Design your own images for letterpress using a light–sensitive polymer plate and get certified to use the Vandercook press!

• • Saturdays February 15 + 22, 10am-2pm

REGISTER HERE

This class will cover the old and new uses of the letterpress using light-sensitive polymer plate to be printed on our Vandercook press. Students will get a basic foundation for Letterpress printing by focusing on the production and printing of the polymer plate.  You will leave this class with a working knowledge of press operation including inking the press, pressure and roller height adjusting, registration, feeding paper through the press and cleaning the press.

Class 1: Overview to letterpress, negative exposure to create polymer plates. The first class will cover the basics of the process, students will learn the capabilities of the press, an overview of best practices for imaging making for making negatives, and which materials are best to print on.

Class 2: Press set up and day of printing. The second class will focus on printing and troubleshooting on the press. Students will have a chance to print the polymer plates they have created.

Instructor:  Jacques Bidon

Jacques Bidon is a commercial printer who left the cutthroat world of deadlines and designers to work with artists sharing his love of offset printing. Jacque believes in the power of printing to change just about anything. Have a project that you want to see happen? Jacques is the guy with a career of commercial printing to draw upon for solutions.

BEFORE YOU COME TO CLASS, you’ll need to send your images to the instructor for review then once approved sent to Faces Imaging (link) to have a negative produced. Image area size should be no larger than 8” x 10” and no smaller 4”x 6”.

Students need to come to class with a negative already produced. Please allow 2 days for negatives to be made by Faces Imaging (output@facesimaging.com). Deadline to send negative 4 days before the class starts. Students are responsible for sending their files and picking up their negative from Faces Imaging’s Providence location.