This Saturday, Pyramid Atlantic Art Center (the place where I letterpress) turns 30!!
As part of the big birthday celebration, letterpress volunteers were invited to create an original Birthday Card to be bundled in variety packs and sold as a fundraiser for the center. I went up there last night to help package them, and I can tell you first-hand they are amazing!
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| (All of my type, set and ready to print.) |
I decided to create a card using all metal type. On one hand, because I wanted to get a better feel for typesetting and gain some experience. On the other, because it is free! Pyramid has oodles of typefaces and sizes available for printers, so the possibilities are really endless!
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| (Aligning the first run of type, for the front of the card.) |
Coming up with a fun and clever card design using only letters was great. I dipped into my school-aged creativity and came up with a fun little play on words…and a word search:)
This was the first time I printed on the Vandercook press on my own. I was pleased with how easily the adjustments were made to achieve the desired pressure and alignment. Oooh it’s fun!
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| (Aligning the word search underneath the inside headline.) |
In order to ease my alignment for the inside of the card, I left all of the furniture in place and simply replaced the type. Then, when I added the actual word search to print my second color, I set the type in with the inside line, and once it was correctly registered, I slid that top line out. Easy peasy.
Okay, so creating the word search turned out to be fantastic typesetting experience. The letters, though all the same height, are all variable widths, so I had to really eyeball the spacing…upside-down and backwards!
With my first proof print I was able to see and correct some of the alignment issues. It still isn’t perfect, but it wouldn’t be hand-made if it was, right?
After a long, quiet morning of printing by myself (literally, I don’t think I said a single word for four hours…) I had a beautiful pile of birthday cards.
For this fundraiser, each printer needed a total of fifty usable cards to be divided and sold. I ended up with just over that, and took a couple home to send to good friends on their big days (here’s looking at YOU Kristine;)
I am happy with how they turned out!
Simple, festive and most importantly, FUN! I think I’ll give them away with a little pen to complete the search. What do you think?
If you live in the DC area (or want to make a little road trip) come enjoy the Birthday Celebration at Pyramid…it will be a blast! There will be artist demos (including letterpress!), tours of the studio, an art exhibition, live music, activities, door prizes, art raffles, cupcakes with ice cream, and some really really cool sets of letter pressed birthday cards! Hope to see you there!
Date: Saturday, April 9
Time: 2 pm to 5 pm
Time: 2 pm to 5 pm
Place: 8230 Georgia Avenue
Free & Open To The Public
