Course Details
Letterpress Intensive: Posters and Poems
31 May 2014
Personal Interest
Writing
Victoria University Community Continuing Education
This course is only offered in Wellington
Two Days
Sat, Sun & Mon, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
Sat, Sun & Mon, 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
$550.00
Incuding GST
Incuding GST
Overview:
Turn away from digital technologies to the tactile, expressive world of hand-made posters and printed pages. Experience all that Wai-te-ata Press has to offer and make your creative ideas come alive in this three-day intensive workshop over Queen's Birthday weekend. Learn to design, typeset and print A3 posters and small intimate pages using a favourite poem, either your own work or someone else’s.
Target audience:
This course is for anyone interested in design, typography and historic printing methods.
No previous experience is necessary, but you will need to have in mind at the start of the course the poem, quote or words you would like to work with. Material costs are included in the course fee.
Learning objectives:
By the end of this course, participants will have:
•learnt basic letterpress design and printing techniques
•discussed historic and contemporary typographic styles and designs associated with wood-type posters and limited edition handset and printed poetry
•evaluated successful communication design.
Course outline:
Day 1: Playing with wood
Bring with you enough text to ‘fit the bill’ of an A3 poster.
•Create an A3 poster using a variety of wood types
•Receive instruction on handsetting, proofing and printing in wood
•Engage in discussion about paper stocks, novel printing techniques and incorporating wood into variegated design
Day 2: Testing our metal
Bring with you a short poem, prose extract, saying or witticism related to books, with author and title if known, maximum 30–40 words.
•Create a collaborative A5 (or square format) booklet using metal type
•Handset, proof, print and bind your work in a Japanese stab-stitch style
•Engage in discussion about book design and layout, non-adhesive binding styles
Day 3: Individual projects
Bring with you your text of choice and a selection of printing papers, preferably in A4 or A3 size before trimming.
•Create a small format, single-sided label, invitation or business card using wood type, metal type or both
Course format:
This is a three-day intensive workshop held over Queen’s Birthday weekend. All materials are provided for days 1 and 2 (proofing and printing papers, inks, turps, rags). For day 3, please bring your own selection of printing papers (I can provide advice about this in advance).
Between the practical demonstrations and individual coaching, you will be able to browse the Wai-te-ata Press library collection of both handmade books and books and journals supporting the book arts. You will also have access to an adjacent seminar room for discussing ideas, designing, binding, consulting computer sites and coming up for air at breaks and lunch.
Morning and afternoon tea will be provided. Participants will need to bring their own lunch.
Pre-course activity:
Please bring along your favourite short quote (12–15 words) about books, printing, reading or writing for the wood-type poster and some poetry (12–15 lines maximum; 30–40 words in length), either your own work or someone else’s (assuming it is out of copyright or you have permission to reprint).
If possible, take a look at David Jury’s book Letterpress: The allure of the handmade (Rotovision, 2004) and any other books and/or websites on historic posters, handsetting metal type and letterpress printing in general. It would also be helpful to find and view letterpress videos on Vimeo or YouTube.
What to bring:
You will need to bring:
•pencils and pens
•writing, drawing and printing paper
•cutting board
•scalpel or knife
•ruler.
Although some of these items are available at the Press, you might like to bring your own.
Please wear comfortable shoes and old clothes and/or bring an apron.
Class limit:
This course is limited to a maximum of 9 participants, so please enrol early.
Turn away from digital technologies to the tactile, expressive world of hand-made posters and printed pages. Experience all that Wai-te-ata Press has to offer and make your creative ideas come alive in this three-day intensive workshop over Queen's Birthday weekend. Learn to design, typeset and print A3 posters and small intimate pages using a favourite poem, either your own work or someone else’s.
Target audience:
This course is for anyone interested in design, typography and historic printing methods.
No previous experience is necessary, but you will need to have in mind at the start of the course the poem, quote or words you would like to work with. Material costs are included in the course fee.
Learning objectives:
By the end of this course, participants will have:
•learnt basic letterpress design and printing techniques
•discussed historic and contemporary typographic styles and designs associated with wood-type posters and limited edition handset and printed poetry
•evaluated successful communication design.
Course outline:
Day 1: Playing with wood
Bring with you enough text to ‘fit the bill’ of an A3 poster.
•Create an A3 poster using a variety of wood types
•Receive instruction on handsetting, proofing and printing in wood
•Engage in discussion about paper stocks, novel printing techniques and incorporating wood into variegated design
Day 2: Testing our metal
Bring with you a short poem, prose extract, saying or witticism related to books, with author and title if known, maximum 30–40 words.
•Create a collaborative A5 (or square format) booklet using metal type
•Handset, proof, print and bind your work in a Japanese stab-stitch style
•Engage in discussion about book design and layout, non-adhesive binding styles
Day 3: Individual projects
Bring with you your text of choice and a selection of printing papers, preferably in A4 or A3 size before trimming.
•Create a small format, single-sided label, invitation or business card using wood type, metal type or both
Course format:
This is a three-day intensive workshop held over Queen’s Birthday weekend. All materials are provided for days 1 and 2 (proofing and printing papers, inks, turps, rags). For day 3, please bring your own selection of printing papers (I can provide advice about this in advance).
Between the practical demonstrations and individual coaching, you will be able to browse the Wai-te-ata Press library collection of both handmade books and books and journals supporting the book arts. You will also have access to an adjacent seminar room for discussing ideas, designing, binding, consulting computer sites and coming up for air at breaks and lunch.
Morning and afternoon tea will be provided. Participants will need to bring their own lunch.
Pre-course activity:
Please bring along your favourite short quote (12–15 words) about books, printing, reading or writing for the wood-type poster and some poetry (12–15 lines maximum; 30–40 words in length), either your own work or someone else’s (assuming it is out of copyright or you have permission to reprint).
If possible, take a look at David Jury’s book Letterpress: The allure of the handmade (Rotovision, 2004) and any other books and/or websites on historic posters, handsetting metal type and letterpress printing in general. It would also be helpful to find and view letterpress videos on Vimeo or YouTube.
What to bring:
You will need to bring:
•pencils and pens
•writing, drawing and printing paper
•cutting board
•scalpel or knife
•ruler.
Although some of these items are available at the Press, you might like to bring your own.
Please wear comfortable shoes and old clothes and/or bring an apron.
Class limit:
This course is limited to a maximum of 9 participants, so please enrol early.
Teacher:
Sydney J Shep is Senior Lecturer in Print and Book Culture and The Printer, Wai-te-ata Press, Victoria University. In addition to using the large collection of historic printing equipment, she researches topics as diverse as colonial paper and papermaking, graffiti, emoticons and reading during the Boer War.
Sydney J Shep is Senior Lecturer in Print and Book Culture and The Printer, Wai-te-ata Press, Victoria University. In addition to using the large collection of historic printing equipment, she researches topics as diverse as colonial paper and papermaking, graffiti, emoticons and reading during the Boer War.