Wood Type Poster class

Found some evidence from Leslie's Wood Type Poster class around the studio:

 

And some photos from Jim's blog from the class:

Wish I'd been around that day to see the other projects!

Happy Hour 4.18.11

Some photos of last week's fun happy hour!

Here's a shot of everyone plugging away at their various projects:

Steve experimented with hand inking some wood type:

Kathryn printed more of her awesome business cards:

And Jim re-set the Robert Graves poem he'd printed during the Intro to Tabletop class earlier this month. He printed it onto some wonderful handmade paper:

And unfortunately, I forgot to get photos of what Melanie and I were working on! Hope to see you next time!

Tabletop Class photos

A long overdue post with photos from Melanie's May 7 Introduction to Tabletop Letterpress class!

Here was Lauren Emeritz's project for the day:

And some action shots:

 

And a great photo from Jim's blog of his lockup in the C&P:

Tip #11

At the last Happy Hour, Erin Brophy was browsing around and discovered something that I'd never noticed before: she found that the type for monograms in the ornament drawers have holder/border pieces to go with them!

I set the letters "MOM" thinking I might make a last minute Mother's Day card:

Unfortunately, I was too tired and didn't get around to printing these. Next time! Can't wait to see how they turn out!

In the studio...

I caught Leslie in the studio as she was printing some lovely posters for her meditation group's next meetings:

Love the linocut and love her use of the star and sun ornaments!

Happy Hour 5.4.11

There was some wood type action going on at last week's Happy Hour!

Here's a poster Beck made for her sister's graduation:

And a Mother's Day card that Erica set:

And while she was at it, she printed a linocut for her dad (he loves herrings):

Hope to see you at the next one!

Birthday Card Sets at ArtSpring!

Our Letterpress Birthday Card Fundraiser sets are now available for purchase at ArtSpring - at their brand new location at 921 Ellsworth Drive, Silver Spring MD.

So get your set(s) plus other handmade goodies there!

(You can still purchase the birthday sets online: click here for photos + online purchase instructions).

In the studio...

Pretty sure this is a first for the blog: a moving announcement! Check out the ones Melanie printed recently:

I love the cute illustration! See her blog post about it for more info!

Letterpress Daily!

N is for this neat site that Melanie sent over to me, Letterpress Daily! They post images of a new piece of wood type every day. Check it out!

Maintenance Day!

In light of my post yesterday.... It's time for another maintenance day!

Saturday July 2, 10am - 2pm

To Do List:

• Tackle the gripper bar on the 4T (schematic above)
• Clean off another layer of grime and funk
• Assemble the 4T's lockup bar with replacement parts
• Organize the studio
• Sort type

As always, volunteers will be rewarded with volunteer hours (to exchange for free studio time) and pizza!

If you plan on coming by, please RSVP by emailing us!

**UPDATE: Please note that Maintenance Day has been changed from May 22 to July 2**

Tip #10

With all the traffic lately the studio and the presses have sort of taken a beating. Which makes it time for a naggy post about cleaning! So, here's a tip, plus a bunch of reminders:

Tip #10:
Remove the lockup bar (or push it to the front of the press) when it's time for cleanup. It commonly sits at the end of the press bed - so when you roll out the carriage for cleaning, oil and solvent can drip onto the lockup bar:

Which can result in gunky oil build-up and/or rust (below):

Reminder #1:
Dirty rags (i.e., rags that have any amount of ink, oil or solvent) go in the red fireproof bin in the Printshop. They do not belong on the table:

Nor do they go back in the clean rag drawer:
They go in the fireproof bin because they are a fire hazard!



Reminder #2: 
Put away furniture, quoin, key and other tools!

Reminder #3: 
Be gentle with our Boxcar bases. They are not indestructible, so please do not make cuts on them, drop them, drop other stuff on them, etc. Our large base (which cost over $500) and our small base are showing some damage:

Reminder #4:
Don't leave the rollers up in the vertical position! This is only for cleaning!

Reminder #5:
Make sure the rollers are in the UP position - unlike in the photo below!

 
And lastly, Reminder #6: Please remember to sign in, sign out AND get a staff member to initial the log sheet when using the studio (even if you are trading in volunteer hours!) We are all responsible for keeping the presses and studio in good shape and this provides a good way to troubleshoot when things go wrong!

Note: Unlike some of my other photos, the one above is intentionally blurry!