Workshops

Creative letterpress workshop
for groups
no prerequisite

6 working hours plus a light lunch, $95 ($80 for students)

Typically at the request of a group with some common goals, we offer this type of casual, creative letterpress workshop for professionals or students who would like to experience printing via letterpress first hand, but who are not initially interested in renting our equipment for personal use. These workshops can be arranged upon request by any group from design studios, advertising agencies, schools, museums, writers, librarians, or others with a common interest. It is important to note that rental of our equipment requires the completion of the appropriate technical workshop.

These workshops typically require a minimum of 4 and a maximum of 6 participants, but we did one for 24. These group workshops tend to center around a joint creative experience (versus an in-depth technical how-to exercise) using our Vandercook presses because of the size of their printing areas and their ease of use. The workshop content can be tailored to match the group’s desired outcome. Because these workshops do not cover the depth of technical expertise required for press rental, they are usually offered at a reduced rate and also a special student price.

Lead Graffiti workshops that cover detailed technical explanations and exercises related to our various presses are required for those people who want to rent our presses in the near future. To rent our presses you must have taken our Metal Type Composition (prerequisite introduction workshop and to rent our tabletop presses), our Vandercook workshop (to rent our SP-15 or Universal III presses), or our Chandler & Price platen workshop (to rent our motor or treadle driven floor-model platen presses). In addition we are happy to provide group workshops that are prerequisites for press rental (at the regular workshop rates) while also providing a more focused experience for any group with common interests.

All necessary materials will be supplied. Wear comfortable shoes and work clothing and dress warmly in the winter months.

Topics covered

• studio tour and samples of letterpress
• press & materials safety
• composing with wood & metal types
• using furniture, quoins & lockup bar
• ink (oil based, rubber based)
• inking using form rollers & hand rolling
• press makeready & packing the cylinder
• redistributing type & materials

Typical projects

• posters & broadsides
• keepsakes
• small books

Workshop calendar

Creative workshop examples:

Three designers from Wieden + Kennedy /NY rented our studio
for a weekend for a creative workshop to produce this tryptic
printed on old magazine pages for the Manifest Equality exhibition
in Los Angeles in March 2010.

This 18" x 24" poster was produced in a Creative Letterpress
workshop with the board of directors of AIGA / Philadelphia
and printed in an edition of 50.

The poster above was created by a group of 14 students from the
Delaware College of Art & Design from a quote from Eric Gill's
Essay on Typography. The poster lists the students (who set their
name / typeface on our Intertype) along with the name of the typeface
they used so there is a nice bit of metal typographic history
included for future reference.

This booklet was produced by 6 Philadelphia University students.
Each student designed and printed a spread which was bound into the booklet.

This booklet was produced without glue or sewing by 6 Philadelphia
designers who took a workshop with Lead Graffiti sponsored by
AIGA / Philadelphia. This one happened to be on Valentine's Day.
We had copperplates made of about 10 "V"s for them to choose from.
Each person brought a quote about love which they interpreted in metal type.
They produced one finished booklet and then took home the printed materials
and supplies to make another two.