Workshops

Creative letterpress / Philadelphia University
no prerequisite

7 working hours plus a light lunch & snacks

For the fall of 2011 Lead Graffiti in Newark, Delaware is hosting three Philadelphia University Advanced Typography letterpress workshops (October 15th / Rose DiSanto,October 22nd / Maribeth Kradel-Weitzel, & October 29th / Eric Yeager). Each workshop is limited to students in each instructor's class to ensure plenty of hands-on experience and assistance. The cost of the workshop is $60 per student.

Each workshop has a theme and participants will work with handset metal and wood type to design the pages or spreads of a small book (page size is approximately 4" x 5"). The printed piece will be a broadside (a sheet printed on one side only). Through a creative combination of folding and tearing, each participant will produce one complete accordion-fold book with cover by the end of the workshop. In addition everyone will receive the materials to produce two additional copies which can be completed later. You can see an image of a similiar project below.

The book will be printed using a Vandercook Universal III (automatic paper feed) flat-bed press. The Universal III prints an 18" x 24" image area and operates at the push of a button. We will also print the covers using our Vandercook SP-15, so you'll get some experience with handcranking.

We will show a variety of samples from our portfolio highlighting typography as well as work from a variety of other letterpress shops that we've collected, including YeeHaw, Amos Kennedy, F2, Hammerpress, and Hatch Show Print among others. We will also show examples of historial printing from the 1400s (called incunabula, if printed before 1501) to the present.

All necessary materials will be supplied. Dress comfortably in work clothing for the weather and definitely wear comfortable shoes.

Completion of this workshop does not satisfy the prerequisite of technical workshops required for Lead Graffiti press rentals.

Workshop calendar

Below is a version of the booklet showing how the design works. Click on the image for a more detailed view.

Each partipant is responsible for a page which is printed as a 'broadside', meaning it is printed on only one side of the sheet. Then with a bit of creative folding and tearing the broadside will fold into an accordion-fold book. Coupling this with a cover made using Lead Graffiti pastepaper the final book can be formed without sewing or glue. You will produce one finished booklet during the session and then take home the printed materials and supplies to make another two.

Below are a few other Lead Graffiti projects printed using our Vandercook presses.

This is the first of 23 15" x 22.5" posters printed one each day for a portfolio entitled Tour de Lead Graffiti, translating the memorable events from each stage of the 2011 Tour de France. This poster focused on an instance where one of the cyclists hit the outstretched elbow of a spectator, causing a major pile up that brought 120 riders to a stop. The posters were produced using handset wood & metal type and typically printed in 5 or 6 colors.



The spring version of a 2-semester series of posters for a lecture series held at Columbia University.



This is the Lead Graffiti "Thunder Road" clamshell with hard and soft cover versions of a book printed using the essay text by author Nick Hornby and song lyrics by Bruce Springsteen.