In the studio...

Earlier this week, Beck was in the studio printing coasters for a DC Abortion Fund benefit. Aren't they beautiful?

She printed these onto chipboard on the Universal and then cut them out using a handy Martha Stewart circle cutter!

Happy Hour 7.11.11

Great Happy Hour last night... I think we set a record: all 4 working press (including the little Vandercook 0 proof press) were in use!! I don't think I've ever seen that before! 

Here's a shot of everyone in action:

Beck's project for the night was printing a poster for a fundraiser event for the DC Abortion Fund:

I can't believe I forgot to take a photo of the finished print!

Aly was working on some personal stationery for her and her husband. I liked the effect of the hand-inking:

Newcomers Eric Kerby and Lindsay Block experimented with typesetting for the first time and then printed on the Vandercook 0 (they had taken my Photopolymer class last month):

 

Fellow Photopolymer classmate Laura McLean did the same:

Here are Laura's prints... really impressed with the way she was able to ink so cleanly and register so nicely!

Lauren Emeritz printed some business cards on the C&P. She also brought in this ingenious drying rack that she made at home:

Using Beck's hot pink ink, Erika Pfeiler printed some note cards:

And lastly, here's a photo of my hand-inked prints of my very first linocut!

I had an awesome time and hope everyone else did too! Next Happy Hour is on Monday July 25. Hope to see you there!

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!

Mini-Workshop on Pressure Printing

This weekend Moira and I were in the studio noodling around with Beck and Ben, trying out some different things. We ended up doing some pressure printing (with a rainbow roll to boot). It was a fun afternoon and inspired me to offer a mini-workshop so more people could join in!

Here's a photo of Beck and Ben's pressure print of Ben's cat, Birthday:

 And a print of some wood type with lead ornaments using the same rainbow roll:

And now the workshop details:

When: Wednesday May 11, 6pm - 9pm
Cost: Just $20!
RSVP: Email me to let me know you're coming!

**UPDATE:  This workshop has been postponed to Wednesday June 1**

Happy Hour 4.20.11

Fun Happy Hour tonight!

Miranda set some type for an annoucement of her husband's graduation from law school:

Beck set type for a postcard:

And Kathryn printed some business cards on paper that she'd watercolored:

The paper:

The prints:

And the trimmed cards:

Didn't they turn out great?!

Maintenance Day photos!

Huge thanks to all the volunteers that braved the 20 degree weather and came out to our maintenance day:

Beth Schaible, Steve Cole, Aly Hurt, Beck Levy, Bob Cmarik, Jamillah Abdullah, Angelica Temoche, Bea Jackson, Robin Childers, Elizabeth Levenson, Marty Ittner, Daniel Zadorozhnny and Morgan Ward. 

Apologies for the poor photo quality... I forgot my camera and was stuck taking pictures with my phone!

Here's Aly and Elizabeth working at cleaning the bed and bearings of the Universal 1:

Look at the gunk they scraped off:

Here's Steve and Beck cleaning the 4T's lockbar's disassembled parts:

Nice and shiny! Wish I'd taken a "before" shot...

Former Letterpress Associate Beth Schaible working with Bob and Jamillah on the 4T:

Screenprinting Associate Marty Ittner swept and mopped the floor between and behind the presses:

Thanks, Marty!!

It's hard to believe that with all the hours and elbow grease we put in today, the presses could still use a lot more! We hope to have another maintenance day in six months or so to really get these guys in tip-top shape. Melanie, Leslie and I hope to see you at the next one!