Celebrating Letterpress
For my Final Major Project at UCA, I decided to celebrate traditional techniques. I was able to interview people in the industry and tell their stories and experiences through a series of publications and a motion graphic. Investigating printmaking allowed me to learn traditional print techniques, including letterpress (wood and lead type), screenprinting and lithography. Focus
Printmaking
Publication
Skills
Letterpress
Bookbinding
Date
Feb. 2025 - May 2025
I experimented with printing and paper before settling on GF Smith, Cromatico. I wanted to create a flipbook where each word of the quote would appear on the next page and found that this translucent paper added another visual that regular white paper didn’t, because you could sort of see through the paper and the black ink showed through in this shadowy effect.
I constructed these books with a Japanese Stab Bind because it allowed me to print on individual pieces of paper, rather than groups, and meant I could create a more interesting binding design. Each binding has a different number of ‘lines’ made with the thread, to indicate the order the books should be read and show that they are a collection.
This is a project that I would love to work more on and expand, talking to more letterpress printers and eventually creating a complete publication of their stories to share with the world and help bring letterpress back into focus.
When this project began, I didn’t know what print technique I wanted to pursue, so I decided to attend workshops on letterpress, lithography and screenprinting via my university, to better understand and learn about the process of making for each.
Out of all the processes, I was most drawn towards letterpress. I knew that I wanted to create a publication and decided that my subject would be about those still in the industry because we have many books on the process and the history of letterpress, but I felt hearing stories from those that work with the process would make my project feel more real.
I conducted interviews with Graham Bignell and Richard Ardagh from New North Press, Theo Hersey and Barry from the St Brides Foundation and learnt how each of them learnt about letterpress, why they enjoyed it and where they think it stands in the modern age.
I pulled out quotes from these interviews, leaning heavily towards answers that focused on where letterpress is now and where it is going, to not only celebrate the resilience of the craft but raise awareness about it.