What is playing in your earbuds right now? What keeps you engaged and entertained while you work, walk the dog, or drive in the car?
If podcasts are “your thing”, we know there are over a half million active podcasts to keep you engaged and entertained and learning. Have you given printing-related podcasts a chance? This article is all about content that speaks to your love and interest in letterpress, book arts and printing. It isn’t complete because there are new channels all the time but here is the start of a fascinating ride down the letterpress road.
Podcasts offer an international perspective on every topic. They showcase artists and personalities worldwide. This list is no exception. You’ll meet some hosts that you’ll connect with and it will be like hanging out with friends. It is very likely some of the interviews are with people you have met.
Come check these out:
Apple Podcasts– These have great stories of printers, scholars, artists and craftspeople.
Spotifypodcasts– Search for these podcasts for letterpress individual stories. Letterpress is often a topic that is a focus of podcasts with a much broader focus. Here are some episodes that are letterpress specific –
IBOOKBINDING.com ( based out of the UK)- There is an international flair to this website where you can hear podcasts, live streams and interviews. Topics include bookbinding in Scotland, Mexico, Northeast Africa, Finland and Greece. There is interesting book binding discussion like Medieval book binding and a Bookfair in Holland
The live streams include unusual book shops all over the world, and slightly fun off the wall topics like Human Skin bindings. There are visits to Russia and Paris and Belgium. It’s also nice to have a breakdown of the broadcast by key moments with minute markers to lead you to specific topics discussed. If you like a little video streaming too, they have videos by Facebook and YouTube
Books in the Wild (a podcast with a fun name)- This podcast investigates the hidden stories behind books and printed matter. Instead of reviewing books solely on their written content, they try to offer varying perspectives on everything from conception to creation to reception. This is a podcast about book arts: letterpress printing, bookbinding, artists’ books, small press and independent publishing, and stories from book history.
The Truth in This Art – Allison Tipton: Shaping Baltimore’s Artistic Landscape Through Letterpress
Last Click: Bonus Videos – If you are streaming with a tablet or computer and want a little video – here are a few bonus videos. Lots of ways to gain new letterpress info, instruction, and entertainment in these videos. So get your taste with these few here.
Skillshare.com (There is a fee for these). Topics include Operation and Maintenance of Heidelberg Platen, Getting Started with Letterpress and Instruction on Designing for Letterpress with Adobe Creative Suite Products.
Let us know what jewels you have found in your podcasting by sharing!
When Michael first met Patricia, she saw his printing press and said, “I’ve always wanted to have a greeting card company.” That’s all it took. Three years later, the duo has over 200 card designs via Sweet Bippy Press; a 1,000-square-foot shop, and is having more fun than adults should be allowed to have.
As co-owners, Michael and Patricia love coming up with ideas for new cards. For the last 30 years, the pair has been honing their skills—Michael in national consumer advertising and Patricia in sales and customer success. It’s a perfect match (the title of one of their card designs, coincidentally). Michael sat down with us to talk shop, vintage guitars, and a beloved press called “Vanderhalen”.
INK IN THE BLOOD “In 2002, I went on a press check at Full Circle Press in Nevada City. The owner, Judith Berliner, convinced me to buy my first press, a Chandler and Price. From the time I pulled my first print, I was hooked. Over the next couple of years, Judith went on to train me on her Windmills. She’s truly an angel”, said Michael.
PRINTING PARADISE We have an industrial space in an amazing warehouse in Petaluma, California. It’s called Watershed, and it’s a wonderfully creative building filled with fine artists, photographers, and woodworkers. We feel lucky and blessed to be here. The shop has a pretty minimalist decor. We painted the back wall PMS 137 to give it some energy. We are right on the Petaluma River. You’ll likely spot some competitive rowers, along with the resident egrets and Great blue herons.
ALL IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD Just down the block is an amazing artist, Marco Cochrane, who makes three-story-tall sculptures out of metal. We also face Petaluma River Park with a sculpture by Mark Di Suvero.
PRINTING MENTORS Judith Berliner of Full Circle Press. She’s taught me everything. Sometimes her methods are not “by the book,” but they often work better. We have fun trading printing tips.
THE CREATIVE SPIRIT “Beginning in 2023”, Michael says, “I’ve been printing full time and loving every minute of it. I approach design from my advertising experience. Then, I start with a pencil and paper (Blackwings are my weapon of choice). I find it helpful to get ideas from my brain to the page quickly. The winning sketch gets redrawn (often in Illustrator) and finally, good old polymer plates. I sometimes dream about having cabinets full of type, but I just don’t have the room.”
PRINTING FEATS I’m proud of our “Famous Guitar” series of greeting cards. Each features a different guitar from some of my favorite musicians. There’s Willie’s old Martin “Trigger,” George Harrison’s “Rocky” Stratocaster, and a bunch more. They are unique in that they are scored on the short side so that you can open them up and see the entire instrument. They also come with a custom Sweet Bippy pick.
PRESS HISTORY Our first press was a 1905 Chandler & Price platen press.
In addition to the C&P, we own three Heidelberg Windmills, two for ink printing and one—named “Metallica”—which is dedicated to foiling and die-cutting. Our latest purchase is a Vandercook No. 4, which we call “Vanderhalen”, says Michael.
BOXCAR’S ROLE Michael recalls, “When I started out, I didn’t have much of a printing network, and I was craving information. Boxcar’s site is chock full of great tips and information. I was an early adopter of Flurry paper—I think you offered it as a Kickstarter at the beginning. I love that paper. And the Swing Away Lay Gauge is amazing. All three Windmills have one. (Currently, one of them is hiding in the dark cavity below, but I will rescue it one of these days.)”
PRINTING TIPS 90% of printing issues are ink-related, so start light and add slowly!
WHAT’S COMING NEXT We keep adding to our Northern California collection of cards, and this year we plan to expand to SoCal and perhaps other states.
I’ve had a fifty-year obsession with QSL cards. And a newfound interest in letterpress. This is the tale of how they cross paths.
Dad had a cigar box full of these nifty “ham radio postcards” (aka QSL cards) from when he first got his license in the 1930’s back in Nova Scotia. Amateur radio operators, or “hams,” send QSL’s to one another to commemorate a contact they’ve made over the air.
Going after distant signals has always fascinated me. As a kid in 1960s Prescott, Ontario, I’d love to tune the TV dial, seeking out stations that were only there on certain days. Why did that happen?
As a young teen, I got bitten by the shortwave listening bug, especially after learning that shortwave broadcast stations sent their own QSL cards! Back in the 70’s, the Cold War was in full swing and the international broadcasters both East and West loved to hear from their listeners.
Shortwave broadcast stations (you’ve heard of the Voice of America, the BBC World Service, Radio Moscow, etc.) made for an effective way to hear varying points of view. They also were a wonderful source of exotic targets for a teen to go after. I wrote to every single station that I could hear and requested their QSL card. I would send them a reception report, telling them exactly when I heard them, on what frequency, and what was heard in their programming.
Many—even most—of these powerful international broadcasters have since left the air. Amateur radio is a little different from shortwave broadcasting. While both types of radio are found on shortwave, ham operators are not broadcast stations trying to reach a wide audience. Rather, they are individuals contacting other individuals.
In 1980, I got my Canadian amateur radio license and drew-up my very own QSL card. It featured one of my boyhood hang-outs, the lighthouse just two miles down the St. Lawrence River. (Look up the Battle of the Windmill near Prescott, Ontario if you like history.) I had the cards printed at a local print shop in Brockville.
Well, my love of shortwave listening and ham radio eventually turned into a 27-year career in radio broadcasting. At one point, that included six wonderful years as an international broadcaster at my favorite shortwave station, the “Voice of the Andes-HCJB,” in Quito, Ecuador. In fact, my wife, Lisa, and I were hosts of a program especially targeted towards shortwave hobbyists. We started raising our family in that beautiful Andean capital. Back in Ontario, Dad and Mom tuned in and listened to us each week, along with listeners around the globe.
Our family returned home in the mid 90’s and I continued broadcasting from Syracuse, NY. Eventually, I left radio to get into elementary teaching and audiobook narration. The teaching never got beyond subbing, while the narrating is something I still do on occasion. Two years ago, a steady position as a platemaker at Boxcar opened up. Letterpress was a different world to me—life on Jupiter might have been more familiar—but they were willing to teach and steady work was very attractive!
At Boxcar, Cathy Smith encourages all of us to use our department’s Vandercook Universal 1 for projects of our own. It’s an excellent way to learn and appreciate the printing side of letterpress. I’d done a few of these projects. However, I could never draw and ideas relating to visual artwork didn’t come easily to this audio-entrenched mind.
In the fall of 2022, I found myself re-bitten by the ham radio bug. However, if I wanted to receive QSL cards, I’d have to send QSL cards. By this time, though, I had an idea for a QSL, thanks to the hundreds of wedding invitation plates I had made over the past year. A map! I loved maps!
First, I sketched out a map of the roads around the hamlet of Navarino, our New York home since 1999. Next, I asked my daughter, Rachel (who also works at Boxcar) if she’d be willing to make some of her cute drawings for me for the map. Rachel was only too happy to give it a go and I was delighted with what she came up with.
At Boxcar, Rebecca put Rachel’s drawings onto my map and formatted the finished work for the negative. A second negative was made with the technical information on the QSL’s backside. I used a KF95 plate to make the first run of AB2FN QSL’s on green paper stock.
By the spring of 2023, I had sent all of these QSL’s to other hams and needed a new batch. This time, I wanted to try two colors on a lighter-color stock. Cathy had some 80 lb weight ivory stock with a felt surface. I went with an earthy brown and hunter green for the rural theme. We made a few small changes to the artwork (that’s Rebecca’s portrait of my head floating over the house). This batch went quickly and, with Cathy’s help, I found some more of the same paper on clearance and made a second run. This time, I used a KF95 plate for most of the card, but a KF152 for the”AB2FN” to give my call letters more of an impression. Our Universal 1 has an adjustable bed.
By August, it was time for yet a new supply. As southern Onondaga County is known for its apple orchards, I thought that an apple-themed border would work well. Rebecca brought this together and we went with red.
In the year since I began making QSL’s, I’ve sent out about 150 cards to hams in over 100 countries, including Australia, Andorra, Thailand, China, Scotland and Oman. While many hams use computer programs and printers to fill these out today, I really enjoy doing it by hand. It’s the feel of the pen contacting the paper, each time trying to improve my penmanship. For much the same tactile reason, I enjoy using an old-fashioned Morse code key to make most of my contacts, although I’ll use the microphone if there’s an exotic station I really want to contact.
And, to be honest, as a broadcaster at heart, I do like the feel of using my voice. A surprise was discovering that QSL cards and letterpress are a link shared by a number of hams! Ham radio and letterpress—especially the printing stage—have a similarity in that both arts require plenty of fussiness and fine-tuning. Besides a bond with past traditions, there is also the bond between an operator and his or her equipment, and the care in repairing and maintaining what is often older technology. Here’s a link to another blog by a fellow ham operator, QSL collector and letterpress printer. He designs his cards to match the early style used in the 1920’s and 30’s.
Not long ago, I was corresponding with a fellow whose ham-related small business dried up, partially on account of many hams today preferring “electronic QSL’s” over paper. The “QSL” is a jpeg sent over the internet.
Bleah!
As we lamented the loss of the old ways, I mentioned that I was so “old school” that I made my own paper QSLs on a letterpress. “OMG!” He replied, and then went on to tell me how his father had a printing business and taught him to handset type at age five. He eventually used his dad’s 10 X 15 C&P and a 9X12 Little Giant for his own at-home letterpress business, which included QSL’s!
Making my own QSL cards has given me a much deeper appreciation for the talented and dedicated artists at every stage in every department at Boxcar.
For this edition of our City Series, from the tides & (wooden) type to the colorful scenes of beaches and Everglades, the Extra Virgin Press owner shares his multicultural community of Miami, Florida. The people and the history continually inspire Tom Virgin in his printing as he works to grow letterpress and the Book Arts, particularly with kids. He was gracious to give the inside scoop on favorite creative places and eclectic hang-outs in the city that brings the heat.
HOME SWEET HOME This is kind of a tricky question. I spent my first two childhoods (decades) in the suburbs of Detroit. After two years in college, I dropped out, traveled the West with friends, and rejoined my family when they moved to South Florida. I lived in Boca Raton, Florida for the next two childhoods, eventually earning a BFA in Printmaking and a Florida teaching certificate, one or two classes at a time. I also worked as a gardener in the family business.
(All photography courtesy of Tom Virgin unless otherwise notated.)
In 1992 I moved to Miami, on the heels of Hurricane Andrew, to begin an MFA in Printmaking at the University of Miami. Remarkably, I found a tiny apartment in Coconut Grove. It turns out that finding a place to live in a disaster area is easier than I thought. I have lived in Coconut Grove ever since, moving to West Grove for the last ten years.
NEVER THE SAME DAY TWICE Miami is like going around the world on any given day. Almost thirty years of teaching in Title I Public Schools introduced me to the children of all the cultures that make up our city. They were generous to this gringo who grew up in the Midwest. I wake up each day in West Coconut Grove, the original historic Bahamian settlement that became the Black Grove. Think peacocks, huge Banyan and Tropical Almond trees, and a short walk to Biscayne Bay. My pre-WW2 apartment is around the corner and down the street from the Coconut Grove Playhouse, built in the 1920’s. This part of the Grove has many humble and historic Shotgun homes and is one of the oldest parts of the city.
Most days I drive twenty minutes north on I-95 through Downtown to Little Haiti. This was one of the original bedroom communities of the city. Much of the population is made up of Haitian immigrants. I am four blocks west of Little Haiti Cultural Center, Sweat Records, Laundromat Art Space and Carl Juste’s IPC Art Space. The City of Miami named a street after Carl’s parents, who were remarkable community builders and early immigrants to Miami from Haiti.
In the same neighborhood two blocks away is what used to be the Cuban Embassy pre-Castro. My shop is in a building (that used to be a grocery store) with Emerson Dorsch Gallery and Exile Books. Across the street is a lovely cafe named Sur. The family that runs it comes from Buenos Aires… Pastries, empanadas, sandwiches and family love daily. Did I mention the Mango Mint Lemonade? On either side of me are Panther Coffee and Clives Cafe, from Brazil and Jamaica respectively. Family is key around here. In the local Haitian grocery, you can buy Haitian peanut butter that includes scotch bonnet peppers as an ingredient. It was an epiphany for me.
BEAUTIFUL BEGINNINGS Since there are only two letterpress shops (that I know of) in Miami, and no strictly letterpress programs in any of the colleges or universities here, we can only work to raise more printers. Both Extra Virgin Press and my neighbors, IS Projects/Nocturnal Press, teach these lost skills in Miami .
My love of letterpress came from the many communities that have established printing and book arts cultures. I was in artists residencies each summer between school years for almost twenty years. NYC, San Francisco, the Twin Cities, Portland, and also a few National Parks.
We are printing and making a difference.
BOOK & PRINT CONNECTIONS A few months ago, Tropic Bound Book Fair debuted in Miami’s posh Design District. We are hoping that it will run in years opposite Codex as a biennial event. This fine press event brought many of my friends and teachers from around the US, to my neighborhood. The Fair organizers even brought a group to my little shop for a tour. Tropic Bound’s catalog for the show is coming out soon with all the participants. Hopefully, Boxcar Press will be here in February 2025. The event was supported by a Knight Foundation grant and organized by Ingrid Schindall of IS Projects, Cristina Favretto Director of the University of Miami Special Collections Library, and arts professional Sarah Michelle Rupert.
The O, Miami Poetry Festival has been bringing poetry to virtually everyone in Miami for over a decade. I have always worked to funnel some of that exquisite magic into my classrooms. Now that I am out of the classroom, they have welcomed me to their programs as an artist who works for kids. The most rewarding job I have ever taken on is making letterpress illustrations from one-word prompts, using wood type to “draw,” to accompany elementary school students’ poetry on postcards, mailed to the entire zip code of the elementary school that was home to the student poets.
This year we are planning to teach book arts to kids, to contain that poetry, and to disperse it into Miami. The poem on the roof of a parking lot submitted by artist/ designer Randy Burman is in the flight path of the Miami International Airport. It is memorable. Check out this video because, yes, a kid wrote that.
ONLY IN DADE (COUNTY) Miami has everything, everywhere, all the time, all at once…Always! However, there is not enough letterpress, yet. We are doing our best to make that Miami look. The whole world lives in this one city. For references go to @onlyindade. You will be shocked, delighted, and amazed. You may never drive in Miami again (hahaha).
ARTISTIC COMMUNITY SHOUT OUTS Miami is just beginning to develop a books arts/ letterpress community. Paper from Announcement Converters and French Paper has lifted my practice. Shell Lumber in the Grove has the best art supplies that a printer could ask for.
HISTORY MEETS PRESENT After 1513, when Florida was “discovered,” the native Tequesta Indians of the Calusa Nation carried on much as they did for thousands of years, according to recent discoveries by the mouth of the Miami River. Roughly three hundred years later Key Biscayne and Florida became a US territory. The Key Biscayne Lighthouse was built in 1825.
The causeway from the mainland to Key Biscayne was finished in 1947. When my friends from other places come to visit, I always take them to Bill Baggs Cape Florida State Park to see what Old Florida really looked like. The State Park faces the ocean on the East, Stiltsville to the South, and Coconut Grove on the West.
The ocean is full of life, Stiltsville is a historic part of another National Park- homes on stilts in the Bay that used to sell liquor during prohibition and allowed gambling, and Coconut Grove on the bay is for the rich, historically or otherwise.
EAT, DRINK, BE MERRY I would be remiss if I did not mention Harry’s in Coconut Grove. Harry was my student. His dad, of Michael’s Genuine fame, has several excellent restaurants in the city. I am now putting Harry through college one pizza at a time.
Garcia’s Seafood on the Miami River just west of Downtown is a family restaurant with excellent views of a working river, Miami’s culture, and the sounds of a city 24/7.
IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD Books and Books has been a cultural icon and gathering place for almost forty years. Mitchell Kaplan‘s regularly scheduled readings by locals and international authors plus the outdoor patio restaurant with a banned books mural keeps me coming back. Poets are a printer’s best friends.
Everything in Miami is a cultural attraction. However, on the last Friday of every month, Miami’s Critical Mass Bike Ride often travels through several of the less affluent neighborhoods. The cheering kids, smells of food cooking, variety of musical joy, and direct exposure to our varied population give me hope that we can all unite over shared changes in this city that include everyone.
EVOLVING CITYSCAPE There is rampant gentrification in Miami, especially in Little Haiti and West Coconut Grove. This threatens the places that I love the most, and many of the people, especially teachers. I have made three books and several prints since 2005 that reference these ongoing changes.
NOT TO BE MISSED Our Sunday Tai Class has recently moved south to Larry and Penny Thompson Memorial Park and Campground. This gem in South Dade, just past Zoo Miami, looks like Boca Raton did when I moved there in 1974. Slash pines, Saw Palmetto, big sky, exposed oolitic limestone, and freshwater lakes. Under the trees overlooking the lake, we forget everything but Tai Chi… And alligators.
Next up in our Letterpress Friend chat series is AJ Masthay. We are bowled over by the mesmerizing details in his concert poster series and his bright + bold color combinations. AJ is a Connecticut-based printer who always makes us wonder “What is he up to this time?!” We sat down for a quick minute to see what’s on his Vandercook (and beyond!) via Masthay Studios.
Boxcar Press: So good to catch up with you! We’ve all got the printing bug and we’re just curious about when you got “bitten”!
AJ: That happened back in my sophomore year of art school when I was first introduced to old-school stone lithography. Literally drawing on pieces of limestone, using leather rollers and gum arabic to reproduce beautiful full tonal drawings. It felt like the world of magic and alchemy to me, I was hooked.
Boxcar Press: Tell us about a press you remember fondly (or not so fondly) or one you have now that you prefer to use.
AJ: That’s my first Vandercook Universal I for sure. I found it through the help of one of my college professors, Jim Lee, a few years after I graduated. I was hoping to get an etching press as I figured that was the most versatile. Jim mentioned he knew of a Vandercook in a guy’s garage he was looking to sell. The only problem was it was completely disassembled and in pieces.
$500 later…. it was mine and I spent the next couple of months studying the presses at my former art school to figure out how to reassemble the Uni I in my basement. That’s the press that started my entire art career but I wound up trading it for my current “go to” press which is a Universal III. The hand cranking on thousands of print passes became a bit much. The larger format and motorized aspect of the Uni III just made it way more realistic for my shop. I’m also in the process of possibly adding a large Vandercook 32-28 to my shop which is very, very exciting.
Boxcar Press: What is something people might not know about you?
AJ: People that follow me might know this already but I have a deep fascination with bones and osteology and have been collecting skulls since I was a little kid. I now have a pretty extensive collection at the studio with well over 200 skulls of various species.
Boxcar Press: What is your printing superpower? Every printer has one….
AJ: This one is easy, my printing superpower is my coworker Kait Lennon (@longlegslennon on IG) who handles almost all of the printing in my shop these days. There is no way I could crank out the amount of work I do for clients without having someone else working the press and there’s no one I trust more with my work than Kait.
Boxcar Press: Anything you want to give us a sneak peak about or a current project you have in the works? Maybe one project that you are always going to get to but it just never seems to get done? (We all have one!)
AJ: I’m currently working on a series of new art prints that I’m calling my “Pet Projects” that I plan on releasing at my November 12th open studio event. Summers tend to be very very busy for us with client work (summer tours, festivals, etc.) Once we got through all that this year I thought it would be nice to take some time to work on a few pieces that I’ve been meaning to do but always seem to get pushed off.
LOL […] I have many many projects that seem to just never get done. Hopefully, I can check a few off with this upcoming show though.
Boxcar Press: Last quick question & just for fun(!) – Do you like to listen to podcasts or music in your shop while you create?
AJ: Both really, depends on my mood and what’s going on that day. I find music, usually very loud music, helps me get in the creative zone when coming up with overall concepts or working out compositions/layout. Podcasts seem better when I’m diving into detail work and fleshing out/completing drawings. Neither is written in stone though.
That was a delightful time, AJ. We’re grateful for the friendly chat! Visit his website link to delve more into the hue-filled world of masthaystudios.com.
Next up in our Letterpress Friend chat is Ben Sargent. A Texas native and avid Chandler & Price printer, Ben is an inspiration for the pursuit of printing knowledge, and offers some good chuckles, and stories. As the conductor of Sargent Brothers Printers & Typographers, he adds abit of charismatic style that comes only with letterpress.
Boxcar Press: So wonderful to catch up with you and delightful to have you. Speaking of delights… is there one defining moment or point that you just fell hard for printing?
Ben: It was last Christmas. I realized that was the date 60 years prior that my brother and I received our first press and type–a 5×8 Kelsey Excelsior, seven fonts of type, and the whole outfit. While we knew our Dad had been a printer in boyhood and we had grown up around the hot-type composing room of the Amarillo Globe-News, it was the first experience as “real printers” ourselves, and I never looked back.
Boxcar Press: Tell us about a press you remember fondly (or not so fondly) or one you have now that you prefer to use?
Ben: Three years after I began on the Excelsior mentioned above, Dad brought home the C&P 10×15 Old Series he and his brother had bought as teenagers in 1928. That is the press I use to this day. She is a graceful and hardy specimen from the long-ago era of well-built iron-and-steel machinery. “I love her well and she must love me….”
Boxcar Press: What is something people might not know about you that would surprise them?
Ben: Maybe they don’t know that when I’m not printing, I can often be found swinging on and off moving equipment as a fully licensed but volunteer brakeman and conductor on our local excursion railroad. Can’t keep me away from ancient technology.
Boxcar Press: What is your printing superpower? You definitely have one!
Ben: I usually think there are always people who can do better than I in just about every facet of this trade, but if I had to choose a superpower, maybe it would be the delight I have in continuing to learn things about every aspect of the work, even 60 years into it. Sometimes new techniques, skills, and understandings come from my dear colleagues both young and old. Sometimes there are things I just figure out on my own, but it is always a pleasure to learn one more of the apparently infinite things there are to learn about this craft.
Boxcar Press: Anything you want to reveal about a current project you are working on – even a hint or clue?
Ben: Recently, I had one of the most curious and interesting wedding invitations in the course of printing many, many such projects. The invitation itself is a thin 5 x 4 box. It was a challenge finding people who could do the tasks beyond my capacity such as the necessary die-cutting, duplexing, scoring, and laser-cutting of some tiny holes. Really the only part I had left was doing some letterpress on the inside of the box. But the finished box contains a computer chip the recipient plugs in and then touches the laser-cut openings to play various sound recordings from the happy couple. (The wedding involved a graphic designer and a computer engineer, so there you go.)
Boxcar Press: Given these current “strange” times, what is that one project that you are always going to get to but it just never seems to get done?
Ben: If I had to pick one, might be the 3rd edition of our handset-type specimen book, last published in 2010, and in need of an update. But the deck seems to stay crowded with job work even in strange times, so it does keep getting put off.
Boxcar Press: One last question before you finish your drink, an IPA from Texas-local Pinthouse Brewing called “Electric Jellyfish”, – Do you listen to podcasts or music in your shop while you create?
Ben: I always have my Pandora channels on, which beggar the word “eclectic.” I’ve seen a young typesetter friend’s eyebrows rise when hearing Brubeck–Mercedes Sosa–Gregorian chant–Booker T and the MGs–Tommy Dorsey–Handel–Brazilian bossa nova etc. all in a row.
That was an immensely fun time, Ben. Heartfelt thanks out to you for the cheery chat! Want to know more? Visit his website: http://sargentbrothersprinters.com/
Printing on press is as much a personal creative time as it is an experience you just can’t wait to share with others. This is an observation from Thom Caraway of the Spokane Print & Publishing Center. The full-time teacher and Center organizer has enjoyed creating a space where all interested in the craft could roll-up their sleeves and get inky. We spent time with Thom to talk shop, and to see how the printing world in Spokane is being discovered by others at their printing paradise.
GEARING UP FOR PRINTING ADVENTURES I’m a university English professor in Spokane, Washington via Whitworth University. I write poetry and teach classes in editing, book design, and print culture.
In 2015, I inherited a C&P from a printmaking professor who didn’t want it in the school art studio anymore. I was excited about it but had no idea what to do with it (or even how it worked). Shortly after, I met Bethany Taylor, who was getting her shop off the ground, and we decided to make a place where neophytes could come learn. She’d been to the Independent Publishers Resource Center (IPRC) in Portland, and we modeled ourselves off of their space and got going.
PRINTING CENTER COMMUNITY We closed Iteration one in 2018 when our lease ran out, and moved into the new space as Spokane Print & Publishing Center in 2019. With the bigger space, we were able to add more presses and expand from letterpress and screenprint into relief and etching as well. Later, we added book arts and digital design and printing. My favorite thing is when there are members spread out across the shop all working on different awesome things, especially if several presses are going at once.
ALL IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD We’re a 5-minute drive from the Kendall Yards neighborhood and the Spokane River. Downtown is just across the river, so we are close to food and shopping.
PART-TIME PRINTER, FULL-TIME FUN This is a side hustle from my day job teaching. I would love to get to a point where I could print full time though.
THE CREATIVE PROCESS I’m becoming more of a planner, but mostly I’m a seat-of-my-pants designer. I like seeing what happens with different applications of color, and big messy press beds full of wood type. From there, I might layer in a quote or phrase, or play around with the letterforms of larger wood type to see what happens.
PRINTING FEATS Making a more formal turn from writing to printing in the last four years has been a lot of fun, if a little nerve-wracking at times. But mostly I’m proud of our little shop. We’ve weathered COVID well, and offer classes pretty much every week now. I feel like we’re really developing Spokane’s appetite for the print and book arts, and training up a bunch of new printers!
PRESS HISTORY I have that first press – a C&P Old Style with a broken flywheel axle. Have still never gotten that thing fully functional.
BOXCAR’S ROLE We’ve gotten a bunch of ink from Boxcar, and had some plates made. And we’ve been meaning to order some logo plates, too!
PRINTING TIPS & TECHNIQUES I print mostly now on a Vandercook 14, which is really basic, so no ink rollers. Everything is applied by hand. My advice for letterpress printers is don’t be afraid to mess it up a bit. I love a nice clean print as much as anyone, but I’m also really interested in the accidents and goofs. Those are usually my favorites.
WHAT’S COMING NEXT I’ve got a full slate of letterpress classes spread through the year. I am hoping to grow our membership base once things open back up, and continue developing our Print Town USA events, which get the public into the shop for sales and demos, and are just a lot of (socially-distanced) fun.
A double round of applause & thanks out to Thom of Spokane Print & Publishing Center for letting us take a sneak peak at the wonderful community-driven printing center!
Our Letterpress Friend chat today is with Paul Moxon. He is synonymous with Vandercook presses. He is the resource behind the website vandercookpress.info, author of Vandercook Presses: Maintenance, History and Resources, and a printer of letterpress books and broadsides under his press name Fameorshame Press.
There is always much to learn from a conversation with Paul, who lives in Mobile, Alabama.
Boxcar Press: Why Vandercooks and proofing presses? What is the appeal and draw for you?
Paul: A forlorn SP15 in the corner of a printmaking studio was the first press to which I had access. The ratio of its footprint to the printing area was appealing. Experiment and production were satisfying and different than paste-up. In time, I found joy in teaching maintenance and making repairs. Sharing this knowledge with other printers has surprisingly become my life’s work.
Boxcar Press: Is there one defining moment that you can recall or point to that was the start of your printing career or business
Paul:Learning phototypesetting and paste-up as work-study in college.
Boxcar Press: Tell us about mentors or printers that you admire or set you on a particular path?
Paul: There have been so many. During college, Jocelyn Dohm (founder of the Sherwood Press) always welcomed me at her charming little job shop and endured my novice enthusiasm. Librarians Jim Holly and Elspeth Pope introduced me to fine press books. At Alabama, Glenn House, then retired, piqued an interest in maintenance. Fritz Klinke let me explore the Vandercook archives. Ian Leonard Robertson (Slow Loris Press) and I shared similar work experiences. His old school presswork and design was crisp and effortless. Most of his equipment is now in my shop, and I feel his jovial presence every day.
Boxcar Press: If you weren’t a printer or in the printing industry, what else might have been your career path?
Paul : A machinist
Boxcar Press: That is not surprising. You have referred to yourself as an independent educator.
What would you tell a brand new letterpress printer today?
Paul: Visit many shops, libraries, and museums. Attend wayzgooses, talk with everyone. Print on every kind of press you can big and small. Print every kind of form; lead, wood, copper, magnesium, and polymer. Strive for best practice. Read everything, especially old technical manuals and catalogs. Don’t be discouraged by the high prices of presses. Save-up, be patient, you become discerning over time. or grumpy old naysayers. Mistakes will make you an expert.
Boxcar Press: Tell us about a press you remember fondly (or not so fondly) or one you have now that you prefer to use?
Paul: I’ve printed on other makes of proof presses, jobbers, tabletops, hand presses, and even a windmill. Each had something to teach me. (Someday I want to print on a Heidelberg cylinder and a Little Giant.) I love my Vandercook No. 4. It’s great for production and teaching maintenance. I’ve printed on, tuned up, or inspected thirty Vandercook models, including some rare ones—nearly a thousand in all. But there are still a few I haven’t worked with, such as the 30-26 four-color press. Hopefully, post-COVID.
Boxcar Press: You have mentioned that you are fascinated by the vintage equipment and tools. Tell us about one of the best or most used or most admired printing tools you can think of?
Paul: Hard to choose: my loupe, paper thickness measure, and Align-mate are essential. But I love the elk-bone folder/plate lifter I made at Penland twenty years ago when I met Jim Croft.
Boxcar Press: What is something people might not know about you that would surprise them?
Paul: I can’t type, just hunt-and-peck. But I can handset type like a motherfucker.
Boxcar Press: What is your printing superpower?
Paul: Being able to diagnose presswork and mechanical issues.
Boxcar Press: Anything you want to reveal about a current project you are working on – even a hint or clue?
Paul: Right now I’m into printing postcards. My last one is about the USPS and Trump enabler Louis DeJoy.
Boxcar Press: What is that one project that you are always going to get to but it just never seems to get done?
Paul: A book of three poems by a deceased, local author. I commissioned lino-cuts from Lauren Faulkenberry (Firebrand Press) a few years ago, but I fear that they may be drying out.
Boxcar Press: Last question – Do you listen to podcasts or music in your shop while you create?
Paul: Music is essential. Big Joanie, Dinner Party, the Hu, and Idles and are in heavy rotation. The rest of the time I’m streaming KEXP.
That was an enjoyable time, Paul. Thank you for the friendly chat and we’ll plan another. Paul is also involved with the American Printing History Association, that encourages the study of the history of printing and related arts and crafts. Visit his links to vandercookpress and fameorshamepress.
We are “pulling up a chair” with Don Black, a Northern neighbor from Scarborough, Ontario.
Don is winding down his business after 50 years and the dismay and sadness of that is still a jolt to our letterpress community.
A warehouse of heavy metal and wood is not an exaggeration describing Don’s business. He and his family, particularly his son, Craig, have helped and talked with thousands of printers and artisans over those decades. Sadly, Craig passed away last year and Don is eyeing a quieter life.
Boxcar Press: It’s a delight to hear your stories. Let me first say, thank you for your kindness to me and all the others who were at one time new to letterpress printing. It must be a screwy time right now with the business..
Don: We are super busy with the closing of our business. Our General Manager Albert Kwon is invaluable in this endeavour.
Boxcar Press: Let’s go back to the beginning. Is there one defining moment that you can recall or point to that was the start of your printing career?
Don: The defining moment that I knew I wanted to make Printing a career occurred when I went for a tour of the Globe & Mail (newspaper based in Toronto, Canada) with my uncle who worked there. When I saw all the equipment in the Composing Room I decided this was for me.
I started to work at the Globe & Mail before I was 17 doing all the delivery jobs etc. Then I served a 6 year apprenticeship as a Linotype Machinist.
Boxcar Press: Tell us about mentors or printers that set you on a particular path?
Don: While working there was a machinist, Ed Hull, who helped me immensely by guiding me and tried to keep me on the right track. I think about him often and am super thankful for all he did to help me.
While working as an apprentice at the Globe & Mail, the Credit Union ran a contest for the best designed Printing job. This was open to seven Printer apprentices, but no mention about Machinist apprentices. I questioned them and received permission to submit an entry. Believe it or not, I won the prize of $25.00 I still tease my friend today, who was a printer’s apprentice, that a machinist apprentice beat a Printer apprentice at the Printer’s trade.
Boxcar Press: Where was the next stage in your career?
Don: I left the Globe & Mail in 1964 when the three Toronto newspapers went on strike. I started to do freelance service on letterpress equipment.
Then I received the Canadian dealership for Letterpress Equipment for Canada from Canadian Linotype Company. This was a big help as it opened doors coast to coast and helped me to meet many great people.
After I started my business in the 1980’s I became acquainted with an equipment dealer in Cleveland, Jack Boggs. He bought and sold all kinds of printing equipment. Over the next 30-40 years, we did a super amount of business. He liquidated printing shops that were closing or upgrading equipment. I purchased many truckloads of equipment from him. It was great as it gave me access to things I could not find in Canada. We still do business today and without a doubt, he is a big reason we have been successful.
In the early 1970s, something strange happened when the Globe & Mail decided to update a lot of equipment. I purchased most of the Composing Room which had some great equipment but also included were eleven machines which were now outdated. They had originally cost approximately $25,000.00 each, less than 10 years before. The value in scrap was less than $500.00. We made a large copy of the cheque and mounted it with the eleven nameplates from the machines. It has become quite a conversation piece that we still have at the office today.
Boxcar Press: What does the legacy of Don Black Linecasting mean to you as you slowly wind it down.
Don: I would say it’s the fact that we have been in business more than 50 years, conducted and did business with wonderful people all over the world and helped to keep Letterpress alive.
Boxcar Press: You handled so many of pieces of equipment, they can’t even be counted. Can you tell us about a press you remember fondly?
Don: We have a Baby Reliance Iron Press which we purchased from a customer in Winnipeg. It is a beautiful press and I could have sold it many times, but Craig, my son, always said don’t sell this press. Now that he is gone and we are closing down, I am going to let it go to a collector that had talked to Craig. I know Craig would be happy that it is going to someone who will treasure it.
Boxcar Press: Thank you Don for those great memories. We’ll talk more soon. Can you leave us with your favorite printing saying?
Don: Go with the Best! Go Intertype.
Time is ticking down on getting equipment from Don, give him a call or email to ask what he has and chances are, you’ll get a nice deal. www.donblack.ca
Get out your loupes and magnifying glasses for our cool printing press edition of Spot the Differences! There are 20 differences in all. Can you spot them?
And don’t forget, we’re keeping the fun going all week long for Letterpress Appreciation Week.
Answers and results will be revealed on Friday, September 20th, 2019 so stay tuned!