Jun 272012
 

Smokey Road Press is is a commercial letterpress and book bindery located in Winterville that designs and makes greeting cards, wedding paraphernalia, and business cards. They also do fine art publishing where they work with all kinds of artists to realize their work in print or book form. We’re very lucky to have such a high-quality locally grown press here!

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I was excited to learn that in December, the press will be moving into the beautiful historic Leathers Building on Pulaski where they will teach design, letterpress, and binding workshops. This is a much needed service in this area, as printing presses are cost prohibitive for individuals to own, yet printmakers and bookmakers abound in Athens, and letterpress has experienced a renaissance.

They’ve begun a Kickstarter Campaign to raise money to purchase a Polymer Platemaker, which is how much of contemporary letterpress is done these days. For pledges of $25 or more, you will receive a gift of a print made by the press. At their kickstarter site, they have bios of the participating artists along with the work they have printed with Smokey Road. Learn more by watching the short video below.  -Leslie

Feb 162012
 

Letterpress Truck

Every been curious about the letterpress printmaking process? Well come to Little Kings tomorrow evening to see the Moveable Type letterpress in a truck. Artist Kyle Durry is a letterpress printer from Portland Oregon who tours around with her press in a truck, letting visitors peek inside and learn about the process. FASCINATING! I can’t wait.

 

Letterpress is the way books and posters used to be printed–type was set individually with spacers added in to print the whole text in reverse on the paper. (The origin of Upper Case and Lower Case comes from this type-setting process in which the lower case letter of a certain font would be found in the LOWER CASE of the type-setting desk, and Upper Case in the UPPER CASE. Ha!) You sometimes see old type for sale on etsy or in antique shops–they look like hard rubber stamps.

Letterpress has experienced a renaissance in the past few years among contemporary printmakers, bookartists, and artisan paper goods presses, especially with new plates that allow you to transfer your own drawn image onto a relief plate that can be added into the letterpress.