Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection

Another fun thing about switching over to wood type poster printing is that it gave Laura the excuse to visit David Shields and the Rob Roy Kelly American Wood Type Collection held by the University Texas at Austin. Laura plans to do special printing and research projects in the coming year to better educate herself about American Wood Type. http://www.utexas.edu/cofa/a_ah/rrk/index.php

Wood type!!

The fun part about switching over to wood type poster printing is that you have the excuse to buy lots of pretty new things like mixed font wood alphabets and a handy little signpress. Laura is in love with that outlined font (B, M, Q) Can't wait to print with it!!

International Printing Museum Los Angeles, CA

Laura stopped off at The International Printing Museum outside of Los Angeles to visit Mark Barbour's amazing collection of type, equipment and printing history. They teach classes, sell equipment, and have a beautiful museum. Well worth a visit.

Wood type revelation

Maybe it was a year of having a non-functioning press, maybe it was just pure magic... but after Laura made the Franklin BBQ posters, she had a revelation to switch the main focus of her letterpress to wood type posters. Here are the next ones she did for the Low Lows. I love how the hand over inking creates a split fountain effect. And wood type printed on chipboard just looks tough....

Franklin BBQ

Our dear friends Aaron & Stacy Franklin opened a BBQ Trailer in Austin, TX... finally!!! Aaron has been having the most well attended BBQ parties for years (over 150 at the last one I went to) and we were psyched to trade some printing for some pulled pork & brisket. The cards were designed by our friend Blair Richardson www.littlemulestudio.com and just printed on regular ol chipboard. The wood type was hand inked and borrowed from the amazing collection at Em Space.

Gann Publishing Portland, OR

Laura was also lucky enough to meet Stephen, Michael and Christopher Gann whose family has run a printing business in the Pearl District since the turn of the century. Laura mainly went to watch them operate their 4 Heidelberg Windmills, and observe the mysteries of foil stamping and die cutting... but after a while she realized that it was a treasure trove of printing history. They have the most amazing collection of advertising cuts from the NW Region. Meeting the Gann's was worth not having my press work. (and yes, chiclets were made in their building)