Printing the Covers for Ghost Box Evolution in Cadillac, Michigan

In mid-June we gathered in Boston to letterpress the covers of this year's winning chapbook, Rosie Forrest's Ghost Box Evolution in Cadillac, Michigan. This year we printed at a new location: Union Press in Union Square, Somerville, enjoying the amazing help of Union Press’ Eli Epstein. Over two warm New England days, we mixed ink, set type, and cranked out over 400 beautiful 2-color covers on a Vandercook press.

Highlights this year included working with a large piece of artwork with both empty and ink-filled spaces (the broken windows at grace the cover), and creating a rust-red ink to complement the olive tones of the paper and artwork ink. Though many of Forrest’s stories feature teenagers, there’s a feeling of unease and decay in the background of most of these stories, so we wanted the cover colors and artwork to reflect that rusty, broken atmosphere. The covers came out great and the finished books look amazing, complete with rust-colored endpapers. The book launches August 5, and ordering is available now.

Here are some photos of this year’s printing process:

The beautiful print shop at Union Press

The green ink and artwork on press

Inks ready for mixing

Not a crime scene—rust-red ink in the making

So many to print!

Rust-red ink on press creating finished cover

The finished cover

The printing crew at the Vandercook with the finished cover! From left: Kathleen Rooney, Abby Beckel, Rebecca Saraceno, Eli Epstein. Photo by Katie White.

Huge thanks to Eli Epstein of Union Press for his help, expertise, and use of Union Press' equipment and inks. Special thanks as well to Maria DiPasquale for her help printing on day 1 and Katie White for her help printing on day 2!

The finished chapbook is now printed and bound and ready to read. Order your copy of this limited edition contest-winning chapbook!

Printing the Covers for The Imagination of Lewis Carroll

In late June we made our annual trip to The Museum of Printing in North Andover, Mass. to letterpress the covers of this year's winning chapbook, William Todd Seabrook's The Imagination of Lewis Carroll. For two glorious New England summer days, we donned printing aprons and cranked out 400 2-color covers on the Vandercook press under the fluorescent lights of the Museum. Our letterpress printing days are two of our favorite days of the year, and this year was no exception.

Highlights this year included experimenting with printing on dark royal blue felt paper and using gold metallic ink for the first time. Chess and the red king feature prominently in Seabrook's book, a fictionalized and fabulist biography of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland author Lewis Carroll. So we wanted to highlight the king by making it the only red one among the chess pieces. This led to some tricky measuring when we printed with the gold ink on Day 2, but the end result was definitely worth it! The covers came out beautifully and the finished books look amazing, complete with Stardream gold endpapers. The book launches August 7, and preordering is available now.

Here are some photos and a video of this year's printing process:

Day 1: Inking the press with hand-mixed red ink

Day 1: With the first color printed, the covers are laid out to dry by the hundreds

Day 2: The gold metallic ink!

Day 2: The gold ink on press

RMP intern Maria DiPasquale helms the Vandercook, with designer Rebecca Saraceno

Day 2 printing crew with finished covers: Heather Butterfield, Katey Corrigan, Abby Beckel, Rebecca Saraceno, Maria DiPasquale, and newest printer-in-training Emilia!

Day 2: Finished covers drying everywhere

The finished cover!

Special thanks to Katey Corrigan and Frank Romano of the Museum of Printing for their help and support, and as always, to the Museum for the use of it amazing presses!

Order your copy of the printed and bound version of The Imagination of Lewis Carroll here!

Printing the Covers for The Kind of Girl

It's that time of year again! When we leave our desks and put on our printing aprons to letterpress the covers of our contest-winning chapbook! On June 11 and 12, Kathleen and I joined our head designer and letterpress printer extraordinaire Rebecca Saraceno in North Andover, Massachusetts, to print covers for Kim Henderson's The Kind of Girl. This was our seventh year printing at the amazing Museum of Printing—thanks again to them for their support and use of their Vandercook presses!

In seven years we've tried a number of exciting letterpress techniques, including using metallic inks, wood type, hand-carved artwork, and an array of paper shapes, textures, and colors. The new challenges we took on this year were using linen paper (Silvertone, by Neenah Paper) and using both ink colors on the artwork by employing an overlay technique. It was an exciting and busy couple of days and we can't wait for you to see the finished covers, available wrapped around Kim Henderson's equally gorgeous stories! Preorder is available now and the book launches August 5!

Here are some photos and videos of this year's cover printing:


Rebecca printing the first color ink (silver) on the Vandercook.

The silver ink and artwork on press

Special thanks to RMP designer Heather Butterfield and RMP intern Becca Pollock for their help on the 11th!

Dry and ready for the next ink color

Rebecca printing the second color—purple!

Kathleen, Rebecca, and me (Abby) with in-progress and finished covers

Here's a tour of the finished covers drying all over among the Museum's amazing presses

The finished cover!

Reserve your copy of Kim Henderson's The Kind of Girl here!

Book Trailer for The Kind of Girl!

We're excited to release the book trailer for our 2013 contest-winning chapbook, The Kind of Girl, by Kim Henderson! The Kind of Girl was chosen by contest judge Deb Olin Unferth. It will launch as a limited edition chapbook with letterpressed covers in early August 2013—preorder will be available in July.




Thanks to Isaac Webb and Idyllwild Arts Academy for producing this trailer!