Workshops

Metal type composition and
tabletop letterpress printing
no prerequisite

6 working hours plus a light lunch, $120.00 per attendee
(minimum of 3 and a maximum of 5 attendees required)

This is the introduction to our technical letterpress workshops. Rental of our equipment for future personal projects requires the completion of the technical workshops for the equipment you are interested in using.

Metal Type Composition will introduce you to printing on the tabletop platen press as well as the time-honored techniques used in handsetting metal and wood type.

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

Topics covered

• studio tour & press safety
• layout of the California job case
• using a composing stick
• handsetting type using leading & spacing materials
• type proofing & correcting
• locking up the form with furniture and quoins
• inking & press makeready
• printing & image quality
• press clean up
• redistributing type

Typical projects

• business cards & stationery
• postcards & greeting cards
• keepsakes
• bookmarks & bookplates
• type specimen cards
• envelopes & paper bags
• small broadsides

Workshop calendar

          Racks holding leading on top of three of our 20 cabinets of California job cases.

          Composing sticks awaiting the weight of metal type and spacing material.

          Above is the layout of the most common California Job case.
          Across the globe there about 300 versions of this layout. In the
          earliest days of letterpress the capital letters were held in one case
          and the miniscules were held in one that was set under the capitals.
          This is where our terms for uppercase and lowercase come from.

          Composing stick used to handset metal type
          with a galley of a few lines of set type.

          Printing a type specimen sheet registered in a Chandler & Price Pilot.