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Posted by Jason Urban on March 13th, 2010 | 
All you designers-turned-printmakers and printmakers-turned-designers should pay attention to this one. The good people at Rockport Publishers were kind enough send us a review copy of their 2009 release, Dirty Fingernails: A One-of-a-Kind Collection of Graphics Uniquely Designed by Hand by John Foster. As the subtitle suggests, the book is a survey of artist/designers working with “old” media to arrive at interesting (and commercially viable) results. While the book doesn’t focus on printmaking specifically, it is about the current embrace of the human hand in design and by default, plenty of hand-printing is included.
Lots of Printeresting favorites are featured in the book… The Little Friends of Printmaking, The Small Stakes, Ellen Lupton, Tyler Stout, The Decoder Ring Design Concern, and Yokoland to name a handful. Rather than delving deep into the psychology of The Hand-Made with essays, Foster gives us a quick intro about the importance of tactile experience and then let’s the work do the talking. Each piece featured in the book is accompanied by an insightful paragraph or two of exposition explaining the what why, and how.
 Can’t go wrong with a Boston by Little Friends.
Continue reading Book Review: Dirty Fingernails
Posted by Jason Urban on September 20th, 2009 | The Harvard Book Store, not to be confused with its Cambridge neighbor the Harvard University Bookstore, is unveiling a print-on-demand Espresso Book Machine on the 29th of September. The Espresso Book Machine can print a 300-page book in about four minutes! This is an interesting development from a technology/printing standpoint but seems like it may ultimately prove the undoing of bookstores.
The HBS is having a contest to name its new machine… they’re “looking for something warm, yet snappy, a name that explains and illuminates the book machine’s many uses and possibilities yet is still suitable to shout across a crowded store.” Hmmm… wasn’t it Oedipus who killed his father? That might be appropriate.
Here’s a corporate demo of the printer with some didactic info. Interesting that a faux-handdrawn font is used for titles and credits- as if that might somehow soften our deep-rooted fear and suspicion of robots. And if that video isn’t enough, you can CLICK HERE and watch someone from the offset printing industry awkwardly acknowledge that his days are numbered (not quite literally but you can see it in his eyes).
Posted by amze on July 18th, 2009 |  If you don’t know what this printer is doing, you need to read this book!
Book Review: Mechanick Exercises: or The Doctrine of Handywork applied to the art of printing by Joseph Moxon, member of the Royal Society and Hydrographer to the Kings Most Excellent Majesty.
A Printeresting tipster recently sent me a link to this great antiquarian text, freely available for viewing via google books here: Mechanick Exercises
The text is as cutting edge as when it was printed in 1678 (specifically to the fine art of letterpressery). Mechanick Exercises is a great summer beach reading, chock full of intriguing illustrations and fine printing advice delivered in ye olde english-style. Perhaps my favorite section is the dictionary at the end of the book, if your master printer has ever accused you of having “Sop the Balls”or if you don’t know where the “Monks” on your print came from, this is your go to source for answers.
The Author, Joseph Moxon was something of a 17th century poly-math, a gifted globe maker, mathematical lexicographer and hydrographer. Allegedly a handy printer by age 11, he was the first tradesmen to be invited to join the Royal Society. Beyond his roll as the Hydrographer to his Majesty (his mistaken belief in the northwest passage withstanding), Joseph was also noteworthy master printer, running a shop with his brother James, specializing in puritan and technical texts (including several on wood working, joinery and typography). The importance of his text as a historical document is clear by the number of times it’s cited in other texts on printing in the years following it’s publication ending with multiple citations in The Colonial Printer by Lawrence C. Wroth, originally published in 1931 by the Grolier Club of the City of New York, but now cheaply available through Dover Books.
If you are after this title in a more solid form, Dover released what could possibly be late edit of the original, titled, Mechanick Exercises in the Whole Art of Printing, that credits Moxon as the sole author with Harry Carter and Herbert Davis as editors.
-Thanks Z.L.
Posted by Jason Urban on July 3rd, 2009 | 
Originally written in seventies but updated and rereleased as recently as 1996, Studio Tips for Artists and Graphic Designers by Bill Gray is a book that archives old school paste-up practices. The secrets of the pre-digital studio are revealed! From the obvious to obtuse, all manner of practical issue is addressed through text and accompanying illustrations. If some super-virus ever destroys our computers, you’ll be sorry you don’t have copy of this resource. Used copies are available on Amazon for as low as 75 cents!!!
Some pages on print and paper handling…
 Printeresting doesn’t recommend #2. Ouch.
Posted by Jason Urban on June 30th, 2009 | 
From the Johnson County Library (Overland Park, KS) website…
With the help of Barkley Advertizing Agency, the Johnson County Library’s courier trucks have been redeisgned to resemble the delivery trucks of some of literature’s most famous characters. Barkely’s generous pro bono designs remind us of the iconic nature of these books. These books will always be relevant. Just like these classic books, Libraries are icons of American society–today and tomorrow.
(Thanks, JWJ. You’re the #1 Bibliophile)
Posted by Jason Urban on June 11th, 2009 | (via e v e r y o n e)
Information: from analog to digital, now from digital to analog. Rob Matthews has printed a 5,000 page book of all Wikipedia’s featured articles. Slightly less handy than the internet version.
Posted by RL Tillman on March 16th, 2009 | Marc Snyder, of Fiji Island Mermaid Press, kindly sent us an announcement about his latest project, Free For All. Marc is hosting a collection of pdf-based artist’s books with assembly instructions. Free downloads!
This online exhibition of artist’s books, found at http://www.fimp.net/freef.html, invites the viewer to download and assemble the books on display. The eight artists who have created books for this exhibition are Pati Bristow, Ginger Burrell, Warren Craghead III, Marti Haykin, Adele Henderson, Robert Hirsch, Judith Hoffman, and Marc Snyder.
Posted by Jason Urban on March 10th, 2009 | Thanks to an anonymous tipster for this bit… apparently Urban Outfitters, the über-hipster youth-culture lifestyle emporium, is carrying The Printmaking Bible! Wow. You’ll find it along side such other classic reference texts as The Official High Times Pot Smoker’s Handbook, The Guide to Doing Me!, and Creative Cursing. Quite a prestigious line-up! Needless to say, exposure like this is just the kind of break printmaking has been waiting for.
No doubt, it raises some pretty serious (not to mention superficial) questions. Namely, has printmaking found itself in the unlikely position of being hip? If so, how long will it last? And if the purveyors of mainstream counterculture (try that on for an oxymoron) have concluded that Printmaking is a product worth stocking, how long before the mainstream mainstream catches on? It’s only a matter of time, right?
Posted by RL Tillman on February 10th, 2009 |  Cover design by David Pearson for a paperback edition of The Work of Art in the Age of Mechanical Reproduction.
Those designers think they’re so smart…and sometimes they are! (via Kottke)
Posted by Jason Urban on January 15th, 2009 | It’s the classic plot. A rag-tag bunch of screw-up misfit art processes need to come together as a team, against all odds, and become a lean mean technical guide. No one thinks they can do it but somehow, they manage to reach deep down inside of themselves and find the moxie to pull it off. It’s as old a story as… well… the bible. Okay. That may be a bit too dramatic.
This fall, Chronicle Books released The Printmaking Bible: The Complete Guide to Materials and Techniques by Ann d’Arcy Hughes and Hebe Vernon-Morris.
At over 400 pages and packed with 1,000 full-color photos and illustrations, The Printmaking Bible is the definitive resource to the ins-and-outs of every variety of serious printmaking technique practiced today. In-depth instructions are accompanied by profiles that show how working artists create their prints. Historical information, troubleshooting tips, and an extensive resource section provide more invaluable tools. Perfect for students, artists, print aficionados, and collectors, this is truly the ultimate volume for anyone involved in this creative and influential art form.
Continue reading The Printmaking Bible
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