With any art form there is a level of mastery that develops slowly over time after many hours, days, months and years of steady work. And as the letterpress masters reach their artistic peak and beyond, their knowledge and stories of printing inked blocks of text with beautiful, old machines become more valuable than the finest of prints.
Erin Beckloff, 31, of Ohio, recognizes that there is something very precious about the knowledge and skill letterpress printers accumulate during a lifetime of printing and she’s on a mission to preserve it for future generations as co-director of “Pressing On: The Letterpress Film.”
On this episode of the podcast, Erin tells the story of what inspired her to start Inky Winke Press and eventually begin documenting the history of her craft. With at team of other creatives (see photo below), Erin is raising money to fund the a letterpress documentary. Check out her Kickstarter to find out how you can get involved and check out the stunning rewards.
As I’ve mentioned on the podcast, this episode stirred up my obsession with type and ink and my desire to someday have a poster press of my very own. It would be so fabulous to be able to pull prints in the middle of the night while sporting my favorite flannel reindeer pajama pants. Yep, that would be pretty sweet. Ha! In the meantime, I’m living vicariously through Erin and her letterpress-loving pals. Cheers to you all!
I can’t wait to see this film. The visuals are intoxicating. Don’t believe me? Check out the trailer below. :)
Thanks sponsors: Thanks to my Patreon sponsors and ACS Home and Work for sponsoring this podcast.
I discovered ACS when I was looking for a local source for flour sack tea towels to use for my printmaking and embroidery projects. I’m happy to be supporting a West Michigan-based company with my business and ACS is graciously sponsoring the CraftSanity Podcast.
Local West Michigan listeners can shop ACS products at the Red Door, 6837 Lake Michigan Dr, in Allendale Charter Township. It’s the ACS outlet and also a pickup location for locals who want to order flour sack tea towels and other goods and skip the shipping costs. Visit Red door for a variety of tea towels and other home goods.
If you enjoy the podcast and want to help keep it afloat, consider making a $1 per month donation via my Patreon page. Doing so gets you access to sneak peeks to CraftSanity happenings and projects and automatic entry to all CraftSanity giveaways.
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