Eight weekend workshops in letterpress, bookbinding, & paper marbling.

Letterpress, week one.

A two-day introduction to the Vandercook proof press and to working with metal type. No experience required.

Begin Saturday morning with the parts of the press and the names of things; spend the rest of the day setting two short broadsides from the case. Sunday is spent printing them — registering, inking, learning to read a proof, learning to feel a kiss-impression with the back of a finger.

What we'll print: a single two-color broadside (8 × 11"), in an edition of twelve, on Hahnemühle Bugra. You'll leave with the edition, a printed colophon, and a stack of misregistered first attempts I encourage you to keep.

Pamphlet binding, a two-day intensive.

Three traditional pamphlet stitches, taught by Yara Olabode, a working binder out of Brooklyn. You'll go home with six small books.

Saturday: the three-, five-, and long-stitch. Sunday: a single signature with a wrapped cover, including a paper-marbled cover sheet — which, conveniently, you can come back and marble yourself in workshop IV.

Wood type, big posters.

A single Saturday spent on the platen press with a small drawer of late-1800s wood type. The press is loud; the prints are large.

Each student designs a single 12 × 18" poster of three or four words — a name, a sentence, a small piece of advice. We print an edition of six in two passes. Wear something you don't mind getting ink on.

Paper marbling, on the porch.

A one-day outdoor workshop in the suminagashi and Turkish marbling traditions, taught by Devorah Stein from her studio in Catskill.

We marble in two tanks — one set with Sumi inks, one with thicker pigments and gum tragacanth. You'll leave with eighteen full sheets and a small notebook covered in your favourite one.

Coptic binding, a two-day intensive.

The exposed-spine sewing structure of late Byzantine bookbinding, used to make a single substantial blank book.

You will sew six signatures onto two boards, wrap the boards in cloth or marbled paper (yours, if you took workshop IV), and finish a book of roughly 96 pages. The book opens flat. It is one of the most useful things you can know how to make.

Photopolymer plate, your photographs printed.

Bring one or two black-and-white photographs (digital files); leave with a small printed edition of one of them.

Saturday: prepping files, exposing polymer plates in our UV unit, washing out, mounting. Sunday: printing on the Vandercook. The grain you get from a polymer plate is unlike anything else, and the photographs that work best are quieter than the ones you'd choose if you were going to print them on an inkjet.

Letterpress, week two — metal type, three colors.

A second-level letterpress weekend for students who already know the press. We set type with greater intention and we register three colors.

You'll design and set a small folded keepsake — front, back, and inside — in three colors. Most students leave with their best work to date. A few leave humbled. Either is fine.

Open studio & finishing.

A single day at the end of summer for alumni of any prior workshop. Bring an unfinished thing, finish it.

Lunch is included; instruction is light. We're around to help, but mostly we are around. Some people finish books they started in May; others marble more sheets; others simply visit. A useful day if a project of yours has stalled.