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Letterpress Essentials: Metal Type

Prepare to be certified to set metal type and use the Vandercook No. 099 proof press for your letterpress projects.

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Letterpress Essentials: Metal Type

Letterpress Essentials: Metal Type

Prepare to be certified to set metal type and use the Vandercook No. 099 proof press for your letterpress projects.

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About

Learn the basic skills required to find, set, ink, print, clean, and store metal type. By the end of this class you should have acquired the fundamentals required to get certified to use the Vandercook proof press, a cylinder printing press developed by Robert Vandercook in 1909 now popular with artists for its precision, ease of use, and high-quality proofs. You'll learn about job cases, ems and ens, quads, picas, furniture, galley trays, magnets, location-location-location, and why you should always wash your hands after handling metal type. 

Details

  • Skill level: Beginner. This is an introductory class.
  • You'll complete a hands-on typesetting project (a sentence, statement, or quote).
  • You'll hand ink and use the studio’s Vandercook proof press to print a sample of your project for the studio and one to take home.
  • Once you've completed this class, you're encouraged to practice your skills with the guidance of a monitor with metal type experience during an Open Studio.
  • Once you've practiced, you'll be able to come back to an Open Studio with a certifying monitor to get certified to set metal type in the studio and print using the Vandercook.

Prerequisites

You must have taken Print & Book Studio Orientation.

Class Policies

Ages 18 and up are welcome.

Instructor
Alejandro Acosta

With a background in linguistics, teaching, photography, journalism, jewelry making, arts, research, software development, management, and technical project management, Alejandro spends his leisure time reading, meditating, practicing yoga, hiking, kayaking, camping, making things for fun, and watching movies old and new, among other activities. He moved to Poulsbo from Seattle in 2022 and has been a BARN member since the summer of 2023. Alejandro can certify people to use the Takach etching presses, metal type setting, wood type setting, the Vandercook proof press, the provisional presses, the Challenge press, and the Chandler and Price Pilot presses.

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