![]() It’s a tremendous amount of fun, other Guild members have a wide variety of expertise and interests, and the conversations you can get into with visitors are fascinating! Well worth looking into. The only “cost” is time the commitment to be a part of the group, help explain letterpress to visitors, and sometimes help print something for the museum. In San Jose, we ask only that interested people attend at least a couple Printers’ Guild meetings and spend a few days in the shop with an experienced Guild member then, when ready, they can use the entire shop. Other museums may have an active group of people, such as the Printers’ Guild at History Park in San Jose ( CA), or the Leather Apron Docent Guild at the International Printing Museum in Carson, CA.Īlthough most museums may not offer formal classes nor official “training” in printing, I think every museum is happy to have volunteers learn, and in turn interpret, their printshop or any other exhibit. Some museums have only one or two printers, often “retired” fellows who just can’t stay away from the craft. The folks at any museum with a working letterpress exhibit or shop are, by nature and training, used to patiently explaining things to people, and are delighted to see more serious interest. I would suggest that museums are some of the most affordable places to learn letterpress. ![]() The low prices gave me accessiblity, but you are right, if the IPRC didn’t exsist, I would have found someother way to have access to presses, even if it meant having to find more money to do it, though it is probably unlikely I would have made a career out of it. If it wasn’t for this center, it’s probably unlikely I’d be a full time letterpress center today. The Center has small presses, a lot of random type, but it limited compared to another letterpress facilities. The founders had roots in zine culture but got into letterpress so created a center with both. ![]() It turns out the the IPRC really has its own thing going since it has a zine library, $10 - 30 classes, and a letterpress lab. Book Art Centers tend to have really awesome presses, and other equip, teachers and tools, hence a higher price for classes to cover overhead, teaching, and maintence. It’s true, if one wants to learn letterpress, they can most likely find a printer or school, or museum to volunteer with and exchange get access or save up and pay for a class. Maybe the IPRC is an anomaly - please pass on your wisdom. So I’m looking for public printshops that have reasonable long term usage, and under $150 for classes. One would say that is TOO affordable - What’s not as affordable is a 2 day class that is $200 or up, with no access to the lab afterwards. So one could have access to a letterpress for under $100 a year - including inks, and other supplies. The letterpress class is $60 non members/$30 members. Below I have explained what I consider to be affordable or accessible to lower income brackets.Īffordablitiy: Example - The Independent Publishing Resouce Center ( IPRC) in Portland Oregon, offers $45-100 sliding scale yearly memberships which includes access to a letterpress studio after a 1-day class or similar training. There’s a national DIY magazine that is writing an article on different print media, and one is letterpress - I am helping supply a list of community lettepress centers or workshops that are more on the “affordable” pricer range, and located in the US.
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