LETTERPRESS - Saddleback College
LETTERPRESS - Saddleback College 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
- Page 2 and 3: what is letterpress printing? “Le
- Page 4 and 5: It can be used as a traditional, or
- Page 6 and 7: Hatch Show Print is the oldest lett
- Page 8 and 9: Here is one of their Vandercook pre
- Page 10 and 11: The International Printing Museum i
- Page 12: Working on a small table top proof-
- Page 15: I worked with Madeleine Zygarewicz.
- Page 18: With the type locked up, and the pr
<strong>LETTERPRESS</strong><br />
karen<br />
taylor<br />
department chair, graphic design and graphic communications<br />
EXTERNSHIP 2009 • HATCH SHOW PRINT, nashville TN<br />
and the INTERNATIONAL PRINTING MUSEUM, carson CA
what is letterpress printing?<br />
“Letterpress is one of the oldest and most beautiful<br />
printing techniques and dates back to the invention<br />
of the movable type by Johann Gutenberg. It began<br />
as an alternative to laborious hand-written<br />
calligraphy. Metal plates with the images raised are<br />
inked<br />
and then pressed against soft, cotton paper.<br />
Type was hand-cast and individual characters were<br />
hand-set into lines until machine set composition<br />
made the process easier. This technique is almost a<br />
form of art rather than science as no 2 pieces are<br />
exactly<br />
alike. Because the paper is run through an<br />
antique press dating back to the 1800s, each pieces<br />
is subtly unique. Today, not only do letters appear<br />
crisp on the heavy cotton paper, but you can feel<br />
the recessed texture around the type. This is a<br />
distinctive characteristic of letterpressing. From the<br />
look and feel of each piece, it stands out among<br />
other printing types found today.”<br />
Pistachio Hill Letterpress Studio
Letterpress printing had almost become a<br />
thing of the past but is now enjoying a<br />
renaissance as people look beyond the mass<br />
produced in favor of the handmade. The<br />
boutique wedding invitation is responsible for<br />
a lot of this resurgence, but designers are<br />
turning and returning to the unique qualities<br />
that can only be found in a hand printed piece.<br />
The term 'letterpress' comes from the simple<br />
process that brings ink and paper together.
It can be used as a traditional, or a very<br />
contemporary medium
My goals with this externship were to see working letterpress shops in action,<br />
and to spend time learning more about the flat showcard presses we currently<br />
have at <strong>Saddleback</strong>, and the self-inking Vandercook #4 press that we’re hoping<br />
to get. So in March I traveled to Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tennessee, the<br />
oldest letterpress shop in the country, and then in April and May I spent two<br />
days at the International Printing Museum in Carson, California. The designers<br />
and craftsmen I met were inspiring and generous, and I’m grateful for the<br />
opportunity to spend time learning from them. I learned a great deal of new<br />
technical and practical information to share at <strong>Saddleback</strong>. I also got to<br />
experience the history and the beauty of the artform of letterpress.
Hatch Show Print is the oldest<br />
letterpress in the country.<br />
They’ve been printing posters<br />
for performers like Elvis Presley<br />
and Louis Armstrong, and now<br />
contemporary groups like The<br />
White Stripes, since the 1920s.<br />
Since 1992 they’ve been<br />
supported by the Country Music<br />
Hall of Fame, and make a great<br />
number of re-strikes (reprinting<br />
of original posters) as well as<br />
new designs. Their philosophy is<br />
preservation through production<br />
- that by using and reusing<br />
historic blocks and equipment<br />
they serve as a forum for the<br />
preservation of the letterpress<br />
artform and an advocate for the<br />
continuation of its distinct and<br />
unique beauty.
Last year CNN hired Hatch to design and print posters for the presidential debates. The<br />
photo on the left is Jim Sherradan, who runs Hatch Show Print, with one of the posters. How<br />
does Jim explain the enthusiasm for letterpress in a world obsessed by the digital?<br />
"The computer is the best thing that ever happened to Hatch. We're the antiheroes<br />
of digital design," he says.
Here is one of their<br />
Vandercook presses being used
Vandercook 4<br />
Precision Cylinder Proof Press<br />
The first Vandercook press was designed in 1908, and<br />
gave rise to an increasingly more sophisticated series of<br />
precision presses that lasted into the offset era. The<br />
most popular models, the #3, #4, Universal, and SP<br />
series, were designed for reproduction proofing of metal<br />
type to make masters for photo-offset printing, and for<br />
testing ink, paper, color, etc.<br />
These presses are the gold standard for<br />
high-quality modern letterpress work, and<br />
are what most "professional" letterpress art<br />
printers and private presses use today.
The International Printing<br />
Museum in Carson has one of the<br />
largest and most complete<br />
collections of presses and print<br />
machinery in the world. They’re<br />
preserved as historical pieces, and<br />
used as working presses.
At the printing<br />
museum I was able<br />
to work in their<br />
letterpress facility,<br />
using their large<br />
collection of type<br />
and image cuts
Working on a small<br />
table top proof-press,<br />
like one of the presses<br />
we have at <strong>Saddleback</strong>
And then composing and printing for the<br />
larger self-inking Vandercook press
I worked with Madeleine<br />
Zygarewicz. She received her BA in<br />
Book Arts at Mills <strong>College</strong> in 2000.<br />
Her work can be found in special<br />
collections around the country and<br />
has been exhibited internationally.<br />
She has her own imprint, Panorama<br />
Press, printing posters, cards and<br />
invitations as well as limited edition<br />
prints and artist books. She is also a<br />
letterpress printer at Two Piglets in<br />
Pasadena.
The composed type, locked on the Vandercook press.
With the type locked up, and the<br />
press inked, we printed posters and<br />
cards that we had designed and set.