WE THOUGHT SOME MIGHT RATHER CONNECT to our videos through our website versus YouTube. If you feel compelled to make a public comment, you can VISIT OUR YOUTUBE CHANNEL HERE. Another advantage at our YouTube channel is that you can “SUBSCRIBE” and if you ring the “BELL” YouTube will notify you when we upload new videos.

Increased subscribers, video views, and watch time are beneficial to growing an audience of our work. So do it often and share our channel with friends and colleagues.

This method of listing may get cumbersome as the total number of videos grows. The videos listed here show the newest at the top. Double-click the video for full screen. Move your cursor off the sides to hide text and other video details.

At the bottom of this page we will list some other YouTube channels we like on letterpress & bookmaking as we come across them.


Lead Graffiti letterpress studio tour

This is a short tour of the equipment and main printing area in Lead Graffiti's 2,200 square foot letterpress studio. It also includes portfolio highlights produced over the previous decade.

Posted to YouTube : 3/26/20


A defense in support of Chris Fritton’s accusation that Lead Graffiti was America’s most experimental letterpress studio

hqdefault.jpg

This 1-hour video was one of a series of Friday afternoon Zoom meetings, called a HAMILTON HANG, sponsored by the HAMILTON WOOD TYPE MUSEUM in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. The typical invitees are letterpress printers and bookmakers.

Our talk on September 25, 2020, was a defense of a quote from Chris Fritton’s 2019 book “The Itinerant Printer.” Lead Graffiti hosted a week-long visit by Chris Fritton, “The Itinerant Printer.” Chris was criss-crossing the country, visiting nearly 150 letterpress shops over a 2-year period.

The resulting book “The Itinerant Printer” described each of his stops. Fritton’s opening paragraph states, “Lead Graffiti was the most experimental letterpress shop in the U.S.—perhaps the world.” We took this opportunity to provide some evidence for that claim.


Step #1 : INTRODUCTION TO LEAD GRAFFITI’S MEANDER BOOK CREATIVE LETTERPRESS WORKSHOP

Teachers can jump to 10:41 for some direct talk about applying this into their curriculum.

You can se the video’s timeline to help you navigate this Introduction to our Lead Graffiti Meander Book Online letterpress workshop. The final outcome is a collaboration of 12 individuals or groups + Lead Graffiti staff resulting in a 4” x 5” hard cover, 2 color, 14-page book printed via letterpress. Participants can get 3 finished copies which the participants will bind.


Step #2 : Designing your online Meander Book page with Illustrator

This is a how-we-did-it beginning-to-end video for Step #2 of Lead Graffiti's Meander Book creative letterpress ONLINE workshop. Working from a 60-character line of text, we knead the letters into an innovative and creative typographic playground.

Posted to YouTube : 11/2/20


Step #3 : Lock-up of your online letterpress workshop meander book page design

This is a how-we-did-it video for Step #3 of Lead Graffiti's creative letterpress ONLINE workshop. The workshop requires 12 people, each designing their own 4" x 5" page, and in this case, starting with the words "Back in the day...". Digital typefaces pulled from our wood & metal type collection are provided to produce your page's layout by : 1) using Adobe Illustrator, 2) cutting-and-pasting the letters, or 3) tracing the letters from a printout.

Posted to YouTube : 10/19/20


A letterpress swap amongst Chesapeake Chapter members

During June 2020, a group of Chesapeake Chapter members of the American Printing History Association swapped letterpress projects. A bit of thumbing our noses at the Covid-19 pandemic, support of Black Live Matter, some opportunity to experiment, etc. Things did feel better for a bit.

Posted to YouTube : 7/7/20



The Absolutely Amazing Adventures of Zoe & Sam

This is a hand-bound accordion-fold blank book by LEAD GRAFFITI for 2 young friends (ages 8 & 6) to share during the sequester of 2020. Taking turns, ZOE STARTS THE STORY using her best handwriting and drawing skills on the first 2 pages, stopping in mid-sentence. The book gets PASSED TO SAM TO CONTINUE THE STORY where Zoe left off, also using his best handwriting and drawing skills on the next two pages, and stopping in mid-sentence. This will continue until the BOOK IS FULL. If they enjoy the process and want to continue, "Volume no.2" is waiting.

Posted to YouTube : 4/26/20


& Slowly & Patiently hand rolling a 16” Onyx ampersand

Ray Nichols & Jill Cypher of LEAD GRAFFITI, demonstrate an angular approach to their painterly hand inking process on a 16” hand-carved ONYX typographic ampersand. Lead Graffiti uses a hand inking method on lots of printing projects to provide a gentle release to the meticulous nature of the letterpress process.

Our first step into the creative world of letterpress came from a studio visit to ALAN KITCHING’s Typography Workshop in London during a study abroad with 2 dozen of Ray's senior design students. Alan’s use of hand rolling was our first connection to letterpress and it stuck with a vengeance. We constantly look for new ways to incorporate this style of inking to achieve a handmade connection and harmony in our work.

In the initial development of our YouTube channel, we connected with various YouTubers whose work were drawn to. One of these is bassist DAVIE504. He turned us on to Fiverr.com where we discovered a new world of contributors, including drummer GIOVANNI CILIO. We hope you enjoy the collaboration.

Posted to YouTube : 12/26/19


Zoe’s journal by the Gs

We at Lead Graffiti are always looking for the zig when everyone else is zagging. For Christmas 2017, we promised a journal for granddaughter Zoe highlighting every time she got together with the Gs (gRay and gJill). Twenty-two months later, it is done. This is a page-through of the book. There is some letterpress at the end of the video using Jill’s typographic ideas developed through the journal.

Posted to YouTube : 10/27/19


WALDORF SCHOOL 8th-grade diplomas

Since 2013 Lead Graffiti has produced the 8th-grade diplomas & folder for the Waldorf School of Philadelphia, printing slowly & patiently via letterpress. The students print the diplomas, make paste paper to wrap the folder, create a piece of original artwork, and write a line of calligraphy that is included as a major visual element on the diploma. This is our favorite project that involves a client. Check it out.

Posted to YouTube : 4/4/19


Time-lapse Inking "ALPHABETACHAOS"

A specimen sheet for a 40-line (almost 7") font of wood type. Printed via letterpress in 7 colors. The video is a timelapse of us locking up the 3rd run of the alphabet and our hand rolling technique & then printing.

Posted to YouTube : 2/7/18


SANDCASTING at the Type Museum, London

Design students from the Visual Communications Group at the University of Delaware visited The Type Museum in London during the summer of 2004 to watch the process of sand casting 144 point type. We were told this process for making metal type hadn't been done for 150 years.

Posted to YouTube : 2/7/18


"ELECTRIC FIRE FROM THE CLOUDS" page-through

This book was a collaboration with Martha Carothers about Ben Franklin's experiments with electricity, kites, and a rain storm. Printing via letterpress in an edition of 40 copies where each page has a different “ink pull” background and the arrangement of type is different on all pages of all books. People who buy the book can choose the background sheets used in the book.

Posted to YouTube : 2/5/18


TdLG'15 clamshell paste paper time-lapse

From 2011 - 2015 we produced a broadside-a-day during the Tour de France, highlighting a moment or two from each racing stage or rest day. Each year included a clamshell box to house the broadsides. We made special paste paper to wrap the clamshell each year and this video shows us making the covering for 2015.

Posted to YouTube : Feb 7, 2018


36-point metal type with DCAD

This time-lapse shows the results of a typography workshop we did with the Delaware College of Art & Design. Each of the 17 students brought a typography-related quote to handset using 36-point metal type. We cast the dividers with the author, compositor's name, and the name of the typeface on our Intertype C4. We then strung them together as each student finished. Note the callouts shown at the end and something nice that happens with letterpress, but couldn't possibly happen on a computer.

Posted to YouTube : 9/17/19


If it's BR OKEN, don't fix it.

A playful video of a favorite damaged piece of wood type we have in our collection.

Posted to YouTube : 2/1/19


SURREAL for real wood type

Our favorite piece of wood type in the Lead Graffiti collection. It is hand carved and has a wonderfully surreal spacial quality.

Posted to YouTube : 2/1/19


WHY? Gee!

Wood type efficiently carved on both sides of the block. We have half a dozen examples of these in our collection.

Posted to YouTube : 2/1/19


INSIDE-THE-BOX PATTERN paste paper

This is a timelapse video of Jill and Ray working together to make paste paper. Jill (red sleeves) was doing the more critical part of establishing the grid on one sheet while I was finishing up things on another sheet.

Posted to YouTube : 1/22/18


British designer ALAN FLETCHER's calligraphy for the Raven Press logo

During VCUK'03 our study abroad students talked British Hall-of-Fame designer Alan Fletcher into creating the "baby bird" logo for Raven Press at the University of Delaware. We wanted to add the press’ name using Alan’s handwritin. During VCUK'04 we asked Alan to provide some calligraphy. This video shows Alan’s wonderful writing style.

Posted to Youtube : 1/28/19


OTHER LETTERPRESS-RELATED YOUTUBE VIDEOS & CHANNELS WE LIKE

Proceed and Be Bold / Amos Kennedy A documentary on Amos’ work. We have several dozen of his posters.
NationalPrintMuseum / Ireland / good videos about how some letterpress things work
a fine press / Lakeland, Florida / fun videos to watch, great ideas, killer work