Traditional printing has always been a passion of mine because its tactile but I was always very narrow when it came to traditional printing methods, I'd use screen print a lot and wouldn't think about letterpress, however over the past few weeks I've took the challange of learning this new skill.
So I went back to my old college whilst visiting home, Cleveland College of Art and Design and visited there Univeristy campus in Hartlepool, but I also took the oppertunity to buy a home letterpress kit so I can practice when I move back home.
Experimenting with letterpress, i was aware of the process but not aware of how layering differnent colour combintations would work, so I decided to keep it simple as I could learn and expanded designs in the future, but at the current time I was more focused on nailing the method, so i used bold characters and the colour black to create textured text. I think it's clear you can tell that the letterpress is a home version, as there is not really an indent on the page, however i think the colour transfer and shape has worked well, so I was pleased with this result.
So why did I want to learn Letterpress so bad?
During christmas, I came to think about what I was going to do over summer after Graduating and I started to think how I could make an income ( as I live in the countryside, don't drive yet, and need money to drive) so decided to take on the challange of learning new skills to host my own print fairs in the village. Not only to make money, but also becuase I love the tactility of print and wanted to understand the endless possibility's of print. Letterpress, similar to screenprint, offers a luxary feel and from realting back to my dissertation research I found that audiances enjoyed the textures which tradtional printing supplied us with.
For myself, I'm going to be continuing to experiment with Letterpress and look at placements, and events something which i can get my hands on, to understand the process more and learn off people in the industry.
During christmas I did have a lot of spare time so, I'd sit on my laptop for hours and watch letterpress videos, some which were just abit random.
But I also took look online to find artists who were particularly interested or specilisd in Letter press and the main person who come up often is Mr Cup (Fabien Barrel)and his Letterpressed callander.
Who is Mr Cup?
Fabien Barral is a happy graphic designer whose innovative and unique designs attract clients from around the world. In 2008 he joined forces with his wife Frédérique to create “Harmonie intérieure”, a business and brand that pushes poster and wall sticker design beyond the limits we expect from a commercial undertaking. Fabien also runs the “graphic-exchange” blog, a popular online venue for graphic designers. He learnt his trade as an agency art director, working on projects for large corporations. For him, relationships and exchange of ideas are the most important to achieve a project. After years working under his own name, it is now under Mr-Cup pseudonym that he develops his own products : letterpress calendars, coasters... In 2012, he visits, with family, Thaïland, Singapore and Bali to see what life can offer, share experience with other designers and to met craftsmen to work with them on new products... After 1 year and half of a homeless life, he is now back in France.
Every Year He creates a luxary letterpressed calander and I managed to get my hands on one, and the quaility of the designs are beautiful. 'This year cover is designed by Tom Lane also known as Ginger Monkey. For every edition, I ask graphic designer and typographer to create unique font work. This year edition will feature unique designs by Salih Kucukaga, Nick Misani, Reno Orange, Keith Tatum / The Type Hunter, Jeff Trish, Mathilde Francescatti, Stefan Kunz, Lauren Hom, Jef Millotte, Kelli Anderson, Francis Chouquet and Me!'
Personal Images of the Callander
Like Mr Cup, I've become a collector, of creative pieces by myself and other artist's, his home style studio, is exactley how I want to achieve to be in the future. The reason for this is because it's personal and when you are in your own personal space, I think it makes you put more passion into your work because of all the influences around you.
Mr Cup also creates Boutique style game cards using, letterpress, foiling, embossing and debossing, his work is inspiring to say the least and beautiful to appreciate. He's certainly someone who I will continue to take inspiration from.
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