Andy Mangold

Photo by Becky Slogeris

Today, I had the pleasure of taking a tour of Globe with my letterpress class. I of course forgot my camera on said life-changing tour, but luckily the amazing Becky Slogeris had her’s and was snapping away.

I was absolutely in awe of the equipment, tools, wood type and presses in the Globe shop. It was humbling to see the workspace of such authentic craftsmen, and very sad to see it so dusty and unused. In its prime, Globe was a premier provider of show and carnival posters, among other things. They have an enormous collection of wood type, one-of-a-kind etchings and wood cuts, not to mention a prestigious portfolio of work. Globe is a family run business, and unfortunately doesn’t have the money to get their huge poster presses running again just yet. They do sell stunning screen-printed re-issues of their classic posters, and they are available here: Globe Poster Classics

The posters are cheap, beautifully printed, unique and supporting an incredible business that has sadly fallen off the map in many ways. Holidays are approaching, I’m just sayyyiinnnn’. (so is Becky)

Becky’s Pictures

I spent most of yesterday in the Letterpress Studio making sweet, sweet love to Dolphin Press’s SP20. I printed some calling cards for the lovely Kailie Parrish as well as some post cards from Baltimore, both from polymer plates. I am finally starting to get the hang of this letterpress business, and I must say it is very exciting.

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Soooooooooo for my Experimental Lettering course we had to expand on our monogram/cipher sketches from last week and apply the finalized design to some medium. I chose to create a letterpress wood block I can use on any typesetting things I tackle in the future. So, I got up real early on Saturday, went down to the wood shop, cut a piece of wood to the perfect size, went over to the lasercutter/etcher and waited my turn in line, and etched the design into the end grain of the block. The result was this:

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We finally began setting some lead type in my letterpress class, and the experience was tremendously rewarding. Something about the whole process is really giving me a different perspective on design in general; I expect I will take a lot from class. Just during these simple settings I gained a whole new appreciation for the personality and character of Gill Sans, one of my least favorite typefaces. There will definitely be more to come in the letterpress department; we get to start more directly designing things soon.

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I have done some preparation, or immersion, if you will, into the letterpress world to better prepare myself for my course on the subject this semester. I could not be more excited about sinking my teeth into this medium, and I fear I will not be able to drag my sensibilities back to the world of digital prints. For those interested, I have compiled some letterpress links, galleries, work, and resources: (more…)

Copyright for this image is held by the Estate of Leonard Baskin

I was asked by my Paper Making and Book Structure professor to research the work of Leonard Baskin: Printmaker, Sculptor, Designer, Bookmaker, and all around BAMF. I have found his creative path through life to be similar to my own thusfar, we share both a passion for design and a love of true craftsmanship and the object as a form of Art. (more…)