Letterpress Demo at Interfaces 2010

This past weekend, Dennis and I carefully packed up our little Kelsey press and hit the road. We were graciously invited to speak and do a letterpress demonstration at Interfaces, a conference that’s put on by the International Academy of Design and Technology. At the end of our talk, attendees got to print their very own postcard.

We designed a two color postcard so we could demonstrate two different methods of printing. Ahead of time, we printed a yellow background layer using the wood type lockup on the left. By using less ink, we achieved a weathered texture that made a nice soft backdrop. We wanted to show that letterpress is more versatile at creating other textures besides a deep impression. Then, the chase on the right holds a photopolymer plate that our audience printed with black ink as a second layer.

We used French Muscletone in Kraft, because we like its industrial look and feel. Plus we knew there was no way that every audience member would have the muscles to get a good impression on our Kelsey, so we chose more interesting paper than the stereotypical cotton rag.

We were asked quite a few questions, and I thought I’d share some of them on the blog. It was awesome to have everyone engaged in the discussion. It was really flattering, because some of these students are crazy talented. (They had a little gallery of work set up and we were pretty impressed.) Overall, it was a great experience, and we’re grateful to have been invited.

Q: What kind of press do you have?
A: A Kelsey Excelsior 5×8.

Q: How much does a press like that cost?
A: We’ve seen them in the Detroit area on sale for $1200-1300. We got ours for $250 plus the cost of an epic road trip adventure to South Carolina.

Q: How long have you been letterpress printers?
A: We bought our press over 4th of July weekend last summer, so about a year.

Q: How do you buy type? Are companies still making sets of type?
A: For the most part, it’s a secondhand market. We bought some of our type along with the press, and found more on Craigslist.

Q: Do you get your photopolymer plates made, or do you make them yourselves?
A: We make them ourselves. All you need is a blank plate, a transparency with your design on it, and UV light (and in the summertime, the sun is the best source for that!)

Q: Can you get exact registration with that kind of press?
A: Yes. Over the course of the day, our registration got progressively worse because the draw sheet got looser. But you can get exact registration – and all we use to do it are strips of old hotel keys taped to the draw sheet. We switched away from metal pins when we started using photopolymer plates, because the pins were bashing against our metal base.

A happy accident - a neat texture created when paper got caught in the rollers

If you have any more questions, leave a comment and we’ll do our best to answer it!

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4 Comments on “Letterpress Demo at Interfaces 2010”

• Hubert "GAM" Sawyers III
  

  In middle and high school, I took classes in graphic communications. We did typesetting in middle school and I hated it, but I think now that I am older I would really appreciate it.

  Your story is motivating. If I could into a letterpress, then I will have to grab it. Thanks for sharing!

  05-28-10 » 1:44 AM »

• Perfect Laughter - 2011: Still Not Trying
  

  [...] May, we had our first speaking engagement at Interfaces 2010. We gave a talk and a hands on demo about our little Kelsey letterpress, now well worn and well [...]

  01-04-11 » 1:57 AM »

• Chris
  

  I am wondering if you give classes on using a letterpress?

  10-26-11 » 3:33 PM »

• christina
  

  Hi Chris, we don’t give classes, but Hollander’s in Ann Arbor does: http://www.hollanders.com/workshops/

  10-31-11 » 11:40 AM »

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