Pressure Printing for Artists' Books (San Francisco, CA)

Pressure printing is a unique alternative to incorporating imagery into letterpress prints. The process uses a flexible plate made from layered paper pieces that gets printed behind another piece of paper over a flat, inked surface. In this workshop students will learn how to deconstruct an image, build a plate by hand, and print their plates. The instructor will discuss methods for transcribing pictures into cut paper and the process of layering plates to create gradients and detail. Students will learn the basics of letterpress printing and once the imagery is printed, the instructor will demonstration how to cut the sheet to create an accordion fold and bind this into a small book. The goal is to make enough copies to share with every student in class so everyone can go home with an edition.

During the first evening, the process of printing on a hand-fed cylinder proof press will be discussed. Plans will also be made for the images that will be printed. In the second class session the matrices will be printed, cut, folded, and glued together. Book cover will be created out of two pieces of cloth covered bookboard.

*This workshop is open to experiened letterpress printers as well as beginners.

Location/Venue: San Francisco Center for the Book
For more info & pictures: https://tinyurl.com/y82ekap4
Cost/Fee: $135
Material/Studio fee: Included

Their workshop calendar: https://sfcb.org/workshops

Instructor: Bettina Pauly is living in San Francisco as a book artist and working as a letterpress printer with Kim Vanderheiden at Painted Tongue Studios, Oakland, California. She teaches workshops at the San Francisco Center for the Book, the Academy of Art University and O’Hanlon Center for the Arts. She loves books and boxes both as physical objects and as containers of meaning. She is interested in a variety of folded, sewn and woven structures in which she can incorporate her printing.