Letterpress Workshop

This weekend I went to a letterpress workshop at Print For The Love Of Wood in Great Harwood with Kris from Shore Cottage Studio. I've always wanted to give it a go, and it was loads of fun!

We were shown how to hand set and lock up the type, how to mix the ink and press our own prints.

There were loads of drawers full of different type to choose from, we decided to start off with the large wooden type, and print some posters on the flat bed press.

  Here's Kris' design on the press ready to be inked up and printed. 

and here's my first attempt, a sign to go on my studio door. 

We then used the smaller metal type on the proofing press. I chose a quote that was pretty long and took a while to assemble! Unfortunately I can't show you a picture of that one yet as it's going to be a present, I'm really pleased with how it turned out though.

I also printed some discount vouchers to send to customers, so keep a look out for these when you order from Minifelts.co.uk! The percent symbol proved particularly difficult, as it didn't exist in the sets of vintage type so we had to construct it from some zeros and a slanted line!

 To finish the day Kris printed some business cards with the polymer plates he'd had created to use on his own Adana press.

A great course that gets a thumbs up from me! 

If you've been thinking of trying letterpress printing, I can highly recommend it. The course we did cost £100 for a full day 10am - 5pm. I'll definitely be trying out some more workshops in the future!