I heard that autotuned dance monstrosity on the radio this morning and can’t stop laughing about it. I have fond (and blurry) memories of dancing and singing it the entire mile back to our resort in Mexico, because I was going to protect us from whoever might be hiding in the gully. With song*.
As my last post was one crafted by Wendy on my phone was I was playing darts at Stub’s, I decided it’s probably time to post again. About LETTERPRESS CLASS!!
The class is six weeks long, at the Minnesota Center for Book Arts. It was expensive enough to make me ponder signing up for a few weeks, but I figure it’s way better to learn from an expert first, rather than jumping in and buying a bunch of stuff I don’t know how to use. Plus you can rent studio time there and use all their equipment, which may end up being much more economical at the outset.
Last night, we looked at sample work, learned the different ways in which print blocks are made (I had no idea!), and then got to set up a short sentence in lead type ourselves. Of course it took forever, because you have to figure out where each letter is in the tray, face it the correct direction, and then fill in the rest of the unused area with spacers, so the type is tight and stays in place. Then you tie it in a block and take it to the press, where it’s assembled into one big piece. That’s also surrounded by a bunch spacers to hold it in place. Finally, you ink the type, clamp paper into place, and crank the press til you have a hopefully-awesome finished product. For something we came up with playing word games, it’s pretty exciting! We’re going to finish it next week, and hopefully I’ll have my first letterpress project to show off.
So now I have a notebook sitting near me full of a ton of scribbled ideas. I think my main problem will be forcing myself to be choosy; it’s such a long, detailed process putting one piece together that you have to be pretty selective.
I probably won’t be printing your wedding invites within the next month or so, but after that… well, you should probably be thinking of a design, is what I’m saying.
*it worked, too! we’re alive!
so jealous! we have a center here for letterpress classes but they are soooooooooo pricey. stupid San Francisco…I’m taking painting this semester, I start today. I plan to turn out some colorful stick figures ;]
yeah, i can imagine that’s way more expensive there. i’m hoping i can recoup the cost of classes and supplies by selling stuff at some point!
can’t wait to see your painting adventures! i’m envious because i’m the opposite of artsy.
Letterpress seems so awesome, but the startup costs are crazy prohibitive! It’s cool that you get to rent out some studio time. I also like the relatively fast turn around on projects from start to finish. Doing jewelry, you usually don’t get that instant gratification, though sometimes I can finish wood projects in a couple hours. Yay for craftyness.
yeah, that’s exactly why i decided to pay for the class first, because then i’m not out a ton if i don’t want to invest in it. i can’t stop thinking about it, though!!