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Lead Graffiti

120 A Sandy Drive, Sandy Brae Industrial Park
Newark DE 19711
Phone Number
a letterpress lab of sorts

Your Custom Text Here

Lead Graffiti

  • about
    • intro
    • bios
    • 12 DNA projects
    • callouts
    • our lab
    • contact
  • calendar
  • store
    • subscriptions
    • workshops
    • fine press books
    • broadsides & posters
    • cards
    • Cinderella stamps
    • Blank books by Lead Graffiti
    • Blank books by Anne Hessel
    • Tour de Lead Graffiti 2011-15
    • letterpress things for sale
    • New Products
  • workshops
    • STUDIO SUBSCRIPTIONS
    • TECHNICAL LETTERPRESS
    • . . basic type composition
    • . . vandercook
    • . . iron hand press
    • . . floor-model platens
    • . . week-long letterpress
    • CREATIVE LETTERPRESS explained
    • . . meander book online
    • . . werkman druksels
    • . . quotable broadside
    • . . holiday card
    • press rental
    • BOOKMAKING explained
    • . . bookmaking basics
    • . . 6-pocket accordion
    • . . one day one book
    • . . coptic stitch
    • . . clamshell
    • . . paste paper
    • . . bookmaking bonanza
  • blog
  • search

Letterpress Live!

October 15, 2025 Ray Nichols

We started something new to get some face-to-face discussions going for people interested in either letterpress or Lead Graffiti, specifically.

We call it” Letterpress Live!”

Basically, we post when we are going to be printing. Drop in. Free.

Here is the text for the first episode, which explains the project.

WARNING: LETTERPRESS LIVE IS A LIQUID PROJECT. EXPECT COMPLICATIONS.

MY PROJECT: Print a spread for the Upper Chesapeake Book Arts collaborative book, and the subject is TREES.

“Letterpress Live” is an idea I’ve been contemplating since the COVID-19 pandemic. On our website, at the top of page 1 (it will also appear on our calendar), I’ll post a project I’m working on. If you're interested in getting involved, please feel free to join in. Please email to confirm your attendance, but it’s not necessary. With you or without you, I’m going to be printing this project.

The evening before, I’ll try to correct anything that changes, so it would be a good idea to check our website before coming.

I have an idea to use Beech leaves with the word 'TREES' cut out of them using our laser cutter in four runs of various colors (currently, middle green, light green, orange, and a light color between green and orange).

UPDATE: This idea didn’t work. You can see the results from Day 1 here. Once the laser cutting was done, the leaf was too fragile to roll the ink on it. So, on Day 2, I’m going to try printing over a “mask” of the word “forest.”

Tuesday, September 30 - Friday, October 3. 10:00 am until 3:00 pm. Lunch is likely to be at Amalfi’s from 11:30 to 1:00. Feel free to join us for lunch, but please note that you will need to pay for your own meal. The letterpress experience is free. Bring a friend.

Our working style is loose. SOI (surprising, original, inevitable) with very little planning. NO SKETCHING. Think it out as long as you can before committing, rage against the default, and light the fuse.

The screengrab from “Photos” at the top of this page is where we ended up. We’ll show the book itself after it's bound.

NYC, Grolier Club, Morgan Library →

Our Lead Graffiti blog is a wealth of varied information that can be difficult to understand. The search option in the top navigation works quite well if you can hit the right keyword (s). In this sidebar, we’ve highlighted some personally meaningful entries that might help if you want to try a couple of entries. To DEEP DIVE, click somewhere in the right column and then scroll down the left column. Also, if you know us, you can try searching for an appropriate word & the word “blog.”

2025

LETTERPRESS LIVE: explained
”Beyond Words” thank you
Resist
Liar, Liar.
Just do it!
Bernie Herman
Delaware Eats Houston World Tour

2024

"Ink Pulls:" the hows and whys
Family holiday card workshop
“Liar, Liar.”+3 broadsides @ NAA exhibit
Waldorf diplomas / 2024
More on X-ing the Paragrab
”Concertina spine” book workshop
Lead Graffiti labyrinth
Jill, Ray, & Brodovitch @ the Barnes

2023

Forward for “X-ing a Paragrab”
UCBA member IMHO Meander Mook project
Black History is White History broadside
AIGA / Philadelphia Feedback broadside
Dunya Mikhail “Pronouns” broadside
etaoin shrdlu
Seven Fun Facts about the Linotype

2022

DCAD First-year talks
Cy Twombley. It’s just my opinion anyway.
”No more war. No more Putin.” broadside
Buying our Albion : that story
January 6th assault broadside

2021

Waldorf School of Philadelphia diplomas
Teleport broadside
ONLINE MEANDER BOOK letterpress workshop

2020

A design example of subtle racism
Looking back : Histories of Newark : 1758-2008
Retrospective exhibition at DCAD
Broadside : Black Lives Matter. A lot.

2019

A wonderful film about Ben Joosten
People Were Close (2004 book project)
WHYY-TV / Waldorf School of Philadelphia
What would a good student do?

2018
Alone in Berlin : postcard power
Doves’ type : metal & digital
“Blue Wave” broadside
John Bolton / Lead Graffiti connection
Alan Kitching’s VCUK workshops
U.S. Senators postcard mailing (coming)

2017
Four things you might want to know about Ray
Introducing Stephen Frykholm at AIGA

2016

Saul Bass. A no-show.
Burning Man & Lead Graffiti’s journal
Chris Fritton, The Itinerant Printer
Porter Garnets’s 10 commandments

2015
Best Intertype project #2 : round calendar
The Nash Equilibrium

2014
WHYY-TV’s Best of 2014
London Bombing’s 7th Anniversary

2013
Tour de Lead Graffiti. Sports Illustrated.
Grant Hart. Letterpress printer?
July 4th revolution coasters

2012
Thank You, Craig Cutler

2011
APHA National annual meeting program

2008
Designing Lead Graffiti’s logo
Art Directors Club of NY Grandmasters Award

2004
VCUK’s Alan Kitching letterpress workshops
VC family album pages

2003
Alan Fletcher : Raven Press logo origin
Bukva:raz! - Our first serious piece

2001
Visiting Eric Gill’s Gravesite