Because my letterpress skills were a bit rusty from college, I decided to take the letterpress class at The Armory Center for the Arts, in Pasadena. The instructor for the class is Denise Figueredo. She is the same instructor that introduced me to the book arts and letterpress printing while I was in school. The Armory is a great place to learn how to set type (the way it used to be in print shops- no photopolymer plates here!) as well as learn how to use various presses. This is where I learned how to operate my Monster (a Chandler & Price 8x12). In the print shop are 2 Goldings, 1 Vandercook, a big collection of metal type and dingbats. I feel it is important to learn something the "old-fashioned" way first. It is very tedious work in a print shop. Hand setting type requires a lot of patience. Computers make picking a font, kerning and leading seem easy as pie. After learning how to typeset, one appreciates the trade and values the art of letterpress even more.
Here are some pictures from the Armory.
*Thanks BDC for taking the photos
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