T-shirts & Totebags Screenprinting Workshop (June)

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!

Bookbinding Workshop: Secret Belgian Binding (July)

There are many mysteries about Secret Belgian Binding, yet it’s no secret that this style of bookbinding is extremely versatile and attractive. It is the ideal structure for albums, portfolios, and journals because of the flexible lay-flat binding.

Students will learn how to plan out the book, first deciding the size of the pages, which will determine the proper size of covers and lengths of thread needed to finish the book. In addition to learning the sewing pattern for this binding, students will learn or practice wrapping book boards with cloth and decorative paper, and drilling the holes that will connect the sewn pages into the cover. Through making their own complete book, students will learn the logic behind the complex woven structure and develop sewing techniques that are useful in a variety of other bindings.

While the sewing is elaborate, the workshop welcomes beginners as well as intermediate and advanced bookbinders.

Relief Printmaking: Carving & Printing Woodblocks (July)

We invite you to try you hand at a new craft or to refresh dormant printmaking skills. Relief printmaking (aka block printing) is graphic, versatile, and timeless. It can be as simple as geometric stamps used to create repeat patterns or as nuanced and complex as your ambitions. In this workshop, students will plan, carve, and print from a 6” x 8” wood block.

Students will learn how to visualize and create a design that will stylistically work well as a relief print. Students move through each step of the relief process from project planning to image transfer to how to select the right gouge, hold the gouge, and carving an image in reverse. Using ink, brayers, presses, and a variety of papers, everyone will produce an edition of prints from their block. Final prints can take the form of wall art or note cards. Students with previous experience are welcome to take the workshop to refresh their skills or jumpstart a new project.

Papermaking: Pulp Painting (July)

Pulp painting is a low-pressure and experimental papermaking method in which dyed pulp is applied to freshly pulled sheets of paper. As the pulp dries, the dyed fibers bonds with the base pulp to create a unified image this blends painting and papermaking.   

In this workshop, many techniques will be shared that combine freestyle painting and stenciling. Through “drawing” with bottled pulp and applying pulp with spoons, brushes, and every day materials, paper makers can create expressive or controlled images and patterns. Hard edges and clean lines can be produced with the help of hand-cut stencils. Plus simple inclusions like string and newspaper clippings can add yet another dimension to the paper.

Anyone who likes to dabble with new art-making processes will be able to learn a new non-toxic technique that can incorporated into handmade prints, paintings, artist books, installations, and endless craft projects.

Paper will be ready to be picked up two days following the workshop.

Polymer & Plate Lithography (August)

Plate lithography is a variation of traditional lithography and relies on the hydrophobic (water-fearing) and hydrophilic (water-loving) properties of a sheet of plastic or paper. Plate lithography offers an immediate and non-toxic printing process that can incorporate photography, digital designs and hand drawn illustrations. This process is low-cost, versatile, and playful process ripe for experimentation.

Plates can be made using an everyday laser printer, then reworked or added to with a variety of tools like ballpoint pens, crayons and markers. The plate is then carefully inks with oil-based ink and ran through a press.

In this workshop, students will learn both monoprinting techniques and how make an edition with polyester plates. Digital file preparation will be taught as it is necessary for working with photos. However these processes also lend themselves to hand drawn imagery, and the computer can be bypassed completely with the use of a photocopier.

By the end of the workshop, students will produce two images using a mix of techniques on 11” x 15” paper. First time printers as well as artists with photography and drawing experience are both well-suited for this workshop.

Risography 101 (August)

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 (August)

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!

Cyanotypes: The Botany Of Blue (August)

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 brilliant blue prints 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 in this workshop will explore the process through creating their own botanical prints. Part of the day, students will learn to use our NuArc platemaker to expose cyanotypes. Part of the day will be out of doors where 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.