Australian INfront

Update:
Come visit our letterpress studio The Distillery, in Sydney. We specialise in letterpress wedding invitations, and letterpress printing for commercial design studios. We also sell letterpress papers, supplies, and run classes from our North Sydney studio.
Visit us http://www.the-distillery.com.au

I'm looking to get into letterpress, and wanted to start out by doing a short-course.

In Sydney, COFA runs a letterpress course, but their shortcourses are on hold as they redevelop their campus.

Can anyone suggest other letterpress short-courses?

Other random questions
- where does one buy a small letterpress in Sydney / Australia from?
- do I really need industrial space to house the letterpress? Will 20sqm on polished concrete do?
- please post links to any other Australian letterpress resources!

Thanks

Hey mate,

I don't know many courses up that way, I know of letterpress folks in Melbourne, Canberra and in Brissie, but not in Sydney. There must be some. Finding a course is the best way to get started, as you need to start getting your hands dirty to get really into it I reckon. In fact, I was writing the bit below about buying presses and I came back to add to this bit with a better thought. Find a course, find other letterpress nerds and offer to come around and clean stuff, and just learn how to use it. I bought a load of stuff over time and it's only now I'm starting to get into my own gear. It was arse about, I should have learnt more before I started buying things. If you can find somebody to sponge off and learn from you'll save yourself buying the wrong thing and getting into something expensive without knowing what you're in for. I went the retarded solo route, and it was much harder as a result.

http://www.briarpress.org/ Briar press is a must. Register an account and start keeping an eye on there, people sell stuff there, and it's an amazing resource.

Marblegravy's missus runs http://www.poppyletterpress.com.au/ Poppy letterpress and she super kindly answered a bunch of questions when I was starting out. Email me on howdy at onetonnegraphic dot com and i'll forward her sage words through (I would feel rude posting it online without her permission - unless mr gravy shows up and says it's okay to share the wisdom).

In terms of gear, the sky is the limit, like most hobbies. It can get expensive too. You can get a tabletop press like an Adana 8x5 (Pay around $420-$800 depending on condition), and that's enough for little jobs, larger print areas than that and you start to immediately head into big presses. I reckon the best combo would be a tabletop press for small jobs, a Heidelberg Windmill 10x15 platen (they come up often on eBay and aren't too expensive - you don't want to pay more than $2k for one unless it's immaculate - you should be able to get an okay one for $1200-$1500) and proofing press like a Vandercook or a FAG (Expensive as printmakers love them too, start at around $3500+).

All my presses have come from eBay. You have to be patient and you have to have money to burn as they're going for pretty decent money these days. It's only getting harder to buy type, and wood type market has become pretty inaccessible, because of the antique folks who buy it all up. That also brings me around to the two schools of modern letterpress. There's a lot of traditionalists who only set type by hand, and everyone else who use digital or nylo plates. If you're going to go traditional you'll need lots of space, and if you're going digital, you'll need a base suitable for your press (the base brings the digital plate up to type height) and a somebody who can make plates. I've had mixed success finding decent digital plates made locally, so if you find somebody decent, let me know too ;)

How much space you need depends on the gear you're going to be using and the scale of printing you want to do. 20sqm is more than enough for a 1 decent size press and the basic paraphernalia. If you get a wee little tabletop press you'll have buckets of space.

Next time you're in Melbourne, make an appointment, and come to the http://www.mmop.org.au/ Melbourne Museum of Printing (glam site) or http://home.vicnet.net.au/~typo/ here's their other site – and spend the day. They're awesome guys and if you can't find somewhere in sydney to get you started the MMoP guys will get you thinking.

This is a habit for anoraks and weirdoes. You will meet very nice, but odd people who are into it. Enjoy! :)

Hi Nathan (nice name),

Cheers. I just wanted to say thanks for all the info. I will be sending you an e-mail shortly, and sharing it here if appropriate.

I've spoken to a few printers, and the letterpress scene in Sydney is quite small.

All your info + tips are a life saver. I'll definitely be trying to do the dirty hands-on work first, before buying myself into something I'm going to abandon.

This is my favourite rersponse on AIF :)

I will be in touch!

Cheers

I'm probably just having a conversation with myself, but I've enrolled myself into this course:
http://www.printingmuseum.org.au/What%27s%20New.htm

If anyone else in Sydney is interested in checking it out, I'm going on Sunday August 8.

Also thinking about enrolling in this 1 day letterpress course - out in Bathurst:
http://www.printing.eventions.org.au/letterpress.htm

I'm probably going to road-trip it from Sydney. Let me know if you're interested in going. Maybe we could go together. haha I promise I'm not a stalker or anything... heh

Glad to be of help :)

Sydney peeps you should go along and get into it! Letterpress courses are eatin' your greens as a designer and definitely worth doing. Going along with a few friends will help you get into it!

I'm considering joining you at the Penrith one, not sure if august 8 is possible though. The Bathurst trip sounds good, i'll ask some mates and see if anyone else is interested.

I'm probably just having a conversation with myself, but I've enrolled myself into this course:
http://www.printingmuseum.org.au/What%27s%20New.htm

That looks awesome! I can't spare the time this year, but when my manuscript is finished I think this course is going to be my reward - yipee!!

Hey Noftus, I think a mate and I will join you on the 8th. I'm just waiting to confirm dates.

Hey awesome - I've just e-mailed you at your gmail account.

edited