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Posts Tagged ‘letterpress’

  1. Book Artist of the Month: Roni Gross

    May 5, 2014 by Erin Fletcher

    ZitounaPress-RoniGross

    I See You Everywhere – 2003

    Roni Gross has successfully continued her project Zitouna over the course of 25 years. Twice a year, she creates a limited edition book or broadside which expands on the cultural ideas which emanate from Valentines Day and Halloween. The projects have explored a wide variety of themes from folklore and superstition to wordplay and mythology. 

    As a project that began in 1989, what was your initial inspiration for this ongoing work?
    The Zitouna pieces started as limited edition book-like objects made in honor of Valentines Day and Halloween each year. I chose those holidays because they are secular and thus inclusive. It began by an investigation of the origins of the traditions cross culturally, and then deepened over time to consider the seasons in which they occur – times of death and rebirth. 

    How do you find inspiration as you continue year by year?
    I have found this a very fruitful project that has led me to investigate alchemy, concepts about skeletal understanding throughout the ages, mythology and superstitions, to name a few topics. The deadline is a motivator and I have not yet felt that I am reaching the end of the possible topics for exploration.

    ZitounaPress4-RoniGross

    If Luvin’ You Is Wrong – 2008

    ZitounaPress5-RoniGross

    Alchemy – 2008

    ZitounaPress2-RoniGross

    A Very Valentine – 2010

    ZitounaPress3-RoniGross

    Lover’s Knot – 2009


  2. Book Artist of the Month: Ellen Knudson

    July 29, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

    subjectverbobject1-ellenknudson

    Subject/Verb/Object grew from frustration and anger towards art criticism and other academic writings, which largely incorporates language to control its audience and exclude outsiders. In 2012, Ellen Knudson of Crooked Letter Press created this word game, with no beginning, no end and no way to win. The turning, fitting and order of words can cause clarification or confusion. Using simplistic language forces the reader to attempt a visual organization of the things we cannot put in order: our desires. 

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    The volvelle is made of three layers bound with a metal brad and measures at 12″ in diameter. The book was letterpress printed in an edition of 85 on a Vandercook Universal I from a combination of handset metal type and photopolymer plates. Murillo paper was used to created the volvelle, interior sleeve and belly band which is held together with a set of metal grommets; the exterior sleeve is covered in Iris coffee bookcloth. 

    This artist book can be purchased from 23 Sandy Gallery


  3. Book Artist of the Month: Ellen Knudson

    July 15, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

    selfdual1-ellenknudson

    Photo by Jerry Mathiason

    Over the course of graduate school, Ellen Knudson, would travel the road between Starkville, Mississippi and Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Self-Dual (How to Walk a 30,000 Mile Tightrope) is a collection of visual and textual vignettes in reflection of those trips; little pieces of the scenery and her thoughts during those drives. 

    The paper used in the book is 100% cotton rag, handmade from Ellen’s family’s clothing. The six large illustrations are linoleum reduction prints, the other illustrations are line art drawings printed from photopolymer plates. The type is handset in multiple sizes of Lutetia metal type, cast by Harold Berliner. The book is bound as a built-in groove case in the dos-a-dos style binding with two illustrated fold-outs. This book was bound in an edition of 50. 

    selfdual2-ellenknudson

    Photo by Jerry Mathiason

    selfdual3-ellenknudson

    Photo by Jerry Mathiason

    The deluxe edition is a handmade portfolio that houses the six large linoleum prints. This edition was produced in a quantity of 15. Self-Dual was made during 2005-06.

    selfdual4-ellenknudson

    Photo by Jerry Mathiason


  4. Book Artist of the Month: Ellen Knudson

    July 8, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

    howtolove2-ellenknudson

    In 2004, Ellen Knudson printed and bound How to Love Someone Forever in an edition of 50 books and 50 broadsides. This collection of poems are written by Kevin Knudson (Ellen’s husband) and herself for one another and for their son. As Ellen explains it: We are always working on how to love each other, Kevin, Gus, and I, so this is a hint of the grand gooey mess that is us.

    howtolove1-ellenknudson howtolove4-ellenknudson

    Illustrations throughout the book are done by Ellen to represent weeds as a reflection of the tangle of relationships, lovely and difficult as they are. The illustrations are line drawings and letterpress printed from photopolymer plates. The book is about the every day of relationships and finding beauty in them when they can be taken for granted and so easily go unnoticed, much like weeds.

    The poems were handset and printed in Gould Old Style 394 and Caslon metal type. Pages were letterpress printed on dampened Hahnemuhle Bugra paper in mint and marble gray. The book is double-pamphlet sewn and bound as a built-in groove case binding. The paste paper covers are handmade on mint Bugra. All printing was done by Ellen at her studio, Crooked Letter Press, in Starkville, Mississippi on the (as Ellen puts it) badass Vandercook Universal 1 proofing press. 

    howtolove3-ellenknudson

    The poem Valentine Sestina written by Kevin is printed on the only fold-out found in the book and  is also available as a separate broadside. The poem is a sestina, which is a 39-line poem consisting of six stanzas of six lines each followed by a three lined stanza.


  5. Book Artist of the Month: Sarah McDermott

    March 11, 2013 by Erin Fletcher

    dodgecountrysummers2-sarahmcdermott

    Memories can be tricky. When recalling moments from our childhood, we can so easily and without realizing it, elaborate on the reality. In Dodge County Summers, Sarah McDermott constructs a narrative from the summers spent on her family’s farm in Wisconsin and now as an adult realizes their falsehoods. 

    Dodge County Summers is bound as a quarter cloth binding on an intimate scale of 5¼ x 5¼” containing fold-out sections, which allow for movement in two directions. The interior pages were handmade using cotton rag, abaca, mystery pulp balls and hemp and letterpress printed on a Vandercook 4 with the use of linoleum reductions and photopolymer printed plates for the text and drawings.

    This artist book was created in 2009 in an edition of 30 and can be purchased through Vamp & Tramp, Booksellers.

    dodgecountrysummers-sarahmcdermott


  6. If Only…

    July 18, 2012 by Erin Fletcher

    These dice letterpress print are extraordinary.  Who knew dice could withstand the pressure of a Vandercook.  Bryan Christopher Baker of Stukenborg Press is a printer living in Detroit who painstakingly arranged 520 die for each layer of the print posted above.  The shapes and pathways created by the dot pattern is both rhythmic and mesmerizing.  Jason and I already own two prints by Stukenborg and I’ve become continually enchanted by the ways Baker has reinvented the patterns and illusions of this work.

     


  • My name is Erin Fletcher, owner and bookbinder of Herringbone Bindery in Boston. Flash of the Hand is a space where I share my process and inspirations.
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