Creative Letterpress: Creating Postcards

Creative Letterpress: Creating Postcards

May 9, 16, 23, 30

12:30-3:00

$170 amount

Instructor: Greg Robison

In-Studio Class Adult class (13-17 permitted with an adult assistant) 

Explore letterpress printing in this hands-on class introducing the lore and language of the “typographic tradition” and traditional practices from typesetting to printing on iron presses while creating your own postcard!

In this hands-on class, you will become familiar with the layout of the California job case (the traditional way metal type is stored and ready for hand composition); how individual characters are set into lines using a composing stick; the correct way to lock forms for printing; and the set-up and operation of different kinds of presses.  

Each participant will design and compose into type a postcard size composition and bring this simple (and useful) project through to completion from initial design to final edition. 

Particular care will be devoted to safe shop practices, correct procedures, and traditional terminology so that by the end you will not only know how to work independently like a traditional letterpress printer, you’ll be able to talk like one, too! 

Some printing and letterpress experience is recommended for this class but not required.

Completing this class will certify students in using our letterpress department for typesetting and printing with proofing presses during Open Studio Rentals.

NOTE: 

We set our pricing to pay our instructors a fair wage and cover materials, but one of FBAC’s goals is to give access to the experience of all things bookbinding and printing to anyone who is interested. If you or someone you know would like to participate in a class but do not have the funding please reach out to contact@frederickbookarts.org and we will do what we can so no one has to miss out on the experiences we offer.

About the instructor:

Gregory Robison

Gregory Robison is the proprietor of the Peregrinus Press, a private letterpress shop founded in 1988 near Herod's Gate, Jerusalem and now in Bethesda, MD. He has been president of the Scottish Arts Club in Edinburgh, Scotland, and executive director of The Writer's Center in Bethesda, Maryland. He has exhibited relief prints and plein-air artwork and has taught the art of the circadian journal (and other forms of creative writing) and now publishes an entirely letterpress zine, the Impartial Observer.