Louella Court

Hamilton Wood Type Museum

{ posted by Scott, the letterpress guy }

Last month I had the privilege to travel to Two Rivers, Wisconsin, and attend a conference at Hamilton Wood Type Museum (thank you Vanessa). People came from around the globe, to learn about wood type, it's history, and also what is going on in the printing world.

Throughout the weekend, we attended presentations and also had hands-on printing demos. It was an all around wonderful trip, and I was able to meet some great people involved in letterpress. I highly recommend visiting if you are ever in Wisconsin, even if you have no interest in printing. It is a very interesting and special place.

Hamilton Wood Type Printing Museum

Below are a few images I captured from my time there.

Current exhibition at The Print Center- Philadelphia, Pa

{ posted by Scott, the letterpress guy }

Last night on my walk home from work, I stopped by the opening of a new print show at The Print Center. It was perfect because I pass The Print Center on my walk home each day, and it also started to rain shortly before arriving. So I had a good excuse to stay a while. The current show has work from Philadelphia artist Isaac Tin Wei Lin, printmaker Andrew Kozlowski, and a section entitled "Pulling from History: Letterpress."

[all pictures were shot with my iPhone. sorry is some of them are blurry]

Isaac Tin Wei Lin created an amazing 2 and 3-D installation, containing printed and painted work.

 

Andrew Kozlowski is a printmaker from Virginia. This  first picture is just a section of an entire wall of screenprinted cans. There were probably a million. It was pretty impressive. The second picture shows some of his work, which were based on authentic natural experiences.

 

 
 

The first floor was dedicated to letterpress. There was current work from a few printers, including Matt Neff, and also historic examples of prints, and books from various personal collections. It was great to see new work next to historic pieces, such as the picture below. This 5 is a part of a larger piece from a billboard owned by Kyle Van Horn, and the print to the right, I believe is from the Common Press, here in Philly.

 

 
 
 

QR Code Business Cards

{ posted by Scott, the letterpress guy }

A QR Code is an arrangement of squares that create a form of barcode. They are readable by taking a picture of it with your smartphone, such as an iPhone. It immediately takes you to some sort of website. Brad from 23rd & 5th came to us asking to print one on the backside of their cards, which takes you to a certain page on their site. At first I did not know if it would work, and thought the impression might throw off the code, but it didn't. It worked like a champ. I never thought I would be testing prints as they came off the press by scanning a QR code with my phone. It is the future, and I cannot imagine what will come out next.

 

Sculptor: Cal Lane

{ posted by Scott, the letterpress guy }

Cal Lane, a prestigious and very skilled sculptor. She works mainly in metal,
and her primary tool is a welding torch, which she uses to cut ordinary objects into pieces of art. 

 

 

   

 

 

 
 
 
 You can see more work on Cal Lane's website.

Letterheady

{ posted by Scott, the letterpress guy }

Letterheady is an incredible tumblr blog of letterhead design, new and old.
You can find letterheads from Dr. Seuss, Shirley Temple, the Rolling Stones,
plus many domestic and international companies. Browse the Archive to see them all at
once. There are some interesting designs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Images via Letterheady
 
 

 
 
 
 

Erin Zamrzla- Artist, designer, bookbinder

{ posted by Scott, the letterpress guy }

Erin Zamrzla is a designer & artist from California. She is a very talented person. I really love her tag calendar, and pocket-size notebooks. 

 

 

 

All images are from Erin's Etsy page. Be sure to check it out!

She also works in collage & paint. 

 
 
 
 
 
 

Hand Sewn & Lettered Wedding Invite

{ posted by Scott, the letterpress guy }

I recently came across a very unique (and amazing) wedding invite set, by Rifle Paper Co. Anna Bond is the head of this very creative company, out of Winter Park, FL. The original was hand sewn, lettered, and then scanned in the computer for print. It is a great idea, and I wonder what it would look like letterpressed! Make sure to check out Rifle Paper Co. and their blog. 

 

 

 

 { images via Rifle Blog }
 Rifle Paper Co.
 
 

From Sea to Shining Sea: The Heads of State

{ posted by Scott, the letterpress guy }

The Heads of State, a Philadelphia based studio recently released a limited edition poster series. These 14"x 24" screen printed posters are full of color.
So far there are eight, and I am pretty sure they will release more. This creative duo graduated from Tyler School of Art here in Philadelphia, and
have been cranking out impressive work since. Be sure to check out their
site. I am sure you have seen some of there illustrations at some point.  

 

 

Portfolio: The Heads of State

Store: From Sea to Shining Sea
  
  

Dave Lefner- The Linocut Champ

{ posted by Scott, the letterpress guy }

I mentioned Tugboat Printshop, and their amazing woodcuts a few months back. I have been intrigued since, and thoughts of carving something of my
own have floated around in my mind. I recently stumbled upon Dave Lefner. Dave Lefner is a printmaker, or should I say... a linocut master. Linocut is a form of relief block printing, very similar to what Tugboat Printshop does, but instead of carving into wood, you carve into linoleum. Lefner's work is pretty incredible, unique, and also a huge inspiration. He creates his prints by using the reduction process, as you can see in the images below. 

Here is a short clip of a documentary on Lefner, which can give you a better understanding of what takes place (via onefootinfront). onefootinfront has some great content, and is ran by Keegan Wenkman, of KeeganMeegan Press. Check it out if you have a chance.

Artisan Documentary Teaser - Dave Lefner from Ric Serena on Vimeo.

I hope to carve a few blocks, and print some posters in the near future. 
I'll be sure to document the progress, and share.

Dave Lefner's work

onefootinfront 

 Side note: You can see some of Tugboat Printshop's work if you are in the Philadelphia, Pa area March 11. They are taking part in a group show at Bahdeebahdu.  

Jules Verne cover designs : Jim Tierney

{ posted by Scott, the letterpress guy }

Jim Tierney is a senior at Philadelphia's University of the Arts, studying
illustration. For his senior thesis, he chose to design new covers to classic
Jules Verne novels. What he created is pretty incredible.

You can see more of Jim's work on his personal site