pushing the boundaries and keeping the art of letterpress alive like Jen Farrell of Starshaped Press in Chicago. A day rarely goes by when I’m not wiping drool of my phone thanks to her instagram feed.

DESIGNED FOR PRINT I’m a designer and a printer. I’ve been hiring designers and printers. And we’re on a quest to turn some designers into printers. Feet in both worlds.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS My design process has been greatly influenced by the door that letterpress opened to the typographic world. Being faced with a design challenge and combining passions when applicable is the best feeling. Whether it be typographically or texturally, or both.

FULL TIME FUN, ALL YEAR ROUND Lately I’ve been printing a little more, but as the workload grows, I find myself printing less and less but enjoying the time in front of the presses even more. I’m also a member of the Amalgamated Printers Association, which is an incredible group of 150 printers from around the world who print 4x or more times a year. Each member gets a monthly envelope with everyone’s work in it. So creating for that keeps me on my toes and up to my elbows in type.

PRINTING FEATS I’m proud that I’ve been able to grow a business from a passion, and employ people with similar passions. I’m also proud to keep these ancient machines and type from the scrap heap. Those two kids I’m trying to instill a work ethic in before it’s too late? They make me proud on a daily basis. I think I complained more about “helping Dad” when I was their age. Eva and Jasper? Thanks for putting up with me!

BOXCAR’S ROLE The quality of Boxcar plates are unparalleled in my opinion. We have local photopolymer plate makers but letterpress isn’t their main focus. I know that if I get my artwork in on time, I’m going to get plates back quickly. And when there’s an issue with my plates, the help that the staff provides is top notch.

SHOP TIPS Embrace your local community. The amount of knowledge gained by the “olds” out there who aren’t getting younger, by the way, is invaluable. And most of them love sharing. If there’s no active community that you know of, start one by inviting over some old printers for coffee and donuts.

WHAT’S NEXT Just keep on organizing our new space. Offer a few more workshops. Streamline work flow. And continue to produce work we’re all proud of.

A huge round of applause (and thanks!) out to Jason of Genghis Kern for letting us get a sneak peek at his wonderfully creative printing world.

Shining Brightly at Dogs & Stars Press

Posted on February 8, 2016 by Cathy

Lafayette, Colorado is an award winning small city where Dogs & Stars letterpress shop calls home. This “Best Place for Young Families” and “Top Fifty Best Places to Live” community is an inspirational place for the edification and admiration of letterpress printing. Brian Wood of Dogs & Stars is banking on that to advance his craft in his new workshop. Getting into letterpress has evolved over a ten year period for this graphic designer. His early influence was old letterpress posters with inspiration drawn from wood type.

HUMBLE BEGINNINGS My first press was a Showcard 8×12” sign press. I took over our second bedroom and started a very makeshift shop, continuously adding the needs of a print shop bit-by-bit, eventually resembling a studio of sorts. Once more equipment and type cabinets arrived it was time to take over the next logical area of our home – the garage.

The shop has undergone a recent renovation thanks to the generous Kickstarter community. Before the conversion it was just a basic garage with letterpress stuff in there. It now features reclaimed chicken feeder lights, recessed can lights, solar tubes and four windows for lighting. The garage door remains, so it can be opened up during the warmer months for both natural light and fresh air. A fellow printer once told me to paint the floor to help improve temperature control. So the floor is painted a nice blue-gray using epoxy paint, so it’s durable as well.

THE SIZE AND LOCATION Our house had a 2 car stand alone garage that I have converted into a fully functional 400 square foot letterpress shop. It’s in the back of the yard so it’s tucked away. We live in a historic area of town that is starting to see some really cool shops, breweries and restaurants opening. I’m about 2 blocks from a coffee shop that carries my greeting cards and also hosted a letterpress poster show of mine. The local arts community is very supportive in Old Town Lafayette. There’s an excellent brewery less than 5 blocks away as well. I’m in good company.

THE PRESSES The work horse is a Golding Jobber No. 7 (10×15). I also have 3 sign presses: A Showcard, Nolan and Fremont. And a Golding Pearl that needs parts.

NUMBER OF PRINTERS IN THE SPACE It’s a one-printer show right now. It’s open by appointment only at this point due to location. But I’m happy to host anybody who wants to see what I have going on.

FAVORITE THING ABOUT THE SHOP My prized possession would have to be a toss up between my Golding Jobber No. 7 and the cabinets we had installed. They are impressive and have created an organized workspace for me. The Stik Wood reclaimed wood we installed on one wall is warm and inviting and everyone who visits loves it.

MOST VALUABLE SHOP TOOL I really value my quoin key. Without it, I would not be able to print on my platen press. My base and plate are the 6 x 9 boxcar base and the Jet 94FL plates.

PIED TYPE I do have some pied type floating around my shop, but I let it lay.

FAVORITE INK I use Van Son rubber based inks. My current favorite color is Warm Red. It always seems to cooperate, looks great on the press and prints well.

CLEAN-UP ROUTINE Boy, do I hate cleaning up. I use kerosene with Scott shop towels to clean up the majority of my mess. I use a paint scraper to get up ink on the ink disk and mixing stones.

ORGANIZATION ADVICE I do a good solid clean up after each project so things don’t get too hectic going forward.

PRINTING ADVICE Know your presses and what the limits are. Knowing what you can and can’t do on your specific press from the beginning can be helpful carving out your niche in the letterpress world.

Brian’s work at Dogs & Stars Press will continue to be type-driven and he laments that he was a few decades late on being a lino-type operator instead. Thanks for the insight and look into your creative new workspace.

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Tag Archives: Colorado

Letterpress City Tour: Colorado Springs

The Printing Realm of Genghis Kern

Shining Brightly at Dogs & Stars Press