While in Philadelphia I was still recovering from the flu. Actually, I think I still have it because I haven’t fully rested still. I used my sickness as an excuse to not go to as many demos as I would have liked and I am fully regretting it. However the ones I did go to were awesome:

As soon as I got to the hotel I was out the door to check out Drive By Press at The Print Center, who announced this years’ tour is their last hoorah. They came to Utah State University last April and I think what they do is pretty amazing. It’s sad to see them end, but I can imagine how exhausting it must be to be on the road constantly, not to mention the 600 lb. press they lug around too. They are still scheduled to pay Salt Lake City a visit this month. I’ll get details on that soon! The little girl above is printing, believe it or not. She’s rocking back and forth on top of a wood block.

Soon after I walked over to The University of the Arts for Democratic Down N’ Dirty DIY Screenprinting. It was down and dirty indeed. Ink everywhere, paper everywhere, people everywhere. It was awesome.

The next day I was back at The University of the Arts for Experimental Broadsides on the Vandercook Press. I was with my USU family and most of them had yet been exposed to letterpress so I made sure we attended this demo. They did an awesome broadside for the conference and representing all things Philadelphia as well. Everyone got a poster as a souvenir, however mine got rolled up with someone else’s and I need to track it down. Darci is feeling the pressure of the wood type and the rollers above.

Friday I caught the shuttle to Tyler School of Art. I missed the Stone Lithography Becomes Digital Lithography demo which is a major bummer because Lithography remains the only printmaking medium I have yet to experience. And it looked really interesting too.

I did catch a piece of the Alternative Approach Relief Printing demo. It’s much like doing a pressure print in letterpress where you have materials, such as a stencil, placed under the area you want to print. Then you ink up a block (above is a mat board, I believe, and the stencil is underneath it), place paper and roll through the press. It’s easier said than done and I haven’t even really used it. It would be fun to play with though!  But when is printing not fun to play with?

Tags broadside Drive By Press letterpress lithography pressure print relief screen print