Birthday Card Fundraiser Preview #2

Yay! We've got some more completed (and semi-completed) birthday cards!

In case you didn't know, Pyramid turns 30 on April 9 and we're going to be selling sets of birthday cards at the party.

And on to the photos!

A shot taken by Marty of the "done" pile:

Bridget's first color (a really pretty one!):

Erin's awesome orange and pink design:

And a beautiful print of Megha's that I found in the scrap bin!

I'm loving how different these all are!

The studio is pretty much booked solid for the next two weeks, so stay tuned for the another preview shortly!

Happy Hour 3.16.11

Hello there friends!

Better late than never.... I've finally gotten around to posting pics from last week's Happy Hour! The card above was printed by Miranda on the tabletop. Here's really cute action shot:

The yellow "hi" was printed using some wood type here at Pyramid. The "hello there friend" was a bit of type that Miranda added to a photopolymer order that was going to Boxcar.

Steve and Morgan came to work on some typesetting projects. Can't wait to see what each of them cooks up!

And lastly, Melanie and I spent most of time prepping for printing.... Mel worked on an inventory of all the various papers she has and I worked on cutting my 22" x 30" paper into 4.5" x 6.25" sheets. We're both preparing for our upcoming Grey Moggie/Orange Tabby joint ventures!

In the studio...

Earlier this week, I was in the studio with Melissa Livingston printing a passage by George Bernard Shaw so she could get her remaining hours for certification.

Melissa inking up the Universal:

Her first color:

Her inked photopolymer plate for her second color:

And the resulting print (this beautiful initial cap was made from one of the files available at Briar Press):

Obligatory drying rack shot (doesn't everything look great on the drying rack?):

The extra fun part was that it was Melanie was teaching Jeremy Lin how to use the C&P at the same time!

Tip #6

Marty sent me this photo:

The plan was to come print her birthday card in a creamsicle color. However, because the previous user didn't fully clean up, the creamsicle ink came out looking ochre (the lower print)! After a cleaning, she got the desired color (the upper print).

So the tip is to always fully clean the rollers! And if you're printing in an especially bright (or light) color, you might want to consider doing a check and a preventive cleaning, just in case. But, let's all try to fully clean up after ourselves each time we print. Remember, the golden rule... you wouldn't want someone to leave a dirty press for you, would you?

Birthday Card Fundraiser Preview #1

In conjunction with Pyramid's 30's Birthday Open House celebration on April 9, we will be selling sets of letterpress birthday cards designed and printed by various members of our PA letterpress community. All proceeds from the sales will go to fund Pyramid's awesome programs and facilities! 

This weekend kicked off the busy printing period for this project. We now have two (and a half) designs printed!

Steve's metal and wood type card, with a nod to the Beatles' "Birthday" song (Steve - I was thiiiis close to doing something with the song myself!):

 

Drying rack shot of the front of my own card design, also set in lead type:

And the inside:

Put them together:

And the first side of Marty's design:

I can't wait to unveil the complete sets at the Birthday Open House! Hope to see you there!

Tabletop class

I happened to be at the studio while Melanie's Introduction to Tabletop class was going on. It's  always great to see a group of new and enthusiastic letterpressers! Here's a few shots of the class:

Introductions:

 

Going through the basics of setting type (with volunteers Miranda and Maggie to help):

Students plugging away at setting type:

Locking up in the chase:

 

Maggie helping some students with their lock up:

The first student, getting ready to print:

Unfortunately, I didn't get any shots of the prints that were made. I hope to see everyone in the studio again soon!

Next Saturday: Photopolymer class!

Intimidated by the process of designing and printing with photopolymer? No need to be! I’ll be teaching my photopolymer class this coming Saturday March 19. This class is designed for those who’ve printed with metal/wood type before and want to learn the basics of using photopolymer, which allows us to print digital designs on the presses. I’ll go over how to set up plates on the press and everyone will print a page of useful tips to take home with them. Then we’ll go over how to design for printing with polymer, how to order plates from Boxcar Press and take a look at individual projects. Register for the class here!

Here are some photos of a photopolymer project taken by Aly Hurt. Aly was a student in my polymer class last year and designed the January page in the 2011 Pyramid Atlantic Letterpress Calendar: