EndGrain » Print Shop

Cleanwash

Bethany Heck — Tue, 20 Jul 2010 16:41:33 +0000

Colleen Walsh’s Cleanwash Letterpress studio is based out of Philadelphia. She makes good use of two platen presses to create wonderful business cards, postcards invitations and more. I really love Colleen’s use of color. Her pieces are bright and playful, I’m dying to hold them in my hands! Many of her pieces also include lovely illustration work.

It’s great to see photos of the Cleanwash studio, I’m fascinated by how varied studios are from printer to printer! Her presses look wonderful, and they are so clean!

What a great studio setup!

These coasters are adorable, I love the illustrations.

Cleanwash’s website is still in the developing stages, but Colleen keeps a blog that features more of her lovely work.

Interrobang letterpress

Bethany Heck — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 15:54:43 +0000

Interrobang letterpress is based out of Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts and run by Michael Babcock. Michael has an amazing collection of wood and metal type. You should definitely check out his flickr page and browse the multitude of images of his wood type and the specimens from his beautiful and unique metal typefaces. Michael’s work with small, delicate type is perfectly done, and he is just as skillful using larger type as well. Go on and spend a good chunk of time admiring his collection and his print work, and be sure to visit his website as well!

I love the light printing on dark paper!

Michael has some wonderful and uncommon wood typefaces.

F2 Design

Bethany Heck — Sat, 27 Feb 2010 14:25:36 +0000

F2 Designs is run by Dirk Fowler in Lubbock, Texas. Mr. Fowler makes some really nice letterpress works, and I love his posters. They mimic the look of screen printed posters, I need to purchase one for myself so I can feel them, I can imagine it would be a little surreal. It’s very cool to see someone using letterpress to achieve this look, and Mr. Fowler’s designs are very creative and fun. Check out his website for many more examples of his work!

I love the overlapping colors in this poster.

This is a great use of light ink on dark paper!

Richie Design

Bethany Heck — Fri, 19 Feb 2010 12:28:56 +0000

Richele is a designer and letterpress printer who has created some really great pieces. As per her website, she loves doing invitations and greeting cards, and she has some fantastic examples on her website and in her Etsy shop. She utilizes some great illustrations along with typography in her work.

Richele works with other design groups on occasion, and she recently worked alongside KURO interactive to print an absolutely stunning identity for Cowboy’s Dreams, a bed and breakfast in Nevada. She deserves praise for bringing the project to life through the press and elevating the already superb design. FPO has an excellent feature on the project.

This is a really cute card, I love the illustration!

You simply must look at the rest of the work Richele and KURO put in on the Cowboy’s Dream!

Isle of Printing

Bethany Heck — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 12:28:46 +0000

The Isle of Printing is a print shop located in Nashville, Tennessee. Their work features some outstanding linoleum cut illustrations. The artwork gives their work a distinct personality that is really playful. I especially love the invitations on their website, they are each unique and a lot of fun. Check out their website to see more of their fantastic work!

I love this illustration and how the typography fits in.

This is a great stationary set, how fun!

BirdDog Press

Bethany Heck — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 12:28:18 +0000

BirdDog Press is a great collaborative design studio and collaborative print shop headed by Allie Bozeman based out of Lyons, Colorado. They have some great examples of business cards and posters, but I really love their cards. I love the ones where she uses eyelets to accentuate the design. The letterpress process has on form of dimensionality, and those add another! Don’t miss browsing through their website, shop and flickr page!

The eyelets are the cherry on top of this card!

I love the layering of type and color here.

Roll & Tumble Press

Bethany Heck — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 00:23:26 +0000

Roll & Tumble Press is based out of Little Rock, Arkansas, and they have some excellent work featuring huge type, which I am a sucker for. They have several series of posters that combine color, images and clever phrases which are really great. I love the variety of typeface that they use, and the fact that they don’t shy away from using lots of color. It’s a great mix of traditional typefaces with clever imagery. Their Etsy page has more fantastic examples of their work.

Love the typeface and the text, it would brighten my day!

The use of ornament and borders really sets this poster off.

Amos Kennedy

Bethany Heck — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 19:58:15 +0000

It’s impossible to talk about letterpress in Alabama without mentioning Mr. Amos Kennedy of Gordo, Alabama. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Kennedy at a demonstration he did at Auburn while his work was featured in the June Collins Smith museum. He brought one of his Vandercook Sp-15’s, and showed the students how type should be locked up, how the inking process works and let everyone run a print on the press. Mr. Kennedy’s work is for the most part driven by wood type, and he has an amazing talent for layering text, colors and shapes. Be sure to visit his website and watch the wonderful documentary about Mr. Kennedy, Proceed and be Bold!

Mr. Kennedy’s works have an incredible amount of layering

The work he does with reversed type is outstanding.

CreateTWO

Bethany Heck — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 02:31:06 +0000

CreateTWO is a design and letterpress studio in my hometown, Auburn, AL. The owner is Kevin Smith, and Auburn University graduate. One of the most exciting and unique things that CreateTWO is doing with their shop is combining offset lithography and screen printing with their letterpressed works. I love their willingness to do an excessive number of runs to get overlapping effects and use as many colors as possible.

The Round Up Show poster was printed offset first, then letterpressed.

Some of this type is veneer, and the rest is pantographed. Note the depth differences in the D and the U.

I want to thank Kevin for his hospitality and willingness to let me hover around the studio. I never imagined there would be such a great shop in Auburn!

Be sure to explore their website and check out the video of the printing of the Love your Heart Run / Crank your Heart Ride poster. Guess who’s operating the press?!

Slowprint Press

Bethany Heck — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 13:30:30 +0000

SlowPrint Press is a letterpress studio that has printing facilities in Dubuque, Iowa, and design studios in Galena, Illinois. The founder, Peter Fraterdeus, has a great portfolio of thoughtful and finely printed designs. No details in the production process are skimmed over in their work. They have an excellent portfolio of business cards, stationery, and more. Their flickr page shows off some more of Mr. Fraterdeus’s work.

Check out their website, flickr page and etsy shop!

These are lovely envelopes designed for the shop.

I love the composition and typeface choices for this piece.