This workshop, led by Amira Hegazy, approaches the book as a design problem in the fullest sense — one where form and content are inseparable, and where every decision, from margins to binding method, is also an editorial one. This workshop briefly explores the historical development of book form and how physical possibilities of the book have developed with the needs of production and readers.  Whether you are working on a zine, a monograph, an artist book, or a longer publication, the workshop offers both practical grounding and a more expansive framework for thinking about what a book can do.

This is the third workshop in the Design for Print sessions with Amira Hegazy

This workshop series is built for designers and other digital image makers to translate their digital skills to physical making. We will take specific elements of the design process and decode them to print processes. We will highlight historical and theoretical elements that have woven through design practice from days of physical production to our digital workspaces. Expect to leave each workshop feeling more knowledgeable about your day-to-day design workflows and how to realize your designs through hands-on print practices at Spudnik Press. 

• Workshop 1: Thinking Through Color — Understanding Single Color Production with the Risograph (May 10, 12-4pm)
• Workshop 2: Slow Type — Letterforms & Typesetting on the Letterpress (May 17, 12-6pm)
  
• Workshop 3: Designing for the Printed Book (May 31, 12-4pm)
• Workshop 4: Containers — Presenting Your Work Through Box Building (June 7, 12-6pm)Note: Each workshop in this series is enrolled individually. You can register for a single workshop or sign up for the full series.

Amira Hegazy is a Chicago-based designer, printer, bookmaker and educator whose work lives at the intersection of print, publication, and community. This four-part workshop series is designed specifically for graphic designers looking to deepen their print knowledge — from file setup to finished object.

This refresher & authorization workshop welcomes students with previous screenprinting experience who are feeling out-of-practice or fuzzy regarding the finer points of the process, or who have never printed at Spudnik before, and want familiarity with our facilities and offerings. Students should have already completed a one-day workshop or full class, although it need not have been at Spudnik. We also welcome printers that would like support working through a particularly complex project or reoccurring printing issue.

The class will review an assortment of skills such as selecting the best mesh count, applying the perfect coat of photo emulsion, troubleshooting and diagnosing exposure and printing issues, ink mixing, registration, and screen reclamation. Equally as importantly, we will address how to consider these technical factors and limitations when designing a project for printing.

During the workshops, each student will expose a screen, and work with peers to print a two-color image designed to hone nuanced printing skills. Students are welcome to bring specific questions about their next project.

To help build printing confidence at Open Studio sessions, students are invited to return within the week to put their freshly acquired knowledge to use. Through this workshop, students will not only brush up on old skills and become authorized to print at Spudnik, but are sure to walk away with new morsels of useful information regarding the art of screenprinting.

This 4-hour workshop will walk students through the fundamentals of risography for bookmaking and fine art printing. Students will learn techniques and best practices for reproducing imagery, giving consideration to ink density, drying time, paper choices, registration, and patience. 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. Everyone will leave with an individually designed two-layer print.

Students will create monotypes by working directly on plexiglass plates using additive and subtractive techniques, layering color, stencils, and ghost prints to build dynamic images. The class also introduces collographs, where textured plates are constructed from found materials and printed in small, varied editions.

Throughout the course, students will make many prints while learning how ink, paper, and pressure shape the final image. By the end of the class, participants will complete a small body of work that combines multiple techniques and reflects their individual style. Students will leave comfortable using the etching press and eligible for studio authorization at Spudnik Press.

Working directly on t-shirts, you’ll spend real time at the press getting comfortable with the equipment and the workflow. You’ll learn how ink behaves on fabric, how to mix a custom color, and how to get consistent results across multiple prints. Registration — the process of aligning your second color precisely to your first — gets dedicated attention so you leave with a clear understanding of how to nail it every time.

Students will leave with finished printed tees and full authorization to use the screenprinting studio independently, so you can keep coming back and making.

Using Spectrolite, an intuitive software designed for Riso printing, you will create standalone prints, explore layering techniques, and develop a foundation for animation. From there, you will learn how to scan and composite your work in Photoshop, building toward a finished animated GIF and a short Riso animation to take home.

You will leave the course with prints, contact sheets, and a collection of digital material to continue experimenting with long after the final session. With the Risograph, practice and experimentation are at the heart of every unique result.

What to Bring

— USB drive
— Notebook

No experience is needed, simply a creative spirit and a readiness to experiment.

Over the span of 3 sessions, participants will receive personalized guidance towards completing their own ambitious, animated relief projects. This class also includes a voucher for free access to open studio hours, giving students the opportunity to conclude their project independently should they need extra time, even after the course’s completion. 

No experience in either medium is required to enroll.

In addition to gaining authorization to print independently at Spudnik Press, students will have access to Open Studios to work on their projects.

Get your hands inky and your prints analog. Over three sessions, you’ll explore three completely different printmaking traditions — each with its own tools, materials, and magic. From screen printing your own wearables on day one, to scratching metal plates and pulling intaglio prints, to running paper through a letterpress — this series is designed for curious, bold makers who want to learn how images are made.

Session 1
June 7 9am-12pm
Screen printing — wear your work
Start by screen printing an apron you’ll use for the rest of the series — then keep the press warm with t-shirts, tote bags, and whatever else you bring to print on. You’ll learn to expose a photographic screen, mix custom ink colors, and pull clean prints through the mesh. Walk away with wearable art.

Session 2
June 14 9am-12pm
Drypoint etching — scratch, score, and print

Learn the fundamentals of intaglio printmaking by drawing directly onto a metal plate with a steel needle. Drypoint is immediate and expressive — the burr your tool raises holds ink in ways that produce rich, velvety lines unlike anything you can get from a brush or pen. You’ll learn plate wiping and printing technique, and leave with a finished plate and a set of prints.

Session 3
June 21 9am-12pm
Letterpress — texture, pressure, and the printed page

Finish the series on a machine that shaped the modern world. Using stencils and low-relief collages — cut paper, string, netting, plant material — you’ll create richly textured prints by running them through a letterpress cylinder. The varying thickness of your materials determines how much ink transfers to the page, producing nuanced, one-of-a-kind impressions up to 19″ × 25″. Experiment with hand inking and multi-layer compositions to tell a story, build an illustration, or just see what the press can do. 

This workshop, led by Amira Hegazy, focuses on the design and construction of custom enclosures to explore how structure, material, and proportion work together to create objects worthy of what it holds. Participants will build their own boxes by hand, developing both the technical vocabulary and the design sensibility to think about containment as an intentional act. We will discuss how engineering containers go hand in hand with print design preparation and consider how the design and fabrication process are inseparable. Essential for designers working with product development, book editions, print portfolios, or any work where the experience of receiving matters as much as the work itself.

This is the fourth workshop in the Design for Print sessions with Amira Hegazy

This workshop series is built for designers and other digital image makers to translate their digital skills to physical making. We will take specific elements of the design process and decode them to print processes. We will highlight historical and theoretical elements that have woven through design practice from days of physical production to our digital workspaces. Expect to leave each workshop feeling more knowledgeable about your day-to-day design workflows and how to realize your designs through hands-on print practices at Spudnik Press. 

• Workshop 1: Thinking Through Color — Understanding Single Color Production with the Risograph (May 10, 12-4pm)
• Workshop 2: Slow Type — Letterforms & Typesetting on the Letterpress (May 17, 12-6pm)
  
• Workshop 3: Designing for the Printed Book (May 31, 12-4pm)
• Workshop 4: Containers — Presenting Your Work Through Box Building (June 7, 12-6pm)

Note: Each workshop in this series is enrolled individually. You can register for a single workshop or sign up for the full series.

Amira Hegazy is a Chicago-based designer, printer, bookmaker and educator whose work lives at the intersection of print, publication, and community. This four-part workshop series is designed specifically for graphic designers looking to deepen their print knowledge — from file setup to finished object.

A selection of projects will give students the opportunity to produce prints from hand drawings, digital designs, and photographic or found imagery. Students will become familiar with the full process — from selecting the right screen, to darkroom exposure, ink mixing, printing, and reclaiming screens. With support from an experienced printer, students will practice printing and, equally important, troubleshooting.

By the end of this class, students will know their way around the print shop and be authorized to print independently through Spudnik Press’s Open Studio program.

Letterpress printing evolved from simple platen presses, where paper was pressed onto an inked form, producing beautifully imprinted text and images. Over time, the flat platen was replaced by a roller in the flat-bed cylinder press, streamlining the process.

This course is the perfect introduction to letterpress printing, a centuries-old process that shaped the history of printed language. From its invention by Johannes Gutenberg in the 15th century through its continued use into the 20th century, letterpress has remained a powerful and tactile way to print text and images.

Over Eight weekly sessions, students will learn the fundamentals of letterpress printing, including hand-setting metal and wood type, understanding inks and paper, and safely operating platen presses. Instruction covers composing with a stick, adjusting letter and word spacing, building type forms, and printing with consistent impression. Students will also learn essential press skills such as locking up in a chase, basic make-ready, registering multiple layers, and proper press cleanup.

This hands-on class is ideal for creatives, designers, writers, and anyone interested in language as a visual and physical medium. No prior printmaking experience is required.