Since I work in the rather retro field of letterpress printing, I have always liked to dress the part.
I usually wear a hat of some sort and have done so for the last 20 years.
One of the first things I acquired to furnish the Nomadic Press building, when Emily and I bought the place, was a decent hat rack. Every morning when I come into the shop I hang up my hat and get to work.
It should come as no surprise then, that I enjoy watching an episode of Mad Men now and again. Emily and I watch it on DVD and so it was just recently that we were watching an episode wherein the Sterling daughter was planning her wedding.
Whoops, the props people blew it on that one.
When Roger Sterling was shown a sample of the invitation stationery we got to see a close-up of the card and, low and behold, it was obviously a piece of letterpress work.
I say obviously because the impression of the type into the paper was clearly visible.
Ok, first of all, the issue of deep impression, or “heavy hitting” has been previously spoken about on this blog page. Heavy impression is a modern artifact associated with the craft, and no self respecting printer from the late 50s would have been caught dead producing a work with such a visibly deep impression.
And, frankly, letterpress printing would have been the lowbrow option and not something that the daughter of a Madison Avenue big-wig would have even considered using for such an important event as her wedding.
Copperplate engraving would have been the cat’s meow.
But things change.
So, in spite of their anachronistic blunder, I was happy to see the producers of Mad Men offering a tip of the hat to the modern day fashion trend that holds letterpress in such high regard.
Heavily impressed letterpress wedding invitations anyone?
One of the more difficult things to undertake in letterpress printing is the successful execution of a project that includes two or more transparent colors which are to be overprinted.
David Rich is an artist who has been painting and drawing for decades and, in preparation for a trip to New York, he had me print some cards.
The guys at FloraFauna came to The Nomadic Press recently with an idea about a piece that could be used as both a leave-behind and a give-away. They had a limited budget and the idea that the outside of the piece would be printed letterpress while the bright colors on the inside would be printed on their laser printer.
It may be that, over the years, I have lost all perspective on what is good design. Perhaps I am just running on the joy that I experience standing at the press every day putting ink onto paper.
This project was an enjoyable trip to take.
In the 1920s and 1930s there was a movement which, in retrospect, has been called the Harlem Renaissance. Having its origin in the Harlem neighborhood in New York City the movement has had far reaching effects.
As the elevated rumbles by overhead I step into the shade of the rail structure, its steel lattice flaking rust and decades of grey-green paint, and then down a half a story into the flower shop. A bell over the door sparkles audibly and welcomes me in.
Ok, usually I try to discourage people from including in their designs flood prints or large coverages of ink.