Lead Graffiti, 120A Sandy Drive, Newark, DE (2026)

09/07/2022

The first Lead Graffiti step into Instagram video.

Jill was printing a wonderful, angry calligraphic image of an “F” for FEBRUARY, the month of MARDI GRAS (both of us having some Louisiana DNA in our beings). The project was for the Chesapeake Chapter of the American Printing History Association’s 2023 calendar.

Working from a pencil drawing scanned into a bit-mapped image and transferred into a photopolymer plate ripe for hand-rolling. It seemed essential to let you see how it happens.

When you do letterpress, each print of each color happens in something like 8 seconds. Each of the 3 prints filmed to produce this 60-second video averaged 4 minutes 37 seconds. It took 3 4-hour printing days to finish the run of 130 pieces for the calendars. Then still had to do the silver.

Comment. Ask a question.

Size : 7” x 11”

Runs : 2 (hand rolled purple and green, silver)

Media : photopolymer on the F, handset metal on the calendar elements.

05/06/2022

This broadside is a PROOF OF CONCEPT attempt to see if the idea would work. All text is printed using hand-set metal type. We had done one of our Tour de Lead Graffiti posters in 2013 (see photo #2 where we represented the 9 riders on a cycling team by repeat printing without reinking) where we would hand-roll the type, then print and move AND WITHOUT REINKING would print the same type block 8 times.

In this instance, we printed the first 3 lines in black in one run. That is about all the 72 pt Empire we had. Then switching the “Putin part” between the start and end of the line, we would shift that 1 line down 6.5 picas and reprint to the bottom of the broadside.

We are currently working on a new YouTube video from our letterpress and design archive and plan on showing a time-lapse of the printing process. The main block of text is printed from beginning to end for each print before going to the next print.

size : 14.25” x 22.5”
type : all hand-set metal (72 pt Empire for main text, 12 pt Blair on the credit line)
stock : Somerset Textured White 300gsm, Legion Paper
press : Vandercook Universal III
ink : rubberbased warm red, black, and grey
edition : about 25

04/09/2022

Lead Graffiti’s “PleaseTeleport.me” poster is included in “New Impressions,” an international juried exhibition showcasing exploration and creativity with letterpress printing techniques sponsored by . The call attracted 253 diverse entries from around the globe. The final 41 works on display are from artists in Brazil, Italy, Japan, Spain, United Kingdom, and the United States. The exhibition is on display at Hamilton from April 8–June 30, 2022 with the reception and awards on May 21. There will be a virtual reception via Zoom on June 25 at 12pm Central.

Photo 1 is an online view of some of the work from the exhibition.

Photo 2 is our winning entry.

Photo 3 is a production shot of us trying to get the 30 vertical inches of type in the right place on the poster.

If you are interested you should go to the Hamilton Wood Type Museum and find the link to the included work. There is some seriously nice work. A good 15 of them are absolutely fabulous.

04/07/2022

Lead Graffiti is contributing a letterpress demonstration to The Delaware Contemporary ART pARTy’s festivities on Saturday, April 9th, 6-9pm. We’ve locked up 3 good ART quotes from RembrAndt, Henri MAtisse, and ChArles Bukowski. For stock we are using our INK PULLS. Interested participants will choose from the ink pull inventory and then choose the quote they want printed on it. The ink color will be silver, both to overprint the ink pulls opaquely and so it will dry faster than our normally used rubber-based inks. This event will be similar to a letterpress demo we did 2 years ago with the Winterthur Museum’s TERRIFIC TUESDAYS.

The wood & metal type lock-up image shown here is one of Jill’s contributions.

04/05/2022

We had a great day playing TYPOGRAPHIC DODGEBALL with design students from the . They ventured into Lead Graffiti for a day of wood type play with our creative letterpress H.N. WERKMAN WORKSHOP. This workshop generates wonderfully chaotic energy.

We love giving the students a different typographic experience from working on the computer.

• Radically different opportunities to work with color.
• Strange juxtaposing and overlapping type.
• Thinking typographic illustration.
• Witnessing the impact of accidental results.
• Working without a plan or a net.

We love the day spent cleaning the type to keep everyone’s process going and warning the students that this might be a good time to stop this piece and start another.

12/14/2021

Before & after.

3 down, 2797 to go. Just an rough estimate of 40 fonts with about 70 characters each.

12/13/2021

For the past decade, the Chesapeake Chapter of the American Printing History Association had produced a calendar they sell to support their cause. The image shows Ray’s interpretation for January’s 2022.

Ray likes taking the opportunity to experiment with how a calendar both works and looks. FYI we asked our 9-year-old granddaughter what day of the month the 3rd Wednesday of January was and she gave us the right answer in about 8 seconds.

After 2 years of Covid messing with our sense of time (we can never seem to remember what day of the week it is anymore), this year and the fact that he had January allowed us the opportunity to play with STARTING THE YEAR RIGHT.

Lead Graffiti also does the punching and wire binding for the calendar. The whole year is for sale for $25 with free shipping. Go to “printinghistory.com” and look up the Chesapeake Chapter. There is a link in the righthand column.

Just for the record, we are vaccinated and boosted. If you aren’t fully vaccinated, January 1st would be a good day to get that started. If you are a letterpress printer it would be a good year to join APHA and commit an extra effort to keeping letterpress history alive.

PRINTED : August 2021
CLIENT : APHA / Chesapeake Chapter
SIZE : 7” x 11” page size
TYPE : handset metal
RUNS : 7 (3 on the 1s on each color as I only had 13 of them which is a lot for that size of metal type and 1 for the red “good”)
PAPER : French Paper
PRESS : Vandercook Universal III with tower
EDITION : 130 copies (started with 160 sheets so about 910 impressions)

12/07/2021

We are members of APA (Amalgamated Printers’ Association), a group of 150 generally hobbyist letterpress printers who share 4 printed pieces a year. You mail 160 of your printed pieces to “the Mailer,” who sorts them into 150 “bundles,” mailing 1 a month to each member. This image shows 30 version of our December offerings.

Anyone that follows Lead Graffiti knows about the “ink pulls” we make when cleaning our Vandercook Universal III. We took a bunch and trimmed them to 4.25” x 6”, printed 2021 on them. Then Ray “borrowed” an idea he saw on the Instagram site (at the time of this writing, it was the 15th image down the opening grid). Right below the 2 it says, “Tear into a new year!”

DAVID CARSON - If you find yourself reading this, consider it an invitation if you find yourself on the East Coast near Delaware to come and letterpress for a couple of days. We have a spare room. Vaccination required. You have to buy at least one lunch with dessert.

Jill printed a bunch of 2s on a Hahnemühle paper stock which was torn and glue-sticked over the “1” to act as a new year’s card.

We are doing a slightly altered version of the card shown here, which we will use as a new year’s card for friends. Just a heads up, but we will put 25 of them on our website shop for FREE. As soon as you see that new version of this card come up as a single image on Instagram, you can jump to our website (you can find it in our profile) and snap up one. Again FREE all the way around. I’m thinking about doing this for a couple of free (but you might have to pay for shipping on broadsides) of some other things we print in the future. They will be available as soon as the Instagram image is posted. The text will say they are available.

Printed : December 2021
Client : APA
Size : 4.25” x 6” page size
Type : handset wood & metal
Runs : 2 (card on Vandercook Universal III, 2 on Vandercook SP15), not counting the ink pull
Paper : a variety of approximately 100 # cover
Presses : Vandercook Universal III, Vandercook SP15
Edition : 170 copies

11/24/2021

Image #1 shows the 16” x 20” broadside (text block) printed in 2 colors with each of the student page designs. The 1st & 3rd row have been rotated so the pages are right-side-up.

Image #2 shows the finished bound meander book.

The rest of the images show the student pages in pairs. Worth keeping in mind these students are in the first month of their first typography class.

Honestly… #1. For a $150 Christmas present, wouldn’t it be fun to watch, close-up, someone handset your design who has a lot of experience NOT setting wood and metal type in straight lines? And you could design it in your specific way so you could see how they would do it. Circles, curves, diagonals, bouncing baselines, random, etc. I promise you we are not afraid of metal type, but you are limited to about 60 characters. Everyone has to agree to the same 2 colors.

Everyone gets materials to build 3 copies of the finished book and a free no-sew, no-glue meander book bookbinding workshop. Heck, we would even throw in an Intertype demonstration.

Honestly... #2. Have you ever seen an ONLINE letterpress workshop in the ballpark of this one?

Printed : September 2021
Client : Baylor University, Art 3330
Size : 4” x 5” page size; 16” x 20” overall broadside
Type : handset wood & metal
Runs : 2 on the text block; 1 each on the cover and spine
Paper : 80 # Mohawk Superfine White Eggshell
Presses : Vandercook Universal III for the text block; SP15 for spine & cover
Edition : 75 copies

Lead Graffiti

09/07/2022

05/06/2022

04/09/2022

04/07/2022

04/05/2022

12/14/2021

12/13/2021

12/07/2021

11/24/2021

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