Casting Off With Debra Barclay of Ancora Press

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press is a well-travelled printer who was inspired by the work of William Blake. She creates in her garage-turned-printshop and shares with us her lifelong printing mentors / friends she’s made along her print journey (as well as a favorite printing moment involving a Girl Scout Troop and a Vandercook).

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

WASHINGTON STATE PRINTER

My name is Debra Barclay, and I am a letterpress printer in Woodinville, WA. I live in Woodinville with my husband, 7-year-old daughter, 6-year-old son, 6-month-old Labradoodle, and two pretty lucky black cats, Uno and Tres. I’m a New Jersey transplant by way of Brooklyn, Virginia, Rhode Island, and Oregon. My favorite color at the moment is PMS 310 (light teal).

THE LURE OF LETTERPRESS

For my undergraduate degree, I attended Providence College in Rhode Island. My degree is in English Lit/Creative Writing and Printmaking. My senior year, I took a course on Romantic Literature and fell deeply in love with William Blake’s work. William Blake was a poet and printmaker who developed techniques to bring his poetry into a more visual realm. He combined text and image in a way that I had never seen up to that point. His poetry became visual as much as text-based, and he made it so the poem’s meaning was directly enhanced by the calligraphic lettering, colors he chose, and the overall design. In this way, he elevated the printing of information into a visual experience rather than just a transfer of data. At that point, I knew that I had to integrate my two passions: creative writing and printmaking.

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

After I graduated, I started looking into bookmaking classes. I found a school that had a very small but well equipped Book Arts Program. This was when I found the Oregon College of Art and Craft. I immediately enrolled in a few classes, packed my bags, and moved to Portland.

I really didn’t know what I was getting into, as far as letterpress printing goes.  But there I was, learning to handset type and run a Vandercook under the tutelage of two women. Kathy Kuehn is a master printer at Pace Editions in NYC and Caryl Herfort,  a letterpress printer from Texas who was there as the Artist in Residence. Many may know of Caryl from Roto Press (Rest in Peace, Caryl). Both of these women inspired me to experiment and play with the medium.

A CREATIVE ADVENTURE

As I continued to set the type for a short story I had written, my mind exploded. It was so crazy to be able to touch thoughts and ideas – letterforms as material objects with a history and life of their own just struck me on a very philosophical level. I then locked up my form in the school’s Vandercook Universal, and ended up a bit deflated. This was off course from my Blake path, as Blake didn’t use handset type in his work, possibly for this reason. Yes, typesetting is intimate, but once it gets on press and you print it with great craftsmanship, it does not show any of the depth or meaning that it had taken on when I handled it.

It was much more sterile and generic than I had envisioned my piece to be, given how emotionally and physically closer I had become to the words. This created some friction between me, the machine, and process. I moved my printing over to a hand rolled proof press, where I was determined to get the “hand of the maker” involved. Then, I hand-inked each pull, and ran the pages through one by one, skewing the registration so they would all be unique.

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

I actually still have a scar from this very first print run I did, as my thumb got caught in the cogs of the press as I was enthusiastically running pages through. The end result was a very artistic interpretation of letterpress! I created an art installation with the small edition of books I made with this experiment. I filled three walls of a gallery with the pages, and set up three of the spiral bound books on pedestals where viewers could flip-through the pages. The only requirement was that they wear white gloves, as is common practice when looking through fine press books.

However, the white gloves I provided were covered in black printers’ ink. So, the viewer/reader added and changed the book as they engaged with it – a visual representation of how we all change and alter language as we use it. It becomes a relationship where both parties – the ideas/text/ poetry and the reader/viewer – are changed through the interaction. We are all changed in sometimes undetectable ways by every interaction we have.

I then began to approach letterpress a bit differently, and started to think more about how words are laid out on the page, how the colors might interact with one another either through size, proximity, or overprint. I also started to notice the beautiful impression that letterpress machinery gives to the paper, making the text both a visual AND tactile experience for the viewer/reader.

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

A LETTERPRESS CONNECTION

Through this experience, I reconciled and truly fell in love with the exacting nature of letterpress machinery. It was through these experiments that I concluded that when I create, I am collaborating WITH the machine. With this finely engineered letterpress machinery, the ability to disseminate information in a way that allows for the content to be given the entire spotlight would now be possible. We are true partners. With that, my deep connection with letterpress continued to grow and develop into where it is today. I utilize the impeccable precision of the machinery to allow me to elevate letterforms, words, ideas, and everyday life moments into experiences with tactile beauty and time-tested craftsmanship.

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

HOME GROWN PRINTING

Ancora Letterpress is a custom letterpress print shop located about fifteen miles Northeast of downtown Seattle. We do custom designs working directly with clients as well as printing for graphic designers and other print shops who come to us with a pre-existing design of their own.

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

My shop feels like home. Mostly because it’s attached to it – in my garage! I have two 10×15 Heidelberg Windmills and an 8×12 Chandler and Price. I also have a photopolymer platemaker and a small guillotine paper cutter. My favorite thing about my shop is that I get to create there! Truly, it’s a dream come true. I also really like the commute.

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

WOODINVILLE WONDERS

Woodinville is a tourist destination, as we have over 100 tasting rooms, wineries, distilleries, and breweries within a stone’s throw from my shop. This can be dangerous, but it’s really quite convenient mostly. Chateau St Michelle is probably the largest winery in the area. They have concerts on the lawn in the summers and beautiful grounds to walk around and picnic on. In the summer, we can hear the music from our backyard, which is usually a good thing. We also have a really cool theatre production company in town called Teatro Zinzanni, which recently moved to Woodinville from Lower Queen Anne in Seattle. From their website: “Teatro ZinZanni…is a three-hour whirlwind of international cirque, comedy, and cabaret artists…”

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

I really love living here because it’s quiet and we have lots of space. Our house is nestled into trees at the end of a cul-de-sac, yet we are incredibly close to the city. Woodinville is described as “subrural” as it is somewhere between suburban and farmland. One of our neighbors has a horse grazing in her front lawn pretty regularly, and the one across from her has over a dozen chickens on his property. We have a growing Arts community thanks to the Woodinville Arts Alliance in town.

PRINTING MENTORS

Oh gosh! This is a hard question! So many people have helped me get to where I am today. Esther Smith and Dikko Faust of Purgatory Pie Press were my first inspirations, as they were my first apprenticeship out of school. Dikko’s skills as a printer always inspire me, and Esther’s vision and ability to draw inspiration in the everyday is joyous.

My former boss Scott Hill of Workhorse Press is a great mentor as I continue to build my business. He’s readily available to help me with any questions I have about presses, printing, or the business side of things. I’ll be forever grateful to him for taking me on as an employee and teaching me so much about the production side of letterpress. Scott is a printer by trade, with a very keen eye for how to bring a design to life on paper.

Jami Heinricher of Sherwood Press is my most recent mentor and inspiration. She taught me how to run a Heidelberg platen, and for that I am forever grateful. She helped me troubleshoot one of my presses’ weird quirky problems, and even helped me back out my stuck Windmill, after my press pulled 6 sheets of 236# Flurry Cotton paper! I admire her business model, and her tips and tricks have saved me hours of time. My friend George Feakes of Impressive Inkreations has been an incredible mentor, giving me both sage printing and business advice, insights on efficiency, and an amazing amount of support.

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

All of my local letterpress trade guys are all absolutely my savior. After running letterpress for 40 years a piece, they collectively know everything, and there’s nothing they can’t make run correctly with just a little bit of tape and 18 point card stock. They’re also really down to earth and easy to talk to, and I love hanging out with them.

My husband, while not a printer, has been an amazing source of inspiration and strength. He single handedly moved my C&P and first Windmill up from Portland and got them situated on the garage floor. He also gave up a large portion of his workspace to allow me to have my studio. We are now looking into building him a lovely shed in the backyard for his woodworking tools for when I get a few more pieces of equipment this coming year.

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

GROWING THE DREAM

My business works out to be part time at the moment. I bought some equipment in early 2018, and spent about 6 months getting myself up to speed on the equipment and its particular quirks and what-have-you. Technically I’ve only been available to the public for about 7 months. I do plan to continue to solicit work and build relationships with designers, as well as develop a personal line of designs that I can offer to clients. Full time is my goal. I want to generate enough consistent job and print work so that I can take on an employee. There’s only one thing better than being a letterpress printer, and that’s sharing the workload!

THE CREATIVE FLOW

My process always begins by sitting down with the client and getting to know them a bit. I love getting to talk to people about their vision and translating that into a printed piece. I spend a fair amount of time gathering as much information as possible from the client. If it’s a wedding invitation, for example, I ask the bride to describe the ceremony and the type of event they’re going for. Is it modern, traditional, minimal, outdoor, etc? This narrows things down a bit. I get their wedding colors and match them to a PMS color that we all agree on pretty early on. I show them samples of my previous design work and see if anything stands out to them, either by way of technique (blind emboss, overprinting, etc) or if the tone of anything resonates with them.

At that point, I will begin a preliminary design. I find that this is really when the fun begins. It’s important to have a jumping off point, even if the design itself isn’t the final vision. It’s much easier for people to point out what they don’t like and for me to come up with alternatives to that, rather than envisioning something out of thin air. This has really worked well for me so far. I really enjoy the collaborative process during this stage of design.

PRINTING FEATS

I was the Arts Director of the Virginia Center for the Book from 2001-2003. While I was there, I helped run workshops and host events that built community involvement in the letterpress shop. I also created panel talks and art installations for Charlottesville’s annual Festival of the Book, which is a week-long event covering all aspects of books, from publishing, illustrating, designing, and reading. I also taught a class in the Art Department at the University of Virginia.

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

What I loved most about my time there was introducing the history and craft of letterpress to so many people in a variety of settings. One of my favorite moments was teaching an outreach program for a local Girl Scouts troop. I had the girls (who were all about 7 years old) run a pass through the Vandercook Universal. While I was in another room showing a group how to fold and slit the paper into a book, a girl came running out of the print shop in tears. Her mom asked her what was wrong, and she said through her sobs, “My print is over-inked!”

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

PRESS FAMILY

The very first presses I owned are my current ones – a 10×15 Heidelberg Windmill and an 8×12 Chandler and Price treadle that’s been converted with a motor. It’s funny that my first presses are both platens, since I learned to print on Cylinders. By the time I was ready to buy and had the space to have presses, Vandercooks were way out of my price range. Before this, I had always managed to access community print shops or presses belonging to friends.

BOXCAR’S ROLE

Boxcar has helped me in so many ways! Mainly, making resources readily available has been key. It’s a one-stop-shopping kind of place. They have given me the luxury of going slowly in building up my knowledge by offering a place to get it all done, and with such ease! The Boxcar Base has made life so much easier.

Before the Base, I was using magnesium plates.  I found them to be much softer and more unpredictable, requiring more make ready due to being mounted to wood (not consistently flat on the bottom, and easily prone to warping). Being able to have predictable quality in my tools has allowed me to focus on perfecting my skills as a craftsman. The ability to buy paper, envelopes, order plates, and pick up a random thing I might need here or there (can of ink, roller gauge) has been fantastic. I can’t say enough good things about the Boxcar Press website flow. It is extremely user friendly, is quick and easy to navigate, and borders on foolproof!

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

I also love the How-To tutorials, which have increased my knowledge of my presses. Also, I cannot say enough great things about the staff. I have had random moments of panic where I’d forgotten to upload a small file for platemaking, only to call out an S.O.S. to Rebecca Miller, who swiftly and promptly put out the fire and saved the day! Working with Boxcar Press is like having a staff of knowledgeable and kind pre-press geniuses just an email away!

SHOP TIPS

Get the crop marks! This is something I don’t always do myself, and pretty much every time a two or three color cropless job goes to press, I spend twice as much time trying to get position. Even with one color jobs, I like crop marks once it gets to bindery. They seem like a luxury, but really they save you a bunch of time. And time is money, as well as a whole lotta frustration!

Spend the money! I’ve been there…I have tried to get away with a short cut, or making do without a particular tool or gadget (the Swing Away Lay Gauge comes to mind here). In the end, I end up spending way too much time having to figure out a “cheap” way to do something. Again, I’ve spent money, and potentially compromise the quality of the end result of the printed piece.

Debra Barclay of Ancora Press (Washington state, USA) prints beautifully on a Heidelberg Windmill.

If you’re running a blind deboss on a stock that isn’t 100% cotton, or super plush, you can achieve a similar effect by adding a small amount of color that matches the paper stock with a ton of transparent white. Or, if you’re running a bright white sheet, opaque white right out of the can will do the trick.

I’ve also added a touch of yellow to gold ink in order to give it the punch it needs to stand out on an absorbent stock.

PRINTING ADVICE

Letterpress is a lot of troubleshooting and problem-solving. Isolate problems, ask for help from fellow printers that you know, or reach out online. One of the things I love about letterpress is how knowledgeable and helpful the community of printers is.
Also, a motto I like – Stay modest, do good work, enjoy life outside the shop.

WHAT’S COMING NEXT

For the upcoming year, I will continue to grow my clientele. I also plan to add equipment so that I can add foil and emboss to my skill set. Currently, I am creating a design line, more of my own greeting cards, and some stock offerings that can be semi customized, like monogrammed note card sets and Holiday cards. I also hope to learn to paddle board!

The Inquisitive Printer: More Things That Caught Our Eye

Our focus lately has gone from New York to New Mexico and over the water.  We hope you enjoy what has captured our attention this week.

From Carrie: A windmill printer at Boxcar Press.
On the Letterpress Digest podcast: As a giant letterpress and book nerd, I was so thrilled to hear about a new product devoted to my beloved particular form of the Black Arts. The host, Jordan, interviews printers, suppliers, and others active in the field.  It has been a treat to hear my letterpress heroes talk about their adventures and get to know others I may have missed out on otherwise.  The interviews have been engaging and educational and had me laughing at things only other print nerds would find funny.  Even though only a dozen episodes have aired, I can’t wait to hear who will be next.  This is exactly what my printer’s heart was longing for – hearing letterpress things while making letterpress things.

From Cathy: On Facebook, there is a great resource of printing brains and experience over at The Heidelberg Letterpress Page so I have been encouraging all to join this group.

Next, I am a big fan of knowing how things are made, so this story in the New York Times combines some pretty nifty photography with a good story on one of America’s last pencil factories.  It raises my respect for this basic tool.

tom leech(photography courtesy of savingplaces.org)

So excited to see an article about the Print Shop and Bindery at New Mexico’s Palace of the Governors, with an interview with printer, Tom Leech.  Tom and I have corresponded over the years so am loving this peek into the working shop / museum.

From Rebecca:  Coming in May 2018, the inspiring folks over at the Corning Museum of Glass (just a day-trip drive from our location here in Syracuse) will be launching the GlassBarge ship.

barge(photography courtesy of Corning Museum of Glass)

This barge ship will sail through the New York Waterways (visiting & stopping from ports in Brooklyn to Buffalo) this spring while giving free glassblowing demonstrations to the public in each port city on its itinerary. A rare and wonderful event that we’ll be checking out when it comes to town!

We hope you explore some of our links and perhaps learn a little bit more about the things that caught our eye here at Boxcar Press.  Email us at info@boxcarpress.com the things that delight you also!

Sweet Prints at Typebee

Typebee studio’s very own Breanna White’s extraordinary printing journey started with a curious stumble over a classified for a letterpress internship. After the pull of the trip, the instantaneous (and quite insatiable) hook set in. Fast forward a few years later and Breanna is bridging the gap between old generation printing and new printing techniques at her cozy shop. With a small pile of chocolate at the ready (as she’s unabashedly a chocoholic), she sat down with us between ink runs to talk about her escapades for printing with DOMA coffee, the joy of working with her hands, and her inspirational (and aspiring printer) daughter, Jaedah.

A hand-on approach, cheerful attitude, a love for letterpress, and lots of chocolate are what energizes Breanna White of Typebee studios.

CREATIVE CHOCOHOLIC PRINTER In a nutshell, I’m a biodynamic gardener, book nerd who loves chocolate, not coffee… I know, designer’s sin, guess that’s why I’m a printmaker for a coffee company? Wait, how’d that happen?

LUCKY WITH LETTERPRESS It all began as a child, being handed the assembly-required gifts at holidays. I was attracted to the process of building. Starting with a myriad of unfamiliar objects, working through the technical illustrations labyrinth to arrive at a complete, usable item. One could imagine clicking a mouse eight hours a day wasn’t exactly filling my cup. So when I was tasked to find an internship, I began researching the tail end of design. Printing. I stumbled across a listing for a letterpress intern at Steel Petal Press reading ‘hand skills required’. That’s me!! Embarrassed to admit, I didn’t even know what letterpress printing was at the time, but I remember the very moment when I pulled the trip, making my first impression. I was hooked. Not just the impression, the whole of the process. There is something magical about process, the unfolding of a project over time. Since we are by design process-oriented beings, process-oriented tasks help us connect at a deeper level.

Letterpress work samples from Breanna White of Typebee studios.
Letterpress work samples from Breanna White of Typebee studios.

With that, I found myself traveling to Webster, NY to purchase my first letterpress. A C&P Pilot from Ray Czapkowski at Dock 2 Letterpress. After meeting Ray, I realized his generation of printers understood the process from a practical and mechanical point of view. Which is necessary in the modern, because who are you going to call when the drive wheel from the 1924 New Style C&P decides to fly off at random, rolling towards your boss innocently sitting in the corner? Or when the original wood spool cracks during a lecture to NIC Students causing the belt to slip? It’s helpful to understand how the equipment functions so you can identify and fix malfunctions. The drive wheel was stripped, so I tapped new holes. The spool no longer had an evenly arched surface causing the belt to ride the higher route jamming it against the motor, so I evened it out with duct tape for the sake of continuing the lecture until it could be repaired. These are lessons learned from people like Ray and Ed Regan who taught me the historical and technical aspects of letterpress. There’s a lost generation of printing knowledge, it’s important to bridge that gap, and ask questions because knowing the limitations of the output gives way for good input. Start with output and work backwards.

A hand-on approach, cheerful attitude, a love for letterpress, and lots of chocolate are what energizes Breanna White of Typebee studios.

COZY PRINT SHOP It’s 400 square feet of pure bliss. If there were a shower, I’d highly consider moving in.

DESIGNED TO PRINT My initial training is in Visual Communications with a BFA from the Illinois Institute of Art – Chicago along with typographic studies from HGK in Basel, Switzerland. So I wear both hats but I enjoy printing most. And the fact that I get to wear an apron to work is pretty appealing. I’ve been fortunate to work with a diverse group of clients and designers and enjoy the collective efforts. Having had prior experience with the design process does give the ability to communicate effectively with clients and designers alike.

A hand-on approach, cheerful attitude, a love for letterpress, and lots of chocolate are what energizes Breanna White of Typebee studios.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS Research. Research. Research. Then long walks to visualize the final idea and from there work backwards taking into consideration the output of the design before creating a roadmap, also known as the lost art of sketching. Coupled with many chocolate intermissions. If I find myself spinning the wheel, I take another walk to get the creative juices flowing. Once I have a tight comp, I’ll bring it in digitally. My least favorite part of the process…

FULL TIME PRINTER I letterpress full time in parts for the last two years and have been printing for five. I own my business, Typebee Letterpress Printshop and also subcontract for companies like DOMA Coffee Roasting Co.

COFFEE TIME Finest coffee you’ll ever taste. It’s of an unfortunate irony that I cannot drink it. Here’s the story:

A hand-on approach, cheerful attitude, a love for letterpress, and lots of chocolate are what energizes Breanna White of Typebee studios.

As a recent arrival from Chicago, I soon understood searching for studio space in Spokane, WA would become a Quest of Epic Proportions. And as the universe would have it, a trail of crumbs led me to the front door of DOMA Coffee Roasting Co. in Post Falls, ID. I have had the fortune to work unique jobs in my lifetime, cleaning a coal mine for one but in no way did I know solicitation for letterpress restoration would be one of ’em.

Following my 30-second elevator pitch to Mindy, Jack-of-all-DOMA, I awkwardly lingered in the front entrance. I’d like to believe before words were ever exchanged between Rebecca, owner of DOMA, and I that we knew something magical was already in the making. After The Wonderful World of DOMA tour, we came upon our last stop, The Press. If you have ever felt motionless in a point of time whilst all else carries on around you… The Press was that point. And some employees would admit, a hindrance between point A and point B.

If you can imagine a 5’3” lady weighing approximately 120 lbs. soaking wet wearing denim coveralls too many sizes too big, with nitrile gloves and a half face ventilator mask… well, there I was with wire brush and mineral spirits hand scrubbing a 2,500lb. cast iron beast of a lady clad with God only knows what. I think too often we perceive the old as something to avoid or something to replace. Letterpress printing is more than ink on gorgeous paper; the process represents a historical pivot, one of equal corporative between craftsman and machine.

A hand-on approach, cheerful attitude, a love for letterpress, and lots of chocolate are what energizes Breanna White of Typebee studios. A hand-on approach, cheerful attitude, a love for letterpress, and lots of chocolate are what energizes Breanna White of Typebee studios.

After the letterpress was restored, well someone needed to operate it. For a time I flew back and forth between Chicago and Idaho to fulfill orders. It was in November of 2014, DOMA was having an open house for the Winter Wonderland coffee bags and Lee from Letterpress USA stopped by asking a lot of questions. At first I thought she was interested in the process but later realized I was being tested on my expertise. Less than ten minutes of her departure I received a phone call asking if I’d like to work for Letterpress USA. I said yes without thinking, hung up the phone and realized that I lived in Chicago!! Ha. So naturally I went home and packed the car and then headed west. I currently work part-time for Letterpress USA as a journey(wo)man learning Die Cutting, Perforating, Scoring and Foil Stamping.

On the side, I offer private lessons and lecture about the history of letterpress & the process of printing. Also just began a joint Greeting Cards venture: CardCo Lab is a collaborative letterpress project managed by myself, printmaker Bee, and creative writer Michal Bennett. Our purpose is to craft exquisite and one-of-a-kind letterpress greeting cards that connect brilliant artists, creative minds, and judicious consumers. Each card that we create is printed as a limited edition run and is only available until sold out. Then it’s on to the next beloved project.

PRINTING FEATS The first one that comes to mind, is restoring DOMA’s New Style C&P. It had sat for 30+ years and needed some TLC. When we fired Er’ up for the first time, Rebecca, owner of DOMA, and I just looked at each other in a state of ‘is this really happening?!’. Another was when I finally mastered printing on bag gussets without a break in the ink. The Addy Award was a proud moment too.

PRESS HISTORY My first letterpress was a C&P Pilot from Webster, NY. In a few weeks Bootup (boo-dup), will be having a new home in San Jose, California. Er’ is a well-traveled press: New York to Chicago to Post Falls to San Jose. Tear tear, Er’ will be missed. Other presses in the shop: Pulowech (pul-lah-wetch) a New Style 12 x 18 C&P, Nukumi (noo-goomee) an Old Style 10 x 15 C&P and hopefully coming soon Nakuset (nah-goo-set) a Heidi 10 x 15 Windmill from Seattle. Much needed for my poor back.

A hand-on approach, cheerful attitude, a love for letterpress, and lots of chocolate are what energizes Breanna White of Typebee studios.

BOXCAR’S ROLE Letterpress in the modern would not exist at its current capacity without Boxcar Press. This is where technology and old world methods meet. As I’ve said before, letterpress is a process in a non-process oriented world. People want to push buttons and enjoy instantaneous gratification. If it weren’t for platemaking services like Boxcar, I’m not sure how practical letterpress would be from a turn-around standpoint. Personally, Boxcar has helped me from the very beginning from understanding what base/plates to use, troubleshooting and same-day turn around when you’ve overlooked placing the headline in your artwork. Oops. As Michael at Letterpress USA says, “Print Happens.” Thank you Cathy, Rebecca and the Boxcar team for all you do!! And I have to say, I think it’s important to create and foster relationships within the printing community. It’s exciting to see people joining the craft, which keeps us moving forward. Boxcar has always been that pillar in the letterpress community.

A hand-on approach, cheerful attitude, a love for letterpress, and lots of chocolate are what energizes Breanna White of Typebee studios.

SHOP TIPS Never count anyone out, by that I mean we all have something to teach and something to learn. Ed is a great example. He was considered a mere mover of presses. After striking up a conversation he became one of my greatest mentors. And has a treasure box of information and history one couldn’t believe. One of my favorite stories of his is about simultaneously running three Heidi Windmills as a youth. I remember being in awe, now I can do the same. Picture your vision, and enjoy the process of getting there.

WHAT’S NEXT I’m working towards offering everything under one roof; design, letterpress, packaging and finishing. I’ve spent the last seven years learning each part of the process in depth and would like 2017 to become a year of transition from being a solo printer to having multiple people of their respective fields working together with Typebee. Press on.

LAST THOUGHTS The most important piece to all of this, are my daughter Jaedah and her sidekick MoMo, a rainbow stuffed sock monkey. They’ve always been at my side and eager to spin every flywheel we come across. She’s my little inspiration and aspiring printer.

Immensely huge round of thanks out to Breanna of Typebee for the unique glimpse into her exceptionally awesome printing realm!

Letterpress coasters for The Lab Creative

We recently worked with The Lab Creative — new neighbors of ours here in the Delavan Center — to create custom letterpress coasters for a recent building-wide open studio event. The team at The Lab created a cool video showing their entire process, including the coasters being printed on one of our Heidelberg Windmills. Take a look!

Sweetly Printing With Essie Letterpress

In the warm, flowing hills of Citrusdal, South Africa and nestled near the scenic Piekenierskloof Mountains is a tea, flower, and citrus farm. Explore just a little bit deeper into the farmland, and you’ll be surprised that amidst the sun-soaked fields is Essie Letterpress, the cheery printing abode of Ben and Vanessa Grib. From beginnings rooted deep in interior design, illustration, and a need to create, the printing duo took up letterpress as a means to satiate their creative cravings. We caught up with Ben and Vanessa between print and harvest runs to catch the scoop on how beautiful life can be with just a little more letterpress in the world.

Ben and Vanessa Grib of Essie Letterpress stand proudly with their Heidelberg Windmill.

FIELD CUT FLOWERS BY DAY, LETTERPRESS BY NIGHT We are a husband and wife team that operate from a flower farm on the Piekenierskloof Mountains in South Africa. We love creating notebooks, artworks, coasters and everything in between. Vanessa does all the printing and the day-to-day running of Essie Letterpress, while Ben does the design work when he is not farming. We just had our second little boy.

CREATIVE BEGINNINGS Vanessa started out as an interior designer. When she lived in San Francisco in 2001, one of her flatmates was taking a letterpress course and she fell in love with it. Ben has always been interested in illustration and design, and decided to teach himself while he was still a fruit trader. When we decided to move to the country, Vanessa needed a career change and was looking for something creative to do. Letterpress seemed like a new and exciting option, because it was not really done in South Africa at the time. It was quite a story to get the necessary equipment sourced and delivered to the farm, but we managed to find a machine in the back of a University storeroom. The rest was trial and error and Youtube videos.

The flowing hills and farmland that surround Essie Letterpress, one of South Africa's best letterpress print shops.

IMPRESSIVE VIEWS Our shop is a large open space with beautiful views of the farm. We converted an old farm shed into our studio, so we still get the occasional odd surprise, like a flash flood through the roof or a snake living in your drawers. It looks over an awesome dam and is surrounded by daily farm activities, so you have to be careful of speeding tractors.

Flower fields that surround Essie Letterpress from South Africa offers gorgeous views. Farmland views of Essie Letterpress are scenic and beautiful.

GETTING INSPIRED We wished we could have some mentors, but unfortunately they are all very far away. We had to stick to our manuals and run google hard for solutions. We are very inspired by Studio on Fire, Starshaped Press, Letterpress de Paris and Mink Letterpress. Artists that inspire… that’s a list too long to mention in case we leave anybody out. Every year we compile a list of our favorite local designers and invite them to do a calendar with us. That way we get to work with all our favorite people.

DESIGNED FOR PRINT We are trying to evolve to the kind of studio that only prints our own creations. I know this is not always possible, but we design with specifically letterpress in mind and we try and steer all decisions within the process’s limitations. It’s always fun being your own client. That being said, some projects need a specialized focus and then we get in the big guns for peace of mind.

Gorgeous floral and botany coasters printed by Essie Letterpress out of South Africa.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS The design process normally starts with a spark of inspiration while we are walking our dogs or picking flowers. This leads to some rough sketches and normally ends up on the computer. We like to alternate between digital design and hand drawn, as we believe both have an equally important place in letterpress. We try to steer clear of one specific style, and it’s always most exciting to try a new approach or technique. We like to let the product lead us in the direction that it wants to go.

Glamourous and eye-catching gold foil letterpress printed notebook from Essie Letterpress.

FULL TIME FUN Vanessa has been printing full time for the last five years, while Ben pops in through the day to fix the machine or mix a new color.

PRINTING FEATS We are very proud our own own little retail space in Cape Town that sells our products to the general public. It is nice to know that people are buying our products and putting it in their homes. It makes us feel that we have a small impact on people’s daily life.

Vintage hexagonal travel-themed vintage letterpress printed coasters from Essie Letterpress wow the eye.

THE IRON-CLAD BEAUTIES A Korex proofing press was our first press. There was a steep learning curve and a very tiresome process trying to print 150 three color wedding invites, one slow roll at a time. We learned a lot about the importance of paper quality and really thin ink.

SHOP TIPS These machines have personality, and as with all personalities, they sometimes have bad moods. So If something is not working, walk away, have a cup of tea, look at the trees, and then try again. It will always turn out better.

Beautifully printed nautical-themed letterpress print from Essie Letterpress.

WHAT’S NEXT We are currently taking it easy due to our new baby and only printing a few select projects. But we are using this time to re-evaluate what is important and molding our company to a more streamlined and effective beast.

Huge round of thanks and applause out to Ben and Vanessa of Essie Letterpress for letting us get an up close look at their wonderful printing world!

The Right Type With Cotton and Pine

Letterpress is one part technique, one part soul, and it takes brilliant creative know-how to bind both together. At Cotton and Pine in Montgomery, Alabama, this is no exception. Recruiting from some of the finest talent that Alabama offers, Cotton and Pine has been a dynamo on the letterpress printing scene (from distinct die-cuts to eye-popping prints) and hasn’t stopped since its inception two wonderful years ago. We were able to catch a glimpse of this incredible printing abode in the Deep South to see just how brilliantly letterpress can shine.

        Printing on the Miehle, Heidelber Windmill, and Chandler & Price at Cotton and Pine.

MODERN MEETS VINTAGE Cotton & Pine is a combination print shop and design studio. The company was founded in Montgomery by Daniel Mims and Steven Lambert, and was designed to be a place where modern design and vintage printing could come together in collaboration.

LETTERPRESS BEGINNINGS The idea that eventually became Cotton & Pine Creative came to Daniel and Steven of Mims Management Group after years of searching out and collaborating with talented and dedicated craftsmen and creative minds from across the Southeast. They had spent some time finding and working with letterpress printers and that ultimately led to the idea of housing printers and designers under one roof.

Cool letterpress printed Father's Day cards from Cotton and Pine press are a visual treat!

RECLAIMING LETTERPRESS Our shop is split down the middle: half for designers and half for the print shop. The shop is outfitted with hart pine beams reclaimed from a hundred-year-old cotton mill located in Lanett, Alabama. We’ve surrounded our letterpress machines with a wall of windows so that anyone who comes in the shop can see the presses at work.

The gorgeous and spacious atrium of Cotton and Pine presshop is inviting and hearty.

DESIGNING FOR PRINT We have a staff of printers and designers who we’ve recruited from across the state of Alabama and we are very proud to be powered by home-grown Southern creativity and craftsmanship.

Southern craftsmanship and perfectly inked prints from Cotton and Pine press.

THE CREATIVE PROCESS We design a very wide range of materials, from personal stationery, to business collateral, to wedding invitations. And we approach each of these projects in a unique way, based on the client’s wants and needs. But designing for letterpress is always unique and exciting. We love playing in a wide spectrum of different aesthetics, whether it’s an elegant wedding invitation, a sophisticated business card, or a playful postcard.

The wonderful Miehle press of Cotton and Pine plus colorful printed piece by Cotton and Pine.

FULL TIME FUN We’ve been in business since 2013, but our printers have had decades of experience as full-time printers.

PRINTING FEATS We are always really proud of the projects that pose an interesting challenge. For example, we printed, letterpressed, and bound a special edition book for a poet from London. We are also always really excited for any project that allows us to combine letterpress with other printing processes, like foil stamping, embossing, or die-cutting. 

And it’s always a fun project when we get to fire up our 1908 Miehle, which can letterpress up to 26″ x 40”. We’ve had several jobs where we got to hand carve plates and print them on the Miehle—those are the ones that are always really striking and eye-catching and have so much character and individuality in each print.

Die cut letterpress building piece expertly printed from the fine folks at Cotton and Pine press.Grand Opening printed sign is bold and beautiful for Cotton and Pine.

BOXCAR’S ROLE Boxcar has been an absolutely incredible help to us! As we receive new projects and continue to take on new challenges in letterpress, we are so grateful for Boxcar helping us to improve on our work every day.

Bright and cheery "Heart of Dixie" printed piece from Cotton and Pine.  Printing on the Miehle press at Cotton and Pine.

PRESS HISTORY We were very lucky to inherit five letterpress machines from a hundred-year-old family-owned print shop in Birmingham, Alabama. Our real work horse is our Original Heidelberg Windmill, but we also have an Original Heidelberg cylinder press, a Chandler & Price, a Kluge 14×22, and a 1908 Miehle.

SHOP TIPS FROM US “Roller trucks and bearings need to be in tip-top shape to achieve good printing quality, especially on a Heidelberg Windmill. You can achieve fine print without having to mix such thick ink.” – Larry (be sure to check out Larry on press here!)Cotton and Pine's very own Larry Champion in near a beautiful Heidelberg Windmill.

“Don’t give away your secrets. And if you have trouble, make sure the problem isn’t between the floor and the switch.” – Johnny.Johnny Oates of Cotton and Pine is all smiles in from of his shop.

“Don’t use 20 year old Pantone books, and don’t eat chips in bed.” – Steven.Printing on the Miehle press at Cotton and Pine.

WHAT’S NEXT This summer we are attending several music and arts festivals across the South, where we’ll be selling letterpress goods from our retail shop, C&P Mercantile. We love getting a chance to meet other Southern artists and craftsmen and sharing the beauty of letterpress in something as simple as a note card or coaster that anyone can take home and enjoy.Gorgeous "Y'all Come Back" Alabama lettepress print from Cotton and Pine.

Huge heaps of thanks and a round of applause out to the wonderful folks at Cotton and Pine for giving us a peek inside their shop!

Printing Details At Clove St. Press

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.

Daniel Heffernan of Clove St. Press adjusts his Heidelberg Windmill.
Letterpress printed playing cards printed exquisitiely via Clove St. Press and Daniel Heffernan.(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.

A young "printer-in-training" watches Daniel Heffernan print at Clove St. Press.

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.

Beautifully printed details of business cards by Daniel Heffernan of Clove St. Press.

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.

Family letterpress love runs abound at Clove St. Press!Critical printing pressroom tools such as quins, roller setting guages, brayers and ink knifes are all apart of a letterpress print shop.

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!

Finely printed metallic gold ink business cards from Daniel Heffernan of Clove St. Press.

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.

Immpecable detail and craftsmanship of printed letterpress navy and white packaging via Clove St. 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 Buzz of Wasp Print

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.

Nicholas Hurd of Wasp Print shop in Brooklyn

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.

Nicholas Hurd of Wasp Print shop in Brooklyn

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.

Letterpress samples from Wasp Print shop in Brooklyn

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.

Nicholas Hurd of Wasp Print shop in Brooklyn

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.

Letterpress samples from Wasp Print shop in Brooklyn

Behind the scenes at Wasp Print shop in Brooklyn

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.

Letterpress Posters by Wasp Print

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.

Heidelberg Windmill at Wasp Print in Brooklyn, NY

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.

Letterpress samples from Wasp Print in Brooklyn

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!

Cutting Edge With Keeganmeegan & Co.

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.

Keegan Wenkman and Katy Meegan of Keeganmeegan and Co. in their letterpress shop.

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.

Keegan Wenkman washes down his Heidelberg Windmill with Katy packing up luscious letterpress goodies.

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

The colorful print wall of Keeganmeegan and Co.

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.

Type drawers, Heidelberg Windmills and the press shop, oh my!Keegan Wenkman and Katy Meegan set-up plates and letterpress posters.

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.

Gorgeous, colorful examples of letterpress printed treats from Keeganmeegan & Co.

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.Hand-carved printing plates and a shop view at Keeganmeegan and Co.

Extraordinary attention to detail is not spared while viewing the letterpress posters of Keeganmeegan & Co.
Keegan-Meegan-_IMG7

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.

Letterpress ink color prints for a poster printed at Keeganmeegan & Co.

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.!

Discovering Pergam Press

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.

Fabiano Santos of Pergam Press highlights the important things: Family and Heidelberg presses.

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.

Fine invitations, heritage printing presses,and lucky charms: Courtesy of Pergam Press.

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