letter press printing
hi guys!

i want to print 50 copies of a letter press “chapbook” of short stories. letter press is never cheap, but some places have lower overheard &c than others. does anyone have a favorite place to print a perfect bound letter press book in such a short run? 1 color inside, 2-3 on the cover, 80 pages. pinball used to do it *so well* but it looks, from their website, like they stopped. i’ll reprint the book digitally, but the first 50 are going to be gorgeous letterpress.

any rogue self publishers or letter press artists in the house? so far, my only find is keegan meegan, i hope they work our!

These articles don’t really talk about the creative process, or the like, but instead focus on current music business models, and in some cases, the lack of music business models and how record labels and artists are trying to stay afloat, and stay relevant. Actually, the David Byrne piece dovetailed nicely into the mythos of Radiohead’s release of In Rainbows, which you can read more about here…

These two discussions talked about the future of music and music distribution. Both of these artists hypothesized that digital downloads were the way to go, and surely the way that we would be going in the future. After stewing on their thoughts for a week, I realized that the larger implication is that there won’t be any need for physical CDs. They’ll be a liability for record labels, and artists, and dusty relics from a bygone age for the fans – think cassette tapes in 1997. I didn’t and don’t necessarily disagree with their positions. Since allowing IODA to distribute my work, digitally, I get monthly checks from the works being digitally distributed through venues like iTunes, eMusic, etc… and it’s been a real win-win deal. However, in some instances I also offer specially packaged discs. The specially-packaged discs is really the springboard to my point, and what has preceded it has been a preface to my position.

I can’t believe for the life of me that we’ll ever get away from hardcopy CDs. I think that things will take a different turn. I think that packaged CDs could even become a luxury item, but I know they’ll never go away. Yes, it’s true, there are some that it would be nice if they went away like high-gloss 4-color jobs that makes even the crummiest sounding recordings look good. But what about the packaging being connected to the artist and their musical intention. The experience of an artist or a label’s release begins with the first time you pick up one of their CDs, or even just see it on the shelf. That relationship is being formed from the very first time that you begin to experience the visual representation of those sounds. That’s how Sgt. Pepper’s worked, Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers, Pink Floyd’s The Wall, Nirvana’s Nevermind, the list goes on and on. For just a second analyze your experience of those recordings, and now try to compare that experience by seeing 64×64px jpeg show up on your iPod. Somehow, it’s just not the same.

I believe that we’ll see an increase in the creation of specialty and private edition packaging for music. I believe that this will set artists and labels, who are interested in an integrated approach to the music and its presentation, apart from those artists/labels/bands that aren’t intimately involved in their branding and positioning. Independent music has been doing this for decades, they’ll continue to, and I believe that one of the things that will really allow them to harness and achieve a higher level of aesthetic integrity in reduced quantities, because of the proliferation of digital music distributors, are those firms, such as Hand Work, that are willing to focus on short-runs.

The future of music packacing is unique, one-of-a-kind short-run packages that truly represent the artists, bands and labels that produce them, exactly like Evan Bartholomew and Somnia Music’s releases, which were featured last week. The time when we needed to adhere to logistical planning and supply-chain requirements to get into Wal-Mart, or Tower Records has passed. Wal-mart’s never had space for indie music, and likely never will, so we can give up that dream and the plan towards homogenizing our “product” to get on their shelves, and sadly Tower’s closed its doors, as others have, and are sure to as well. Like the passing of any epoch we can lament with sentimentality what came before us, and shaped who we’ve become, but the birth of the new epoch, particularly this one, is filled with hope, possibility, and the chance for the independent artist/label to harness the power of history and move forward with great possibility at our fingertips.

At the Hand Work press, it’s my goal and my vision to be on the front lines of this movement; where artists and labels can take control of their work, utilizing digital means to reach new ears, and also producing limited, hand-crafted private editions to distribute to friends, fans and connoisseurs of quality. Take a look at some of our short-run letterpress packages here, and contact me directly, if you’re looking for something different.

In this instance, I’m talking about the releases of Evan Bartholomew and his Somnia Sound releases. These releases, Somnia Sound 001: Caverns of Time and Somnia Sound 002: Secret Entries Into Darkness, which I’ve taken to calling just 001 and 002 are a packaging examples par excellence! These packages embody nuance, subtlety, hand work, individuality, and slight enough imperfections to know that these originated from human hands.

Each of these releases is hand-sewn by Ray Massini, Evan’s partner. Each of these releases uses a fold-over style self-assembling package that’s bound by sealing wax. 001 utilized handmade paper from India and a beautiful relief print done with a rubber stamp, same for the text under the flap. Now the execution of the rubber stamp is nothing short of fantastic, but when this is combined with the excellent hand-sewn quality in the Indian paper and the wax sealed flap this is a real beauty. 002 is much like the 001, except that for this run then went with a French Paper mill that has been beautifully offset printed. Again, this one is hand-sewn, and bound with sealing wax.

These two packages are some of the best that I’ve seen in a long time. In my mind these releases herald the return of the handmade, if only as a neo-luddite response to automation and imperfection in every aspect of our daily lives. Ray and Evan collaborated on the package, with Ray focusing on the illustration and sewing and Evan focusing on typography and other aspects. Inspired by labels like 12k, Raster Norton, Fax which do limited copies, and quality packaging, they work to create organic packages that also offer an element of environmental sustainability.

I’m extremely pleased to have the opportunity to experience these release. Not only is the packaging great, fans of ambient music will truly enjoy the dense and organic CD that this excellent packaging houses. Visit them online at http://www.somniasound.com .

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We’ve been getting a ton of requests to quote letterpress wedding invitations lately. Frankly, I wasn’t prepared for the deluge that you all have sent in so far; because of that I need to set up a protocol for quoting these kinds of projects.

If you want us to quote on a job we need these things from you:

- A PDF or Jpeg of the design/s
- Quantities needed
- Date needed
- Name of paper you’ve selected
Also, it’s best for your graphic designer to contact us directly, as there’s a lot of jargon in printing and an experienced graphic designer will save you loads of time, trouble, and money throughout the process. You can contact us via email matt (at) thehandworkpress (dot) com.

At first it looked kind of glum with only myself and another gal there – typical Michigan turnout, I thought bitterly to myself, but was also over joyed that I might get to pick Jim’s brain a little more if there was low attendance. However, things took a turn for the best as we moved to the eight o’clock hour, and the place was reduced to standing room only.

Jim made a lot of good points about printing, design, etc… as he spoke, but it was his enthusiasm, passion and dedication both for the work and for its preservation that really struck me. I talked with Jim very briefly after the presentation, and after the folks in attendance cleared out. We talked only briefly, but his enthusiasm really rubbed off, and left tossing and turning through the night contemplating the possibilities of letterpress in my future. Every few months I need something like this. The daily minutiae of quoting jobs, getting stuff procured for those jobs, and then running those jobs (the best part being the pulling of the first print) it’s easy to lose sight of the bigger picture – Preservation. Jim made quite a cogent point about preserving through production. I liked that. It’s stuck with me.

What also really stuck with me was how dedicated to preserving this old style approach Jim was. He’s definitely dedicated, no neo-Luddite here, just a Luddite. I say that somewhat tongue and cheek, and without any patronizing cynicism. Like me, this guy see the value in doing things the old fashioned way, not always the quickest, or most profitable, in fact usually neither of those, but you get something from doing the work, and holding the work. There’s a tactility that comes through the work. Being on the other side of the press now, I know that it’s also there when you’re doing the work. With letterpress now in full vogue mode, I can see how preservationists could take a position similar to Jim’s about preserving both Hatch and the process, but to think he took this attitude when letterpress wasn’t the coolest thing in fresh design, but rather it was an antiquated production style that was being replaced (quickly) by offset printing presses. These old letterpress machines weren’t worth much more than highest scrap yield that a printing business owner could negotiate just to be rid of the things… However, at that time, Jim was working to preserve not just the process, but this way of printing life; not just this aesthetic, but the old wood type to make sure the process would have the tools for the years to come, and not just a print shop from yesteryear, but a small slice of Americana.

I think that letterpress enthusiasts like myself will be thankful to Jim Sherraden, for his tenacity and foresight for decades to come.

Short-run one-price letterpress printed CD sleeves breaks down likes this:

I will letterpress print 100, one-side, one-color, CD packages for $180 (includes US shipping) of our Two-panel CD Sleeve Insert (w/ 100 Plastic CD Sleeves included) – Paper Stock of your choosing (I like French Paper, 100lb Cover options):

Ink colors you can choose from include:
Black, Gray, Metallic Silver, Metallic Gold, White, Reflex Blue, Yellow, and Red. No mix and match, and you can pick one.

Satisfaction is 100% guaranteed, just return the sleeves, and I will return your money in full. I’m not looking for one-off relationships, where I take the money and run. I want to develop strategic partnerships with labels, artists and other Do-It-Yourselfers like myself…

Frequently Asked Questions:

If you want…

…Higher quantities?
…Different color/s?
…Multiple color/s?
…Business cards, flyers, postcards, or other materials?
…Different package options?
…Anything else printing-related?
…To chat about letterpress?

EMAIL ME…

Thanks!

Matt Borghi
The Hand Work Press
East Lansing, MI