Letterpress Printing

Last year I did an evening course in Letterpress Printing at the Brighton Independent Printmaking centre. Last week Les Ellis, the course tutor, invited me back for a 4-evening follow-on course where I could work on my own project, but with Les Ellis and colleague John Packer on hand to refresh my memory and provide expert advice.

I’ve just got back from the first of these four 3-hour Letterpress Printing workshops, and I’m happy to say that I managed to remember most of what I was taught on last year’s course.

This evening I manage to get the half-title and title pages hand-composited and locked into chases, ready for proofing and printing next week.

The half-title page is set in 48pt Goudy, while the title page is a mixture of 30pt Goudy (for the title), 24pt Goudy Italic (for the subtitle), and some 12pt Goudy for the small print. It also includes a very nice decorative block. I hope to be able to show you the results next week.

I’m really pleased with the progress today — I managed to get more done in one session than I’d hoped. Next week’s session can’t come soon enough.