2008 Woodie Awards
New technology takes over, but letterpress lives on
Steve Berry
Issue date: 11/1/07 Section: A&E
Even with a sign which read "SLLS," the feeling was, "Could this be it?"
A narrow rugged path fell from state Route 96 and into the woods. After crossing a clear stream on an exacting cement bridge, the view revealed a small house, an RV, a workshop and a shed were visibile in a valley of red and gold between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.
The workshop near the house is Skyline Type Foundry. Together with the St. Louis Letterpress Society, it was hosting its fourth annual open house Saturday.
Junior art student Ash Forrest admired antique letterpresses and watched equipment demonstrations with members of SIUE's graphic design organization.
Forrest was in an environment increasingly familiar to her. She works as an intern at a design shop and letterpress in St. Louis called The Firecracker Press.
Like Skyline Type Foundry, Firecracker Press is tucked away.
Skyline is a dot in the forested hills of western Illinois, six miles west of Kampsville.
Fifty miles south in St. Louis, Firecracker Press fills the insides of an almost unmarked storefront hidden by a concrete viaduct. Skyline Type Foundry pours molten metal into molds to create a font that can be held in the hand
Forrest began interning at Firecracker this semester. She works every Friday preparing printing plates, mixing ink and printing posters and cards with antique hand-operated machines.
Forest described Firecracker Press as, "the only graphic design studio in St. Louis that makes use of a letterpress and traditional printmaking methods such as woodcutting, photopolymer and letter setting."
Type setting, or letter setting, involves placing individual letter blocks in a press to print a message. Firecracker Press has over 200 cases of type in the shop. The cases of type contain individual letter blocks that include all the letters of the alphabet, punctuation symbols and numerals. Skyline Type Foundry creates letters and entire type families like the ones found at Firecracker.
A narrow rugged path fell from state Route 96 and into the woods. After crossing a clear stream on an exacting cement bridge, the view revealed a small house, an RV, a workshop and a shed were visibile in a valley of red and gold between the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers.
The workshop near the house is Skyline Type Foundry. Together with the St. Louis Letterpress Society, it was hosting its fourth annual open house Saturday.
Junior art student Ash Forrest admired antique letterpresses and watched equipment demonstrations with members of SIUE's graphic design organization.
Forrest was in an environment increasingly familiar to her. She works as an intern at a design shop and letterpress in St. Louis called The Firecracker Press.
Like Skyline Type Foundry, Firecracker Press is tucked away.
Skyline is a dot in the forested hills of western Illinois, six miles west of Kampsville.
Fifty miles south in St. Louis, Firecracker Press fills the insides of an almost unmarked storefront hidden by a concrete viaduct. Skyline Type Foundry pours molten metal into molds to create a font that can be held in the hand
Forrest began interning at Firecracker this semester. She works every Friday preparing printing plates, mixing ink and printing posters and cards with antique hand-operated machines.
Forest described Firecracker Press as, "the only graphic design studio in St. Louis that makes use of a letterpress and traditional printmaking methods such as woodcutting, photopolymer and letter setting."
Type setting, or letter setting, involves placing individual letter blocks in a press to print a message. Firecracker Press has over 200 cases of type in the shop. The cases of type contain individual letter blocks that include all the letters of the alphabet, punctuation symbols and numerals. Skyline Type Foundry creates letters and entire type families like the ones found at Firecracker.
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