Etching & Intaglio Printmaking (January)

Intaglio Printmaking is a family of printing techniques in which marks are incised into a metal plate. Using a fine point needle and various other tools, drawings and images are transferred through a thin protective ground to expose copper. With the help of a chemical bath, marks and images are etched into the metal with a remarkable amount of detail.

Artists can also work more spontaneously by scratching gestures and images directly onto plates, transferring textures, or painting directly onto plates with resists and mordents.

Beginning with basic line etching, students will learn and practice traditional plate making and printing processes. Through chine collé, aquatint, dry point, soft ground, and experimentation, student will add tonality, color, and varied marks to their images. No prior printing experience is needed, and students who do have intaglio experience can revisit the foundational skills with a more nuanced understanding of the process, and move on to independent projects.

The basic tools (etching needle, scraper and burnisher) are available to use during class, but students may wish to acquire their own so that they can work outside of class. Three copper plates ($26 value) are included in tuition.

Letterpress: Movable Type + Polymer Plates (January)

Letterpress printing has been making an impression since 1440 when Gutenberg invented movable type. Letterpress printing creates a tactile and inviting debossment in paper by using a mechanical press to prints from metal or wood type. This “punch” makes letterpress a popular choice for greeting cards, business cards, invitations, broadsides, and a wide range of printed ephemera. While it began as a commercial process, artists, designers, typographers and illustrators are continually finding new ways to approach the art form.

Letterpress: Movable Type + Polymer Plates introduces both traditional handset type AND polymer plates. Polymer plates allow artists to print from digital designs (illustrations, text, and even photographs) and can be made in house or ordered online.

Students will develop foundational skills by using a composing stick to hand set lines of types. From there, projects will introduce more technical considerations as well as creative approaches to printing. Students will learn to learn to lock-up type, prepare digital files for print, create polymer plates, set pressure, mix and modify ink and (maybe most importantly) safely operate our machines.

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

Pre-Press Workshop: File Prep for Stress Free Printing (January)

Not everyone needs to be a digital expert. With that said, there are many benefits of understanding how Adobe creative suite can be used to ensure successful printing.

Our one-day workshop will arm even “non­techy” people with digital arsenal of skills needed to prepare their drawings, photographs, and designs into a press-ready file for screenprinting, letterpress printing or risography.

For example, students will better understand color modes and when to use each of them (CMYK, Greyscale, and Bitmap). Students will learn tricks for separating an image into multiple layers and adjusting contrast, levels and curves to create high-contrast black and white images from scanned drawings. Students will learn how to add trapping to their artwork and how to create an on-screen approximation of what their artwork might look like as ink on paper.

Through hands-on file editing, students will practice using a variety of tools to help plan and visualize multilayer prints and create crisp darkroom-ready stencils.

The class will focus on Photoshop, but also address when and how to use Illustrator. Students should come with basic understanding of Photoshop as the class if focused on tools for printmakers, not teaching the program from the ground up.

Students will use their own computers with Adobe Creative Suite*. This workshop focuses on digital pre-press file editing. Students will not be creating prints during the workshop.

*Please email staff prior to registering if you do not have a laptop with creative suite. A limited number of students may be able to use onsite computers.

DIY Letterpress Greeting Cards (January)

Please join us for an afternoon of printing your own greeting cards using our traditional printing presses. The tactile quality of ink pressed into paper will surely leave an impression on the lucky recipients of your handmade cards!

Students will each set their own short saying, phrase, or statement using metal and wood type. This text can even be combined with an illustration from our collection of vintage relief blocks! The end result: A festive and professional one-of-a-kind holiday card, thank you card, birthday card, or “every day” card to send friends and family.

This workshop combines an overview of letterpress printing and it’s unique history with hands-on art making, and it is a great way to try out a new craft. Our studio will provide 15 A6 Eco White fold over cards, but students can bring blank notecards if they prefer a different size or color.

Artwork Documentation Workshop: Copy Stands, Batch Edits & Color Correcting (Jan)

As a visual artist, the importance of high-quality art documentation cannot be over stated. To help empower our community have the best slides possible, Spudnik Press has added a professional camera, copy stand, and light kit to our shared resources available through Open Studio!

Not sure how to use these fancy tools? This workshop will bring you up to speed on how to use a DSLR camera (or your phone), copy stand, and Adobe Lightroom to efficiently and effectively document your own work.

We’ve invited Adam Schachner, professional photographer, and Latitude’s Lab Director, to educate artists on the ins and outs of how to document their own work, be it flat or dimensional.

Students will learn how to use the copy stand coupled with a digital camera “tethered” directly to a computer with Adobe Lightroom. In Lightoom, you will learn how images can be batch edited to adjust for color balancing, warping, sharpness, and more. Typical and simple Adobe Photoshop techniques for doing more local image adjustments will also be shared.

The hands on workshop will review simple hardware and software trouble-shooting as well as how the copy stand’s continuous lights can be used for documenting books and zines.

Participants will work collaboratively to take high-quality digital photographs of their own artwork. Each student should bring about five artworks, and expect to leave with 1-2 edited images ready to be published online or included in a grant or residency proposal.

DIY Valentines: Screenprinting (January)

A handmade valentine is always a thrill to receive, regardless of how romantic one feels about the holiday. This Valentine’s Day, impress friends, family, and coworkers with a clever or charming hand-printed valentines featuring your own design.

Students will each bring a one-color design that they would like to transform into a stack of greeting cards. Designs can be a black and white drawing, text-based, a Photoshop or Illustrator file, or found imagery.

Students will learn how to make their image “print ready” and will expose their image onto a screen using photographic emulsion in our darkroom. Everyone will mix their own custom ink color, register their image onto cards, and then print, print, print! Our studio will provide 20 A6 Eco White fold over cards, but students can bring blank note cards if they prefer a different size or color. Students are encouraged to swap cards with their classmates to bring home a DIY variety pack of cards.

Papermaking: Pulp, Sculpt and Print (February)

Papermaking can be used as a catalyst for bookmaking, printmaking and drawing, as well as an art form all in its own.  Beginning with the scrap papers that so constantly accumulate in our print studio, student will turn these left overs into precious pulp. In addition to using recycled materials, students will make unique handmade paper sheets using natural fibers like abaca.

After forming basic paper with a mould and deckle, students will explore texture, paper casting, and layering paper to create sculptural pieces or installations.

With the printmaker in mind, the class will also address how to incorporate imagery into and onto handmade paper. “Inclusions” like fragments of prints, organic materials, or thread can be integrated into the paper. Plus, students will learn ways to add photographic imagery to their papers through alcohol transfers and cyanotype processes.

Students will graduate from the class with an understanding of papermaking terminology and history. They will be able to make and dye pulp, create large and small flat sheets, and craft paper-based artwork that incorporates collage, photography, pulp painting, and sculptural elements.

Papermaking at Spudnik Press is a low-tech non-toxic process that requires limited access to special facilities, and can be incorporated into classroom settings. This is a wet process, so dress down for this class.

Risography 101 (February 5)

The Risograph is an automated duplicator from Japan that efficiently produces offset-like prints in a variety of saturated colors. 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.

While students gain authorization to continue making risograph prints at Spudnik Press Cooperative, attendees are encouraged to round out their riso know-how by taking a Risography 102 workshop and/or returning to use Open Studio shortly after taking the workshop.

Risography 101 (February 10)

The Risograph is an automated duplicator from Japan that efficiently produces offset-like prints in a variety of saturated colors. 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.

While students gain authorization to continue making risograph prints at Spudnik Press Cooperative, attendees are encouraged to round out their riso know-how by taking a Risography 102 workshop and/or returning to use Open Studio shortly after taking the workshop.

T-Shirts & Totebags Screenprinting Workshop (February)

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!

For those who love this introduction to screenprinting, our 8-week Screenprinting Explorations class will round out your skills and allow you print independently through our  Open Studio program!

Risography 102: Bring Your Own Files (February)

Risography 102 reinforces the skills introduced in Riso 101. Each student will bring their own project to set-up and print during the workshop.

Best practices for imposition or layout for zines and publications will be reviewed as well as tips for color separation and digital file set-up. Smart file set up is step #1 to ensure smooth and efficient printing!

Then, through creating a small run of prints during the workshop, students will get a refresher on how to make masters from digital files, how to troubleshoot paper jams and other typical print errors, and how to replenish ink and masters. Lastly, students will have the opportunity to use our guillotines to trim their prints.

This workshop is limited to just four students to ensure that everyone can print their own imagery and log time operating the machine independently. Students who take this workshop will be well suited to print and use guillotines unsupervised during Open Studio.

Students should come ready with a 2-3 color project–either a single-sided print to be completed in the workshop or a longer project to be finished during open studio. While PDF files are great, students are welcome to bring anything from text typed in Microsoft Word to photocopies.

Illustrative Lettering (February)

The unification of written language and visual language can create powerful communication. When done well, illustrative lettering leads to impactful poster design, cards and invitations, advertisements and artwork. Building from one’s natural drawing style, this workshop will amplify hand-lettering skills and focus on techniques to combine text with illustration.

Students will gain inspiration and ideas from looking at several illustrations by a wide range of artists. Using various prompts, students will practice transforming letterforms into image and experiment with readability, layout, shape, and style. After developing sketches using a wide range of techniques and tools, everyone will have the opportunity to focus on a final illustration that incorporates skills learned throughout the session.