I don’t know if its my heightened awareness, or if there really is a resurgence of the art-form, but I am starting to see more and more letterpress media and attention where ever I go. Typeface the film does a wonderful job of telling the story of the dying craft and how its being kept alive, and really was a great film to watch as I begin my adventures in letterpress.
With all this popping up on my radar, I recently got to take part in a letterpress project at nearby studio, Pyramid Atlantic. It was a chance to experiment with vintage printing techniques, meet a bunch of local designers and get my hands dirty and play!
Pyramid Atlantic does a promotional calendar every year, and the proceeds go to funding the studio. A different artist designs and prints each month, and I got to do February. After rounds of idea editing and mockups, I chose to go with the ‘love is a battlefield’ idea, submitted art work for plates to be made. Then I spent a Saturday mixing just the right purple and grey, and rolling out 120 copies of my month. Once everyone had completed theirs, the group of us met for a letterpress happy hour / assembly line, where most of us got to meet for the first time.
It was a great time and I can’t wait to start my next letterpress project. You can read more about Pyramid and see all the month designs on the PA blog. –And you can get your own 2011 copy here!
Love is a battlefield – that’s pretty deep.