LETTERPRESS - Saddleback College

LETTERPRESS
karen
taylor
department chair, graphic design and graphic communications
EXTERNSHIP 2009 • HATCH SHOW PRINT, nashville TN
and the INTERNATIONAL PRINTING MUSEUM, carson CA

what is letterpress printing?
“Letterpress is one of the oldest and most beautiful
printing techniques and dates back to the invention
of the movable type by Johann Gutenberg. It began
as an alternative to laborious hand-written
calligraphy. Metal plates with the images raised are
inked
and then pressed against soft, cotton paper.
Type was hand-cast and individual characters were
hand-set into lines until machine set composition
made the process easier. This technique is almost a
form of art rather than science as no 2 pieces are
exactly
alike. Because the paper is run through an
antique press dating back to the 1800s, each pieces
is subtly unique. Today, not only do letters appear
crisp on the heavy cotton paper, but you can feel
the recessed texture around the type. This is a
distinctive characteristic of letterpressing. From the
look and feel of each piece, it stands out among
other printing types found today.”
Pistachio Hill Letterpress Studio

Letterpress printing had almost become a
thing of the past but is now enjoying a
renaissance as people look beyond the mass
produced in favor of the handmade. The
boutique wedding invitation is responsible for
a lot of this resurgence, but designers are
turning and returning to the unique qualities
that can only be found in a hand printed piece.
The term 'letterpress' comes from the simple
process that brings ink and paper together.

It can be used as a traditional, or a very
contemporary medium

My goals with this externship were to see working letterpress shops in action,
and to spend time learning more about the flat showcard presses we currently
have at Saddleback, and the self-inking Vandercook #4 press that we’re hoping
to get. So in March I traveled to Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tennessee, the
oldest letterpress shop in the country, and then in April and May I spent two
days at the International Printing Museum in Carson, California. The designers
and craftsmen I met were inspiring and generous, and I’m grateful for the
opportunity to spend time learning from them. I learned a great deal of new
technical and practical information to share at Saddleback. I also got to
experience the history and the beauty of the artform of letterpress.

Hatch Show Print is the oldest
letterpress in the country.
They’ve been printing posters
for performers like Elvis Presley
and Louis Armstrong, and now
contemporary groups like The
White Stripes, since the 1920s.
Since 1992 they’ve been
supported by the Country Music
Hall of Fame, and make a great
number of re-strikes (reprinting
of original posters) as well as
new designs. Their philosophy is
preservation through production
- that by using and reusing
historic blocks and equipment
they serve as a forum for the
preservation of the letterpress
artform and an advocate for the
continuation of its distinct and
unique beauty.

Last year CNN hired Hatch to design and print posters for the presidential debates. The
photo on the left is Jim Sherradan, who runs Hatch Show Print, with one of the posters. How
does Jim explain the enthusiasm for letterpress in a world obsessed by the digital?
"The computer is the best thing that ever happened to Hatch. We're the antiheroes
of digital design," he says.

Here is one of their
Vandercook presses being used

Vandercook 4
Precision Cylinder Proof Press
The first Vandercook press was designed in 1908, and
gave rise to an increasingly more sophisticated series of
precision presses that lasted into the offset era. The
most popular models, the #3, #4, Universal, and SP
series, were designed for reproduction proofing of metal
type to make masters for photo-offset printing, and for
testing ink, paper, color, etc.
These presses are the gold standard for
high-quality modern letterpress work, and
are what most "professional" letterpress art
printers and private presses use today.

The International Printing
Museum in Carson has one of the
largest and most complete
collections of presses and print
machinery in the world. They’re
preserved as historical pieces, and
used as working presses.

At the printing
museum I was able
to work in their
letterpress facility,
using their large
collection of type
and image cuts

Working on a small
table top proof-press,
like one of the presses
we have at Saddleback

And then composing and printing for the
larger self-inking Vandercook press

I worked with Madeleine
Zygarewicz. She received her BA in
Book Arts at Mills College in 2000.
Her work can be found in special
collections around the country and
has been exhibited internationally.
She has her own imprint, Panorama
Press, printing posters, cards and
invitations as well as limited edition
prints and artist books. She is also a
letterpress printer at Two Piglets in
Pasadena.

The composed type, locked on the Vandercook press.

With the type locked up, and the
press inked, we printed posters and
cards that we had designed and set.