THE PRESS ON BOOK TV

The Press at CC was featured as a part of C-SPAN2 Book TV's Cities Tour. They produced a whole show exploring literary and historical aspects of Colorado Springs, and The Press was a part of it. The class in the video is a History FYE (First Year Experience, so these students are brand new to CC), taught by Carol Neel. The image above is just a screenshot, but you can watch the whole video here: http://www.c-span.org/video/?321938-1/press-colorado-college

TYPE NERD: A SHORT FILM ABOUT THE PRESS AT CC

CC Student Cameron Boyd made this short film about The Press at CC in the documentary film class in Block 5 of this year. He was shooting during one of our quiet times, but really managed to capture the look & feel of our well-loved studio.


TYPE NERD from Cameron Boyd on Vimeo.

TOOLS OF THE TRADE

Here, at the press, we use presses. And letters (type). Think of this post as a recognition of some of the other tools necessary to our work. Those of you who have never printed on a letterpress before will learn a whole new and utterly useless vocabulary and those of you who use these tools every day—well, you just might learn something too. 

Our galleys, or galley trays. Used to hold type which has been composed (put together) but not yet printed or printed but not yet distributed (put away).

The word originally appeared meaning low, flat-built seagoing vessel of one deck. Printers allegedly started using the word around 1650 because of it's similarity in shape. (Really? These look like boats?) I'd like to think it's because the type is in transition—not at its home drawer, not at its destination of the press bed, but traveling. Like it were, say, on a boat.

Our quoins. Not coins, contrary to the belief of many. Expandable sticks that "lock" a forme into the press bed by way of horizontal pressure. From a 16th century word for cornerstone which came to mean wedge which for obvious reasons came to be applied to these.

Our furniture. I can't even find a printing-related definition of this word. Used for filling the press bed once the forme is in place so the quoin will have something to apply pressure against. In a sense, it's what is used to furnish the press bed after the forme is in place.

Our planers used for leveling type in the press bed. Also known affectionately as blocks of wood.

Our type height gauge. Used to gauge the height of something one wants to print. So that thing can be adjusted to be type-high (.918 inches), EXACTLY. Not absolutely necessary but an impressively sensitive and accurate machine.

Our pica rulers. Used for measuring in type-based units known as picas. Pica is Latin for magpie so clearly the word came from when magpies would steal printers' rulers. Because, you know, they like shiny things.

Our guillotine. This can cut through a stack of paper as thick as your head in one clean swipe. It could probably also cut through your actual head. You can guess where its name came from. Used for cutting paper. Although I did once meet a man who ran a lumberyard and used an old guillotine blade he had outfitted with a couple handles to peel bark off of logs. He had an impressive beard.

That long metal lollipop-looking thing is our roller gauge. The diameter of the metal cylinder is exactly type-high, which is why it's handy for making sure the rollers are the right distance from the press bed to ink up type.

Our composing sticks. Used for setting type to an even line length. And our wayzgoose.

Dear tools of the press,

Thank you.

We couldn't do it without you.

With love,

Taryn Wiens

THE REBIRTH OF TRUTH

"Madness" writes 19th century German philosopher Heinrich Shleschmann Zuute, in his groundbreaking literary manifesto Zuberflagen, "has deprived the common man of his common dream in a common world surrounded by commoners. Only through the purge of a spiritual lobe can we release yet another suture in the tapestry of a mortal plane." My work at the press aims to realize this goal through a direct attack on the human psyche.

Above you may witness the object in which my methods have come to fruition. I have descended to the still widely unknown of this institution of higher learning; and by utilizing the medium of letterpress printing, I have crawled back. Spreading these brief glimpses throughout a reality that many of you exist in each painful day. A piece must have a frame, however subtle, otherwise the artism of reality can "flood the fluvial cellar of the mind, reducing civilization and nature to a state of desperation." *

*Heinrich Shleschmann Zutte, Zuberflagen

Below, you can see the pure form of philosophy. In order to obtain such genius, one must first strip away all inner sight, then strip away the schema of the self, the unself, and, of course, the bookself. The vision below is where truth lies in an ultimate form. The image of a lyrical poet, similar to a modern day bard, hovering over simple, centered, soulful syllables from my intellectual expeditions, is the most reliable form.

With this form as a template I am able to deconstruct and reconstruct this prose vector pattern however I desire, while still remaining efficient and true to the moral and philosophical standards the categorical imperative has set for us.

"BEHOLD! THE BIRTH OF A NEW GOD. REASON HAS WROUGHT IT AND FAITH HAS BIRTHED IT"* Now you have seen the beauty and symmetry of my grand design. As all the stark prose is four vectors in length, I am able to exchange any four vector length piece of prose out for another, thus rendering my design fluid. The design is only three simple runs, a number and simplicity laced with imagery of the tiger lily, oft referenced in manuals of human beauty. 

*Heinrich Shleschmann Zutte, Gods, Humans, Horse.

Watch out, School born of the Rockies. The truth has been unleashed, and no amount of blind ignorance may stop a vassal as potent as the work of tireless hands. The truth is around you, it simply waits to be seen. 

Already a new project, which will be created with my hands, is underway. This larger work will follow the harrowing journey of a Brazilian outlaw on his trip to Hell, and the death of the devil shortly after he arrives. The broadside will assault the senses with heavy handed beauty and loose baggage. 

-Evan

The truth was being forged by a man who was listening to Will Smith. 

This man would recommend the song "Gettin' Jiggy Wit It" in particular. It has that peppy bounce that kidz crave.

NEW FILM ABOUT THE PRESS

One of our student apprentices, Demetria Humphries, just made this great short documentary about The Press at Colorado College. It's got printing, talking about printing, and more printing! And some books! What more could you want in a film?

LETTERPRESS IS GOING COUNTRY STRONG: VIDEO ROUND-UP

Two more fun letterpress videos. One is an advertisement for Jack Daniel's, made at Yee-Haw Industries in Knoxville, Tennessee. (Thanks Emma! Thanks Printeresting!) The other is a short "documentary" video about the printing of the album covers for the new Gillian Welch CD, The Harrow & The Harvest, which takes place at Aardvark Letterpress in Los Angeles, CA. Both of these studios do great work. And sometimes they get paid to do it too.

Yee-Haw Poster Documentary from Aggrodesign on Vimeo.

LETTERPRESS IS COOL & HERE'S "PROOF"

Letterpress from Naomie Ross on Vimeo.

The link to this video was sent to us by Emma Mitchell, a student here at CC and a friend of the Press. I don't know if I would call this video "instructional" necessarily, but it sure does make it all look sexy. Which is the important thing, really.