"Just Have Fun!": A Letterpress Workshop with Woodshed Press

    It was a gloomy, rain-drenched Sunday when an intrepid group of NSBAG members gathered at the Halifax Central Library where our regular meeting room had been transformed into a makeshift letterpress studio by Katie Prescott of Woodshed Press.  

Katie brought her Showcard Press, a broad assortment of movable type and oddball vintage cuts, and an impressive variety of materials to print on.  The Showcard Press was manufactured in the mid-twentieth century,  originally designed for easy set-up, and was most often used in shops and schools for the quick printing of display materials; one of our members, who had worked at Eaton's, remembered the Showcard Press in use at the store.  In this, its second life, it was the ideal introductory press for those of us who ventured out in the pouring rain to try out some old school printing.  

"Just have fun!", Katie encouraged us.  And Katie is a letterpress printer who does just that, using found materials and ephemera to create art out of ingenious iterations of the printed word.  With her work as inspiration and her generous encouragement--including encouraging us to make beautiful mistakes-- we printed our names, Mother's Day messages, pithy sayings and wry observations on maps, old sheet music, playing cards, library cards--really, on any paper product that would take up that ancient rubber-based ink.  

As a bonus, and in keeping with the day's commitment to the history of printing, there was also a typewriter to noodle around on while we waited our turn with the press.

We all got to print a few things for ourselves (and our mums) and whiled away the afternoon immersed in type and words and ink and paper.  What bettter to spend a rainy Sunday afternoon?  Thanks, Katie!