I'm not going to continue posting on the Letterpress Studio in this location, as it's rather a diversion.

Please check out the Dubuque Book Arts page at http://slowprint.com/dbqba for classes and the Exquisite Letterpress and Almost Free Letterpress pages also at http://slowprint.com !

See you there!

We're moving again.

Tim has offered to do the appropriate renovation and remodelling on the sw corner of the first floor at 123 W 9th Street.

While the White St. office offered a haven from the elements over the past year more or less, it is not enough space to fully develop the additional features of the press, nor allow additional equipment to be sited, nor to allow for instruction or workshops.

So, if all goes well, we will begin relocating the shop toward the end of October. It's literally about 75 feet across the street, and will be a shorter move than last year's!

One drawback to the move will be that Jordan's Brick Oven Studio will no longer be my co-habitant...but still right across the street!

Since January 1, Dubuque has seen about 60 feet of snow... well, it seems like it anyway.

Fortunately, the press and other necessaries are happily ensconced in our new quarters at 880 White St.

(should be a photo here!)

I've completed a few projects thus far, though momentum is very slow in building. The Heidelberg in particular requiring a steady and patient approach.
The best way to start learning is to clean the press from top to bottom, and then re-read the little manual which, fortunately, has been passed along with it.

Finding the perfect balance of settings to get the thing feeding these high-texture (and expensive!) papers takes learning to think like an engineer along with a close eye on each variable.

However, with encouragement from the generous online letterpress folks in PPLetterpress, I'm now feeling much more comfortable with the press. Of course actually having to print a real job helps to hone the point...

Currently (and for the last few weeks, due to weather and travel delays) I'm printing a six (seven?) piece wedding invitation, two-sides, two-panels, with scoring. It's also bilingual, in Russian and English. Quite beautiful, designed by the groom's father, a long time typographic acquaintance of mine through the Association Typographique Internationale (ATypI.org).

I expect to get this wrapped up this week -- although they are still considering whether to have a Menu card done... It's a wee bit maddening not to have all the pieces of the job ready to print at one time. Understandably, though, they need the "Save the Date" cards well before the rest of the package. I may need to update my policies on this, as there are additional costs involved (shipping not the least of them) when a job stretches over two months.

... more or less moved.

Utterly exhausting, three solid weeks of bits and pieces with the weekends filled with dozens of trips with the L/P forklift, each one filled with trepidation as I'd turn the corner from White onto Ninth Street, and head for that 20% grade from the street gutter up the sidewalk and up again into the overhead doorway.

Mid-way through the move, Ed Regan and Ed Jr made it from Indiana (where the press has been sitting since June) with the 10x15 "Original Heidelberg", our Mercedes of Letterpress. I've been calling her "Heidi"...

Over the last few days I've finally had some time to spend with the new press (from 1961) and get around to working through installing new rollers (from Roll-Crafters of Indianapolis), cleaning the overflowing sludge reservoir on the handy clean-up device, setting the new rollers, getting the tympan set up with new draw sheet and mylar packing. Also working out the various pneumatic questions, etc etc.

I'm also looking forward to getting the Intertek photopolymer platemaker up and running, have ordered a few sheets of A3 material from our friends at BoxCar Press, five of the regular, and five of the 'harder' polymer. I'm not sure which is preferable. I expect for short runs the 'softer' (and cheaper) is perfectly fine.

Meanwhile, the Thanksgiving weekend has disrupted paper delivery, which now will probably not arrive until next Friday, Nov 30.

I hope to do some printing the week after, but will be away until the Thursday on family business.

It's not easy to uproot three tons of heavy metal and assorted other crap.

I've sworn I would never move my press again, but the gods have other plans and mysterious ways. And, well, it's only about 400 feet, really, and about 75 as the crow flies.

From the second floor of the Wilmac Warehouse, down the frieght elevator, out the green doors, through the parking lot out onto White Street, around the corner on 9th St, and into the big garage doors under Phoenix Fitness. The new heated space is right under the weight room, so we get regular bombardment from the muscle-building going on upstairs.

Hopefully, the weigthlifters will evolve into yoginis and aerobicians, which will be a lot quieter, anyway.

I'm very pleased and thankful to Wilmac, and Tim McN in particular for making this space available. Otherwise, I'd be SOL for printing this winter.

The warehouse, while lovely light streams through the west facing windows, is unheated, un-insulated, and un-usable in both heat of summer and cold of winter.

So, we'll see how the business grows and perhaps it will make sense to remodel. Meantime, we'll have a decent, if boring, space to proceed with the important work at hand!

Thanks to all who provided valuable feedback on the site before launch!

I've got a Google Adwords campaign running, which is bringing in good traffic, and we expect to be in production mode from around the beginning of November.

We'll be moving some of the presses downstairs and around the corner from our current location. As the warehouse space we're now in has not yet been re-fitted for HVAC, but the new temporary space is heated for the winter. Not ideal, but we will work with it!

Please visit

http://www.exquisiteletterpress.com

Is the past couple of weeks, we've produced a few small runs at the press, including 200 8.5x22 inch posters for the Voices of the Warehouse District art exhibit (see www.voiceswarehousegallery.com), a three color limited edition poster for Firewood Revival (a Dubuque eclectic acoustic rock band), and new calling cards for myself, this on the 10x15 C&P.
(photos to come)

The C&P now has a jury-rigged treadle, with a big gate hinge on a length of 2x6 lumber for the treadle and a 12-15 inch turnbuckle as the rising arm. Don't know that it will hold up for 100 years, but the parts are easily replaced.

I really enjoy working this press with a treadle, and I believe it's a lot safer, as well. After all this is the speed that the press operator works the press, directly connected to the rhythm of feeding. When these old platen presses are electrified, they run a whole lot faster, which leads to people losing body parts.

Looking forward to the delivery of the Heidelberg Windmill later this week or early next.
Finally got the 220 3-phase power going in. Along with the single phase 220 for the Intertek photopolymer platemaker.

Dubuque Letterpress Studio - Click for full size

We are seeking business partners, angels, patrons and creative collaborators to help build a dynamic digital letterpress business in this dynamic Mississippi River town, nestled into the bluffs and coulees of the beautiful Driftless bio-region.

We're looking for one or two enthusiastic collaborators with proven typographic design, illustration, printmaking and/or letterpress experience, financially flexible, willing to relocate and participate in the restoration and re-birth of our Press.

Equipment includes two Vandercook flatbeds (#219 and Universal I), an 1890s Washington Style standing press, two C&P Old Style platens (8x12 and 10x15) Original Heidelberg "Windmill" 10x15, Intertek A4 Photopolymer Platemaker, 100+ drawers of foundry metal type, dozens+ fonts of 19th C original wood type, 30in Challenge Guillotine cutter, Mac OS X design environment including professional type design software (Font Lab, Scan Font)

At the current time, the plan is to renovate this 2000sq.ft. warehouse studio with new windows, climate control, paint the walls, polish the hardwood floor, install a utility bathroom with shower and a lounge/conference area.

2008 plans include publishing projects, product development and marketing, visiting artist collaborations, workshops in book and paper arts, etc.

Dubuque's warehouse district is adjacent to US Hwy 61/151/20, the Port of Dubuque, and the Smithsonian Museum of the Mississippi River. Old Dubuque is built on the bluffs overlooking the Mississippi, with Civil War era Victorian homes, a gold-domed county courthouse and bald-eagles nesting along the river.

Dubuque is the gateway to the Upper Mississippi, mid-way between Madison and Iowa City, three hours west of Chicago, five hours south of the Twin Cities.

Peter Fraterdeus is the founder of Semiotx Inc, and of Dubuque Letterpress. He lives in a nice little cottage in Galena Illinois, across the river from Dubuque.

• Taught design, lettering at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago 1984-1991.
• Recipient of two National Endowment for the Arts grants (1980, 1986) for study and development in type design and letterform.
• Studied calligraphy and letter carving with Ieuan Rees in Wales (1981)
• Letterpress printer since the early 1980s.
• Studied calligraphy and type-design with Hermann Zapf at RIT.
• Consultant on web strategy and user experience design.
• Type designer, founded Alphabets, Inc (now Alphabets Font Library) in 1987. Fonts include Prospera, Quanta, Marlowe.