Letterpress Club: Making Prints, Making Art
May 11 @ 6:00 pm - 8:30 pm
$347.00A 5-Week In-Studio Workshop!
Thursdays, May 11, 18, 25, June 1 and 8, 6-8:30pm
View our current in-studio Health and Safety and Cancellation Policies >>
About this Workshop:
In this multi-evening course, students will learn how to work in the Letterpress Studio using the Vandercook presses, as well as both metal and wood type. Day 1 will provide an introduction to the materials and equipment, then students will work to set metal type and print it. Once everyone has a feeling of the way the press works, students will choose another project and have the option to choose between using metal or wood type. Once students are comfortable doing this, we will focus on more painterly approaches to Letterpress, learning about different inking methods, pressure printing, and working more free-form.
Over the course of 5 sessions you will learn how to: set type (and redistribute it); use metal and wood type; set up the press; lock up type; ink the press; clean the press; use a variety of inking methods; use pressure as a way of making an image; and use type as form/shape rather than “letters.”
This course is a good one if you are interested in getting certified to work in the Letterpress Studio on your own. After the last class, we can evaluate together what your next steps will be.
Level: Beginner – no experience necessary!
Registration closes May 1, 2023. Material fees are included with your registration to cover all necessary materials, though a list of additional optional items to consider will be sent with your confirmation.
Sample images by Elisabeth Boerwinkel
CLASS MATERIALS LIST:
Registration includes a $20 materials fee to cover consumable materials provided in class. These items include ink, newsprint, and paper. In addition, students may will need to bring the following items:
- Notebook or sketchpad
- Pen or pencil
- Optional: decorative papers that you’d like to try printing on
YOUR INSTRUCTOR:
Elisabeth Boerwinkel is a printmaker and illustrator from the Netherlands, currently living and working in Washington, D.C. She was most recently a Keyholder Resident for Fall/Winter 2021. Pulling her first prints in 2015 she fell in love with copperplate etching straight away. Later she wandered into a letterpress studio in Amsterdam and got obsessed with wood, metal, and heavy machinery. You can find her in the letterpress studio smelling the ink. Her work can be viewed @elisabeth_kunegonde on Instagram.