This year, our New Year’s cards for our Utility & DOE friends have been made by hand via the old school method of letterpress printing. Many of us designers here have creative talents outside of the screen. This is one of my (many) others. The above image is a teaser of how they look by hand, so hopefully you’ll get one in the next few weeks. If not, make friends with us this coming year to get in our address book for next year (or drop me a line at jynn@deptofenergy.com to get one of these this year)!

To see & read more on what I did, keep reading on .

I hand set vintage wood type (above) & metal type for this card, as well as using a newer method of polymer plates for the inside logos & our address on the envelopes (seen a few images below). (And yes, yes, letterpress printers, my coin on the left, should be on the right, but I was in a hurry and so as not to have to mess with my guides on the tympan (which were set for 3 jobs total that I was working on consecutively) & continue to make each layer match up faster & easier for all 3, well, the dimensions on my lock-up were falling such that I….broke the rule…(with the metal “80″ below as well….) but in all, this card was 6 print runs, plus 1 for the envelopes, 22 hours total. No one said letterpress was FAST…..

The most time consuming part of my design was this step above, where I decided to hand set the shape of “08″ in various metal ornaments, all sizes & kinds. I took a carbon imprint of the wooden “08″ I had already printed in order to have the right size & shape to follow with the metal type. I placed that inside the composing stick and went at it…..for 11 freakin’ hours. **Note: An experienced letterpress setter is looking at this image thinking…”you want “08″ huh? Then you’re setting it backwards!” Yep. Totally right. It astounds me that after 5 years of doing this, I still manage to make this mistake. My brain just doesn’t like to think “backwards & upside down”, something like that, which is amazing really, because anyone who knows me, knows that I myself am a little “backwards & upside down”. I realized my mistake 4 hours into this. I THANKED every deity out there, for when you flip this particular “08″ upside down, it’s exactly as I needed it, saving me having to re-do it “right”. Friends, there is no such thing as “command Z” in letterpress. (I wish there was…)

I was working with 5 different cases of ornaments. Putting the type away correctly when done printing….fun.

This is a close up (with ink on it to see better) of my final type lock up of this layer. (**Note: Here it is set right, “backwards”, but my coin technically should be on the right, not left.) Yep, I am patient, a perfectionist, and probably a little….crazy.

I used this Chandler & Price to print the card, shown with me about to re-ink it (the lighter strip of red on the circle). It’s over 100 years old, and is manually operated-by my brute strength-HA! With as many print set-up (layers) and as long of a run I had to print, let me tell you, I felt like I was hit by a bus for days afterward. I’m not complaining though…it’s a great PRODUCTIVE way to get the legs in shape for snowboarding. (I also print on several models of Vandercooks, but not for this project.) Also seen in the lock up on that metal slab in the press is the polymer plate I was talking about (yellow with red on it). It’s a way to get to use modern day fonts, logo’s, designs and such that were not around 50+++ years ago when metal type was still being made. To learn more about polymer plates check out the BEST: Boxcar Press. (Their customer service is a 5 star rating every time.)

This is how they looked after 3 print runs. In the background you can see another card I did “on the fly” for my friends at IF/THEN studios, interactive design & development. (They are really, really good.)

If you are interested in taking a letterpress class-in this same studio you see above-classes are taught at the amazing School of Visual Concepts. It’s where I learned (and went to design school). It’s hands down the best studio in the state, and perhaps country, to learn letterpress. The amount and variety of presses and the collection of type cases is impressive, not to mention the most talented letterpress instructors, Jenny Wilkson and Amy Redmond. For letterpress, I am what I am because of them, and am most grateful.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 24th, 2007 at 3:25 pm and is filed under culture, design, letterpress. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.