My latest book for Laurie Snyder’s Artist’s Books class. Yeeeeaaaahhhhhhh it’s a little typical-graphic-design-student-project-ey, but I do not care. I went through all 900+ fonts on my computer and selected what I find to be some of the most interesting, beautiful, or historically significant ampersands. Paired with their designer and in chronological order, all the way from Bembo in 1495 to Jos Buivenga’s FREE Delicious, designed just last year. They were transferred from laser prints with wintergreen oil onto tan Rives BFK, and bound accordion fold style with some sourced leather covers (I hope to write an article about sourcing leather soon).
This was my first time working with leather or oil transfers, and both processes were very rewarding. I love the texture created by the transfer, and the leather was a lot easier to work with and acquire affordably than I anticipated. I think I will be doing more work with both of them in the future.
Detail shots in the unabridged post.
oh man it looks so good. you are resourceful and awesome.
oh you are just too kind
Love this. I’m assuming it’s not for sale though, damn.
I am glad you like it Tom! I couldn’t sell it to you simply because it is not up to par with the craftsmanship I like to put into my work. It was my first time working with the oil transfers and they certainly could have been more nicely done. If I ever make a nice version I will let you know if you are still interested.
I don’t mean to be a hater, but is there such thing as a historically significant ampersand? Really?
@Tony- Well, there is certainly such a thing as a historically significant font, and these fonts do have ampersands. I will concede that an ampersand probably never changed the course of history.
@Andy Let me know if you ever do. I’d definitely be interested!
Beautiful work and I thought the craftsmanship looked quite nice. I really liked the quality of the oil transfers.
And just the mention of “Rives BFK” brought back a rush of fond memories from all the screen printing I did in school. Hadn’t heard that in a while, and I miss it.
I’ll keep checking back for a “now available at…” update.
@Andy – Tom beat me to it. This is a piece I would absolutely like to call my own. And also, the topic of sourcing leather is very interesting. I’m excited to hear more.
Awesome work. Very cool.
If you’re ever selling, I would love to buy it as a present for a friend (his birthday is coming up soon!)
I’d love to purchase one of these as well if they ever came available..
I find this collection of ampersands to be unusually calming in an almost zen-like fashion. I know you said you wouldn’t sell this, but there is a great deal of value in the honesty of hand crafted materials. I wouldn’t hesitate to buy it for my coffee table or desk.
This is beautiful – and I agree with Tom, potentially quite salable.
Hater here… WOW! Dude are you a trust-fund baby? Where do you get the disposable income to make stuff like this? Are you going to attempt to sell this somewhere. Better “tweet” it up in the Bolg-o-sphere.
Nice work!
(seen on Inspired Magazine twitter)
So beautiful, I cried.
I’d love to see this letter-pressed.
oo lala. so rich. so classy.
That’s a cute work! I never thought such wonders with an Ampersand are possible :)
That looks sexy!
Loving the wintergreen oil, its come out really well. I’d like to see it close up, although the photos are very clear and will subside my craving.
Good job!
Thank you for the kind words everyone, I am glad you all like it!
@Chris – I would love to letter press this too. No other means of printing can really compare when it comes to type…
@Bill – I am most certainly not a trust fund baby, and I am not sure where you got the impression that this was costly to produce. It is merely two sheets of paper, one pair of $4 thrift store pants, and some small pieces of book board.
Perhaps I will get around to retooling this at some point and producing a little edition…
Wow, Bill’s a real champ.
I absolutely adore this, as well as the rest of your work. I’m over at SCAD, and it seems like we don’t get the flexibility to do stuff this cool. Usually it’s just posters and business cards for some sort of charity. Regardless, this is beautiful. I love the print quality exactly how it is. I think the texture does it more justice than if each page was perfectly transferred. Keep it up!
Awesome project, Andy. My inner punctuation nerd is freaking out. Keep up the great work!
Hey Andy, followed the link from simplebits, great job on the book!
I’m curious what you used to apply pressure to transfer the toner from the laser prints to the Rives BFK, in love with the way some of the ampersands were partially not transferred.
@Darren: I used a common household spoon to burnish the transfers. Very high tech stuff!
Glad to know :)
BTW, couldn’t find your email anywhere on the site, and wanted to send you a tee (on us) from our little place on the web http://ampertee.com
@Darren: my email is available on the about page, also thanks that sounds awesome I will be sure to write about it!
The Ampersand is my favorite glyph!! I will definitely have to check out this book. Thank you for sharing!
Whoa, nice!
Please do put my on the list if/when these books are up for purchase.
I’m with anyone who thinks the imperfect transfers are perfection.
Letterpress would be perfection squared.
Clue me, please? How do you avoid reversal in the transfer?
Thanks for the comment Walter. There is no way to prevent the reversal, so I printed them out flipped, so when they transferred they would be correct!
Gazes longly at the beautiful curves of the &s. Tis art.
This is beautiful! I have an ampersand paperweight on my desk that I bought because I just loved the shape. Your collection takes all those amazing variations and presents them in a true work of art. Beautiful!
This looks amazing..
Real shame you are not selling any…really want one for myself
Are you selling this? My Boyfriend is a graphic designer and loves ampersands, and he’d LOVE this.
Let me know!
Thanks.
I really enjoyed the book!If you could make a reasonably priced book with maybe a few more &’s that you didn’t get around to in your project I’d like to know about it.
Very nice work!
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