The Botany of Blue: Cyanotypes after Anna Atkins

In 1843, a botanist and photographer named Anna Atkins self-published her first book of cyanotype photograms. Anna Atkins, who is often cited as the first woman photographer, has inspired many with her collection of images that are both scientific and artistic. Cyanotypes are contact prints on light-sensitive paper, bridging photography and printmaking. UV light hitting treated paper triggers a chemical reaction that forms an intense blue dye. This workshop commemorates the work of Atkins by sharing the art form and process of creating cyanotypes.

After looking at historical examples of cyanotypes and the work of Anna Atkins, students will explore the process through creating their own botanical prints. Working out of doors, students will use sunlight to make images from native flora, flower shop clippings and hand drawn transparencies. No previous experience necessary for this explorative, and playful process.

T-Shirts & Totebags Screenprinting Workshop (August 2017)

Convert your own drawing or design to a collection of hand-printed wearable items in this energetic and informative one-day workshop. Printing an assortment of t-shirts or totebags is practical, fun and incredibly gratifying!

Students will bring to the workshops with a bold black and white drawing, a high-contrast photo, or a digital design. While .AI or .PSD files are great, we welcome students to bring anything from text typed in Microsoft Word to photocopies. After students refine the artwork (as needed) to be “print-ready”, student will use a pre-coated photographic screen and mix their own custom ink color. Everyone is asked to bring five items of their choosing to print. As long as they are fabric and flat, we can help you print on it! T-shirts, tote bags, tea towels, bandanas, and thrift store jean jackets will all work great. Leave with a sample for an Etsy store, a surprise gift for a friend, or an eco-friendly alternative to plastic bags!

DIY Letterpress Coasters

DIY Letterpress Coasters is an opportunity for people new to letterpress printing to experiment with the art form and experience the satisfaction of pressing ink to paper. A coaster is the perfect foundation for printers to play with the art form. Students will get to make their own mixed and matched coasters featuring the debossed “punch” that makes letterpress printing so popular.

Students can make coasters from variety of “type high” blocks: wood type to produce abstract shapes and textures, antique borders to create decorative patterns, and various contemporary designs by local artists cast as magnesium plates. Students can make a dozen unique coasters, or settle on a favorite look to create matching sets. Spudnik Press will provide the option of beginning with coasters made from thick cotton paper stock or cork. Students simply need to come to class ready to sift through type cases and dabble in the centuries old process of letterpress printing.

Printing for Poets: Chapbooks & Movable Type (August 2017)

Explore the wide world of independent publishing through this hands-on workshop that brings together writing, letterpress printing, and bookbinding.

Working with the unique aesthetics of letterpress printing, as well as the constraints of this art form, students will be exposed to new ways to think about writing. As both a writing workshop as well as small press incubator, this session is especially useful for writers and poets who want to enhance their hand skills or are considering various approaches to distributing their writing.

Taking advantage of the tools and resources available at Spudnik Press, students will learn about metal type, typesetting, composition, paper handling, and simple binding structures. By the end of the day, students will have created from start-to-finish a collaborative chapbook and will have a solid understanding of the tasks involved in printing. Visual arts experience is not required.

Screenprinting for Tree Huggers

F Climate Change… I’ll Drink Dirt

Feeling guilty about the amount of resources you use to make your art? Do you want to be a more environmentally friendly artist? Do you wish that screenprinting didn’t require so much water? Heather Anderson of This New Forest is here to help! Using a tried and true clean up method used in various printshops throughout the country, artists can dramatically reduce their use of water.

In this community pay-what-you-can workshop, printmakers will learn the most water-efficient ways to make prints through designing and printing a short run of experimental abstract prints using markers, stencils, and photocopies to create their imagery. Plus, students will have the opportunity to experiment with water-soluble inks, generally brush up their printing skills, and meet like-minded environmentally aware artists.

Anyone who has basic screenprinting experience is welcome to enroll in this workshop. A donation of any amount will secure space in this community workshop.

Risography 101 (August 2017)

The Risograph is an automated duplicator from Japan that efficiently produces offset-like photocopies. Though not originally intended for artistic application, the machine has recently gained traction (and notoriety) in small-press culture for its distinct footprint and efficiently as well as being rather finicky.

This workshop will walk students through the fundamentals of Risograph printing for making books and fine art prints, and familiarize students with techniques to best reproduce their imagery. Students will become acquainted with the mechanics of the printer and learn basic maintenance, including how to change the master roll and a drum’s ink tube. Lastly, students will learn how to best design for the Risograph, taking into consideration ink drying time, ink density, paper options, registration, and patience. Everyone will leave with a three-color collaborative print produced throughout the workshop and authorization to continue making Risograph prints at Spudnik Press Cooperative.

Risography 101 (Sept 2017)

A Risograph is an automated duplicator from Japan that efficiently produces offset-like photocopies. Though not originally intended for artistic application, the machine has recently gained traction (and notoriety) in small-press culture for its distinct footprint and efficiently as well as being rather finicky.

This workshop will walk students through the fundamentals of Risograph printing for making books and fine art prints, and familiarize students with techniques to best reproduce their imagery. Students will become acquainted with the mechanics of the printer and learn basic maintenance, including how to change the master roll and a drum’s ink tube. Lastly, students will learn how to best design for the Risograph, taking into consideration ink drying time, ink density, paper options, registration, and patience. Everyone will leave with a three-color collaborative print produced throughout the workshop and authorization to continue making Risograph prints at Spudnik Press Cooperative.

Printmaking Foundations: Screenprinting, Relief, Etching (Sept 2017)

For anyone who wants to be creative through printmaking, our Foundations class introduces first time printers to the wide variety of resources and equipment at Spudnik Press Cooperative. Students will experiment with three unique printmaking processes throughout the six weeks. With each printing process inducing its own aesthetic, this class offers abundant opportunities to elevate sketches and designs through print and to understand the basic concepts that bridge the many types of printmaking at our studio.

Screenprinting is a form of stencil making that is used to print fine art as well as posters, cards, t-shirts, and more. Relief prints are created by carving an image into wood or linoleum, adding ink to the surface, and transferring the inked image onto paper. Etching, also known as Intaglio [in-tal-yoh], is a family of printing techniques in which the image is incised into a metal plate. Artist can scratch into plates with needles, or can draw through a ground and etch drawings into a plate.

Together, these processes range from experimental to exacting, bold to subdued, and unpredictable to calculated and can open new possibilities for artists, writers, and folks who want to learn a new way to make art. Printmaking Foundations can act as either a general introduction to everything Spudnik has to offer, or a refresher course for artists who have previous experience.

Screenprinting Explorations (Sept 2017 – SATURDAY AM)

Most people are fans of screenprinting whether they know it or not. Screenprinting is an art form known for its bold graphics and versatility. A close cousin of stenciling, screenprinting is easy to learn, yet hard to master. Our eight-week class provides adequate time for new printers to complete a range of projects on paper and fabric, gradually increasing in complexity and nuance. With the ongoing support of a pro to help trouble-shoot along the way, students will be familiar with dark room exposure, mesh count, screen tension, ink consistency, and registration.

In addition to developing A+ printing skills, this class will help students develop their imagery, be it hand-drawn illustration or digital files, to successfully translate to print. By the end of the class, students will know their way around the print shop, and be well equipped to continue printing independently at Spudnik Press Cooperative.

Risography 201: From Prepress to Publication (Sept 2017)

Risography 201 provides an in-depth and hands-on opportunity to better understand not only the mechanics of the risograph machine, but how to develop projects that take advantage of these mechanics.

Through each student completing their own project using their own designs, students will practice creating separations for multicolor images, setting up files for print, and ultimately executing the print. By looking at various printmaking styles, methods for designing for print, and industrial printmaking practices, students will find the ways that works best for them to adapt their artwork for risography. Plus, students will become familiar with cool print jargon like “imposition”, “duplexing”, “color profiles” and “channels”!

During the five week class, students will create a collaborative print that focuses on registration, trapping and color mixing as well as a personal project that could be a short booklet, a small series of fine art prints, or other paper object.

Previous experience operating a Risograph machine is required. If you do not have experience printing at Spudnik Press, please check with staff prior to registering.

Letterpress I: Wood and Metal Type (Sept 2017)

Letterpress printing has been making quite an impression since about 1440 when Johannes Gutenberg invented movable type. A mechanical press prints from type, either cast from metal or carved from wood, to crisply transfer ink to paper. Letterpress printing creates a tactile and inviting debossment in the paper. This “punch” makes this art form a popular choice for greeting cards, business cards, invitations, broadsides, and a wide range of printed ephemera.

While letterpress printing began as a commercial process, today artists, designers, typographers and illustrators are continually finding new ways to approach the art form. Letterpress I: Wood & Metal Type uses a range of projects to familiarize students with letterpress printing, typography and the history of the art form.

Spudnik Press Cooperative houses over 120 drawers of type, two Vandercook presses, a Line-o-scribe proofing press, and three platen presses, all of which are available for students to use.

Students will jump in on day one by browsing Spudnik’s unique collection of type and using a composing stick to hand set their first line of type. From there, projects will increase in scope to introduce more advanced project planning, technical considerations and creative approaches to printing. Students will learn new fun vocabulary words like reglets, quoins, chases, and leading. After setting type, students will become acquainted with our printing presses and learn to lock-up type, set pressure, mix and modify ink and safely operate the machines.

Throughout the class students will acquire the technical skills needed to be authorized to printing independently at Spudnik Press and the creative skills to produce inventive and alluring prints for years to come.

T-Shirts & Totebags Screenprinting Workshop (Sept 2017)

Convert your own drawing or design to a collection of hand-printed wearable items in this energetic and informative one-day workshop. Printing an assortment of t-shirts or totebags is practical, fun and incredibly gratifying.

Students will bring to the workshops with a bold black and white drawing, a high-contrast photo, or a digital design. While .AI or .PSD files are great, we welcome students to bring anything from text typed in Microsoft Word to photocopies. After students refine the artwork (as needed) to be “print-ready”, student will use a pre-coated photographic screen and mix their own custom ink color. Everyone should bring five items of their choosing to print. As long as they are fabric and flat, we can help you print on it! Shirts, tote bags, tea towels, bandanas, and thrift store jean jackets will all work great. Leave with a sample for an Etsy store, a surprise gift for a friend, or an eco-friendly alternative to plastic bags!