Society of Typographic Arts & Hamilton Wood Type Museum: 2014 Letterpress Workshop

Recently, the Society of Typographic Arts celebrated the Hamilton Wood Type Museum’s 15th Anniversary with a weekend letterpress workshop,  May 31—June 1 in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.

The workshop was lead by Jim Moran, Director of the Museum and Stephanie Carpenter, Assistant Director of the Museum. The above photograph of one of the wood type displays is courtesy of the STA.


David Versluis, one of the participants, is shown inking wood type from the Museum’s collection, on a Showcard Machine Co. proof press. Versluis states, “Working with wood type is not about nostalgia, but about the unique look and feel of the print quality.” The Museum has 12 presses available for workshop groups. Originally, the Showcard press was used primarily for department stores, libraries, and shop owners to print signs and advertisements.
Photograph by Stephanie Carpenter


Reformation
David M. Versluis ©2014
12 in. x 18 in.
This is a 4-color print. After the first color yellow was printed, the subsequent colors in the order of orange, red, blue were printed and overlaid while the ink was still wet, resulting in textured areas. The kinetic effect is achieved by intentionally revealing registration issues.