San Francisco Center for the Book

If getting your type and images all locked up and into registration is problematic, SFCB Studio Director Chad Johnson has designed a workshop to get you back in the swing of things on the Vandercook.

In this four-hour workshop we will review the key elements of imposing on the press and then work through setting up multiple forms across several presses, working through 2-color registrations using both movable type as well as cuts and polymer plates.

While letterpress experience is a prerequisite, students will be printing a pre-established design to keep the focus on the practice of understanding how to build a stable, well imposed forms that can be registered and/or trimmed to. It will be a fun day of hard work building competencies and collaboration. Everyone will leave with a set of printed folding cards. 

This is the first in a series of Print Practicum workshops Chad will offer to help printers build skills and versatility for their letterpress printing practice.

Prerequisite: Cylinder Core or equivalent and/or working knowledge of printing on a Vandercook. If your letterpress experience is from outside SFCB, please contact us before registering to confirm eligibility.

Materials to bring: All tools and materials will be provided. 

About the Instructor: Chad Johnson (he/him) is an artist, printer, bookbinder, and teacher who has been living in the Bay Area for the past two decades. After earning an MFA in Book Arts/Printmaking from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, he has worked in conservation labs, letterpress shops, and libraries. As SFCB's Studio Director | Resident Instructor, he brings knowledge and experience fueled by passion and enthusiasm for the art and craft of making books by hand. From digital typesetting to steamroller printing to fixing presses to talking about letterpress history, Chad is always happy to help students and artists learn to express themselves through the powerful medium of the handmade book.