Just My Type

Journal entry for 31 May 2011 | Link

This past Saturday the Boston chapter of the Graphic Artists Guild hosted a daylong letterpress workshop at Firefly Letterpress.

It was illuminating. I am a digital creature when it comes to design. I can date myself by claiming that I have used a waxer, but even that was to arrange newspaper articles onto flats that had been laid out individually in Pagemaker and printed. (Why not just lay the whole flat out in Pagemaker, I hear you cry. The reason was the lack of computing, and arguably, managerial power on the premises.) So for years I have been dealing with leading, that is, line height in a paragraph. This weekend I got to handle real leading.

Leading.

That is, strips of lead that go between lines in a paragraph. Did I mention that I am a digital creature? I am used to this:

p { line-height: 1.8em; } /* all needed metal is in computer */

Our project for the day was to set a paragraph of type, proof it in the proof press, fix it (my partner and I managed to flip two letters and a comma), and drop it in the galley for printing.

Type.

A paragraph of Baskerville, set by yours truly and a new friend.

Along the way, our instructor John Kristensen demonstrated the ancient, brilliant machines that produce traditional letterpress work. We cast our names using the linotype:

...and saw the folio printed on the spot.

We were not welcome to feed the press ourselves. John explained that if it ever came down on his hand, it would remove it without so much as slowing down.

The result was a folio of typefaces, excerpting an inspiring exhortation by Daniel Berkeley Updike that can be found in the volume Printing Types. "The outlook for typography is as good as it ever was—and much the same. Its future depends largely on the knowledge and taste of educated men."

The cover of the printed folio.

Our Baskerville.

Low Tea

The Saturday before I hosted Low Tea Drawing at the studio. The idea was this: Set up the laptop in the studio with the 2.1 sound system, and open up a stream of Groove Salad at SomaFM. Have the model pose for one, two, then three songs from 1:00 PM to 2:45 PM. At 2:45, Low Tea is served.

Low tea is served.

Peanut butter cookies, cucumber sandwiches, and blood orange Assam in the pot. Two half-hour poses ensued. A good time was had by all. If you'd like to be invited to the next one in June, drop me a note.