Letterpress Love

Today, after months of hemming and hawing I finally took a class in Letterpress printing at the Pyramid Atlantic Art Center, in Hyattsville, MD.  And I may now be hooked on the whole process!  I've never actually taken any art classes, outside of elementary school.  I usually manage to just teach myself anything I want to learn - scrapbooking, cardmaking, embossing, etc.  Sometimes it goes well, other times not so much.  

But with all the equipment you need for printing, as well me not having a clue as to what actually went into printing, I figured a class was in order.  And based on some research PAAC was the place to do it.  The center itself has apparently been around for the last 40 years but they just recently moved into this historic space in the arts district of Hyattsville, this past summer.  And as the instructor said, it's pretty much the Tardis - so much bigger on the inside!

And as if quoting Doctor Who wasn't enough to win me over, the instructor was also phenomenal at the craft of printing.  He owns his own printmaking business and sells his wares at craft shows and things, so he really knew what he was talking about.  He gave us all helpful hints and tricks and really helped us to understand why certain things happened in certain ways when printing. I highly recommend him if you're ever planning to take a class there.

The process itself, was much more in depth than I assumed it would be.  Like I said, I had no idea what I was getting into, so each step was a new and exciting thing to learn.  There's just so much that goes into setting the type correctly and deciding on what typefaces to use - making decisions; always my downfall! - and getting the ink to work just right.  It really is intense, but it's also super fun!  

What's cool about PAAC is that you can rent space there and work on the equipment whenever you want, which sounds like an awesome opportunity. But when you account for the 50 minute drive, it gets a little out of reach.  So I'm thinking I might need to invest instead to keep up with my studies - there are loads of personal letterpress machines out there that are just calling my name.  But please don't tell James, our instructor.  I mentioned that one point and I think I may have personally offended his artistic sensibility...

The final product was a run (15 cards) of whatever quote you decided to use.  In my cardmaker's brain, I thought it would be smart to jumpstart on my holiday cards.  However, I didn't account for the fact we'd all have to use the same color, and wouldn't you know that the consensus chose the least Christmasy color ever.  Anyway, I'm still a huge fan of my type choices, even if I do say so myself.  The actual printing I might not be the best at - why I couldn't get the ink uniform, I'll never know! But choosing cool fonts, I've mastered!