* images courtesy of Shyama Golden

We love a lot of things around here. I mean, we’re already 1-up on a lot of people just by working at a letterpress shop. So, instead of rubbing it in your face, we choose to share the love. Some of the things we love, are, but not limited to: bulldogs, that steam engine sound the S-model cylinder makes, the shop swamp cooler, saying ‘hello’, and Shyama Golden. Shyama (rhymes with llama), is pretty fly. When was the last time you heard ‘fly’? We also love In Living Color. So, being the radical person she be, whenever she requests us to print one of her amazing designs, we jump right in. We love Shyama today and this post is for her since we feel lucky to be able to print with such a great designer and we’re feeling extra lovey-dovey today.

Her ‘Candyvore’ poster design was printed on our Vandercook model-4 and we used a split-fountain technique to run the colors together in 1 pass instead of a 2-color run. It’s printed on Cranes Lettra 110# Ecru for that warm feeling. It’s as though printing with a split-fountain, in a way, mirrors the sentiment of the piece. It walks a fine line between wanting to cuddle with a wild cat who only eats piñata candy, and the sheer danger of lions and binge eating. Split-fountain inking can either ruin your day or make you extremely happy, and with this ‘Candyvore’ print it was definitely the latter.

We also threw in some other works that we’ve printed for Shyama in the gallery…enjoy!

I love design, I love print, and I love tattoos (it’s printing on skin!). So when the local chapter of the AIGA called and asked us if we’d be willing to donate printing to help promote an event called “Full Bleed, The Design and Tattoo Experience” the answer was a definite yes.

We’ll take any opportunity to support AIGA SLC because no matter what they’re up to it’s guaranteed to be great, but this one was really fantastic. The plan was to host a party to showcase the artwork and design of local tattoo artists. The talented Dan Christofferson (beeteeth.com) was to provide the design and illustration, and we would print a poster and postcard for the event. The 16.5″x23″ poster and 6″x9″ postcard both featured an illustration that was a clever combination of traditional tattoo iconography peppered with printing and design jargon. The outcome was amazing and pushed the limits of modern letterpress with very heavy ink coverage and super tight registration.

Things got even better when the decision was made to hold the event at our new 8,000 square foot building, which we had not yet moved into. The folks of the AIGA did an amazing job with the place and Epic Brewery provided beverages for all. Rumor has it there were even a few tattoos received to commemorate the event.

The poster was printed on our behemoth 21″x28″ Heidelberg S Model Cylinder press. The thing is a true wonder and beautiful to watch. Its cylinder alone weighs as much as one whole Vandercook Number 4 proof press.

The postcard was printed on our Frontex Automatic, a tiny wonder of German ingenuity that has become a real asset to our shop. With a maximum sheet size of only 10″x15″ it’s essentially a miniature version of the Heidelberg cylinders but it packs quite a punch.

It was all printed on 100# Mohawk Superfine which was graciously supplied by Zellerbach.