This week we buried Pica, a small cat with a big personality. She never really took to the print shop, made morning coffee, or learned to collect the mail … but she was still a great friend to us and will be missed.
Typesetter's T-Shirts
I recently unearthed a box of these t-shirts from over a decade ago! Shirts are made in America, screen printed in Portland from a clean proof of wood type. Sales benefit the programming at C.C. Stern Type Foundry. Buy one here.
P.S. The lovely model is Emma Swartz of Squeezebox Press.
No Kings Day (Again)
On October 18, 2025 the streets of Portland were full of people with signs, wearing inflatable costumes, chanting and dancing. Rage with a smile. Three hours of walking the downtown march route and both the Morrison and Hawthorne bridges were still full of people on the move. If seven million showed up for this single day protest, we’re getting closer to the tipping point.
weathergrams
When printer-friends visited C.C. Stern Type Foundry and Craft Printing House in early September, we engaged in a fun last-minute project of making Weathergrams. Inspired by Lloyd Reynolds and his interpretation of the Japanese tansaku form, we set type for seasonal poetic notes and printed a small edition of 30. Tied to branches with string, these little Weathergrams were hung at the Autumnal Equinox and are doing their best to become soaked and tattered as the leaves themselves at the end of the season.
American Typecasting Fellowship Conference in Clatskanie!
In April, I cast decorative ornaments (Monotype 1258 and 1259) at the C.C. Stern Type Foundry as part of a project with Montana State University, and this month we had a chance to put them to use ourselves. Paired with Linotype Electra and Gothic No. 13, they make a nice impression in gold ink on red paper. This little project announces the 2025 American Typecasting Fellowship Conference which is scheduled for July 31 - August 3, 2025. The C.C. Stern Type Foundry is hosting 4 days of fellowship, including technical sessions, a panel of presentations, banquet, swap meet, letterpress fair and auction. Registration closes on July 15.
More information on the C.C. Stern Type Foundry and American Typecasting Fellowship websites.
Poetry Missives
Each week I check the PO Box in Clatskanie, and for the last couple months I have been greeted by a new poetry card from Clifford Burke. Initially I thought these little publications were Desert Rose Press's contribution to National Poetry Month, but as they kept arriving through May and June I realized they are a gift of activism using the language of poetry to register dissent and offer hope. Thanks, Clifford, for these messages that arrive by post and stay in my mind as we struggle through the dismantling of Representative Democracy.
enough! zine project
I’m officially a zine publisher again! As a way to ground myself during this country’s abrupt transition to authoritarian rule, I’m using the zine format to explore my personal values and share with friends. Twelve months, twelve issues. It’s good noticing practice, and has required note-taking in the weeks between issues, as well as some synthesis (digestion?) of my experiences in order to represent that in the publication. There’s no subscription, I’m just sending them as I make them, and letting that be “enough”.
Raymond Carver Writing Festival: May 3, 2025
The Raymond Carver Writing Festival takes place annually in Clatskanie, Oregon, the birthplace of Raymond Carver. The 2025 Raymond Carver Writing Festival is May 3rd from 10am to 8:30pm. Once again a committee of volunteers (of which I am part) has put together a great line-up of events centered at the Clatskanie Cultural Center, with readings and generative writing exercises at other venues around town. This year’s theme is “Call it a Polestar.” Featured presenters include Moe Bowstern, Allen Braden, Mandy Ellen, Martha Gies, Holly Hughes, Laura Moulton, Dayle Olson, and Armin Tolentino (Vancouver, WA). More information on the website.
Letterpress posters for this year’s festival will be on sale at the event, along with posters we’ve made for 2024 and 2023.
Partners in Print Grand Opening!
I’ve been involved with Partners in Print as an Advisory Council member for the the past four years, as the leadership team has established their non-profit structure and built their programming. Until a month or so ago, their physical equipment was in storage or being stewarded by various Seattle-area letterpress printers. In late 2024, the organization secured a facility and is now offering in-person print workshops and events!
Raise a toast to their efforts!
Sunday, April 27
2025
Open house 1–5pm
Toast at 4pm
Partners in Print
402 Cedar Street, Seattle, WA 98121
RSVP
Power of the Presses Exhibit
I’m honored that one of my prints will exhibited as part of Power of the Presses at Bainbridge Island Museum of Art. The show of books and prints runs from March 7-June 8, 2025 and includes a number of opportunities for hands-on art making in the gallery.
Download exhibition flier
The Point V.5
The annual newsletter for the C.C. Stern Type Foundry is on press! This year we selected 12pt. Monotype Modern No. 8 (8A) for the body text, complemented with Linotype Bodoni and decorative border material. Seems like the process of casting was a bit rougher than years past — first a mould that we decided was too worn and needed to be swapped out, then a matrix for a single letter that was casting too low, followed by random substitutions of letters for unit spaces. Ack. All those issues meant that the print runs were also challenging, and far more time consuming than they should have been. As always, I learned a lot in the process, and was reminded of how much more there is to learn.
Printing by Hand Exhibit
I have three pieces up as part of the “Printing by Hand” group show at the Hillsboro Brookwood and Shute Park Libraries. The exhibit includes work from regional letterpress printers, and was organized by the Northwest Letterpress Network. It will be on display November 1-December 31, 2024, with a reception on December 5th, 6:30-7:30pm at the Brookwood Library Gallery.
phil elverum 'night palace' book release
We (Craft Printing House) have just finished casting, printing and binding a new chapbook by Phil Elverum, a companion to Mt. Eerie’s latest album Night Palace. The standard edition is a run of 2000, 56 pages with soft cover and a wrap-around dust jacket. There is an additional lettered edition which will be cloth bound by Jules Remedios Faye, with hand lettered spine and cover labels done by Phil. It’s the first book we’ve produced start to finish at the Clatskanie shop space—cast on the Linotype 31, text block and covers printed on the Heidelberg 13x18, and the dust jackets on the Vandercook Universal 1AB. We’re excited to celebrate the completion at the book release event on October 6, 2024 at the Birkenfeld Theatre.
The release event is part of a pilot Artist in Residency program that the C.C. Stern Type Foundry is sponsoring. Visual or literary artists are able to come to our “campus” in Clatskanie and explore a project with the technical support of the Foundry volunteers (currently by invitation only). As part of this experience, the artist is asked to give some kind of public presentation about their creative process. The poster pictured was composed with a combination of hand set metal foundry type and Linotype (text and decorative material). Printed in two metallic ink colors on the Vandercook Universal 1AB.
Julia Ferrari at Golganooza Letter Foundry and Press
50th Annual Gilbert Family Beanhole poster
This colorful poster was designed and printed in the summer of 2024 to commemorate the 50th Gilbert family reunion. Every August generations of the Gilberts gather in Dorset, Vermont to celebrate our connection to each other and to the little corner of the Green Mountain State where at least five generations have resided. We have a fire, bury a pot of beans, go for a hike, attend to gravesites or hold memorials, sleep, dig up the beans and have a potluck, hold an auction, eat fresh strawberry ice cream, look at scrapbooks and note the “best beans ever” in the official record. It’s no ordinary reunion.
Letterpress, wood and metal type, carved linoleum block, relief background tint
Dimensions: 12” x 18”
Hand-set wood type and metal type, dutch oven (bean pot) carved from a mounted linoleum block.
Color tint printed from a litho blanket. Letterpress printed on Tango C1S in three colors.
Short film on barbarian press
This short documentary tells the story of Jan and Crispin Elsted, who for over 30 years have made books by hand, letterpress printed from metal type and wood engravings. It’s a portrait that reinforces what it is to live for your passion. Released in 2016, and recirculating on vimeo now.
Raymond Carver Writing Festival 2024
The Raymond Carver Writing Festival takes place annually in Clatskanie, Oregon, the birthplace of Raymond Carver. I’ve been involved the last couple years as a volunteer through the C.C. Stern Type Foundry, but this year Brian and I were asked to head up the six person organizing committee. This year’s theme is “Where I’m Calling From,” referencing the title of one of Carver’s short stories and a short story collection.
The 2024 Raymond Carver Writing Festival is May 17th-18th! Starting Friday evening at 5pm the festival offers a writers & publishers fair, reception and keynote presenters, followed by poetry and prose readings at multiple venues. From 10am-5pm Saturday there are participatory readings, workshops, and chances for writers to gather at various locations around the town of Clatskanie. Saturday evening culminates with “Poetry and Pie” a catered farm-to-table dinner, community pie potluck, and open mic poetry reading from 6-9pm.
Featured presenters include Kim Stafford, Robert Michael Pyle, and Chad Wriglesworth (Raymond Carver Review); joined by Joseph Green, Scott MacGregor, Michael Mills (Raymond Carver Podcast), Marianne Monson, Laura Moulton, Ben Parzybok, Ed Skoog, Mac Stripling, Justin Taylor, and more.
Join in for a weekend of fun to celebrate the craft of writing and support a community of regional writers. All efforts have been made to keep events free and open to the public.
Persist! Movement and Protest Art Exhibit
I’m proud to have two of my print works, Maple Nation and Reciprocity, included in a show at the North Seattle College Art Gallery through April 26, 2024. Both pieces are from the collection of Jenny Wilkson.
“Persist: Movement and Protest Art" pulls together posters, art, zines, and ephemera from collections of Seattle artists. The exhibition focuses on pieces made in the last decade that educate, inspire, and fuel resistance in the face of a white supremacist, capitalist, patriarchal world.
Persist! Movement and Protest Art
March 11 – April 26, 2024
North Seattle College Art Gallery
Visit Monday-Thursday 11-5 pm & Friday 11 am - 2 pm
Codex 2024 Book Fair and Symposium
In early February, the Codex Foundation held their biannual book fair and symposium in Berkeley, California. Over 200 book artists and organizations related to book making fill the hall for 4 days. It’s an amazing variety of work from all over the world, and there is always some gem of inspiration to be found.
For the first time in the four years I’ve gone to Codex, I also was able to attend the symposium talks. The theme was “Translation: Literal, Material, and Artistic License” and each of the speakers added another layer of interpretation. Kudos to Inge Bruggeman, Codex Director, for her curation of a stellar line-up. Of special note was Abra Ancliffe’s presentation of her current work in progress related to Kepler’s Astronomia Nova. You can see the symposium recordings on the Codex website.
After so many years with events like this on hold, it was also lovely to find some fellowship in between the official events — gathering with typecasters friends from near and far, and with book artist printers that we rarely see.
The Point Vol. 4
The current issue of the The Point, the newsletter of the C.C. Stern Type Foundry, is fresh off the press! It was a couple months of struggle to figure out justification and spacing issues we were encountering on the Monotype Composition caster, far longer than we originally anticipated. Once the problems were identified and adjustments made, the type came out fast and hot. The Point (Vol. 4) is set primarily in Monotype 12pt. Baskerville, with additions in 8pt. Linotype Spartan. Great to have the foundry all abuzz with making this holiday season!