Over 45 people came to celebrate the Depot’s new paint job, share lunch with the Wrong Fonts printing group, check out our presses and look over @TomParson’s and @MarcSilberman’s shoulders as they printed keepsakes. @ElanorHarris made sure there was food, @IanVanMater cooked it, @travelinginkwell helped with everything, @JimFitzgerald fixed a press he was donating …and @BryanDahlberg took most of these pictures!
The Depot is lookin’ good with its new coats of red, turquoise and tan paint. We are so excited to show her new face to the community. Come see for yourself at our September 28 picnic, 11-2 - all are welcome. Power washing and scraping by Depot board members, historic and paint research by board member Bryan Dahlberg, guidance from Richard Reck of @BehrPaints and painting by Tomas and his crew of hard workers of TLCPaintworks got us to this new place. Thank you!
Photos by @BryanDahlberg and @TomParson
Lots of heated activity this summer so far.
Printing Mothers’ Day cards at Cherry Creek High School
Antique Tuscan woodtype sorts, c. 1854, newly acquired. What will you print?!
We are wildly pleased to announce that the Letterpress Depot has been awarded a grant of $1.000 from the Meow Wolf 2018 DIY Fund.
A new roof to stop the leaks, and heaps and heaps of gravel to shore up the often-muddy alley/driveway
Six ways you might help …
We had a great time at Fine Arts Friday at Cherry Creek High School! Thanks to Cat Jafek and others for inviting us to demonstrate. With hundreds of interested students, printers Tom Parson on the Curtis and Mitchell table top press and Marc Silberman on the small Vandercook roller press were kept busy.
Last week on volunteer day, we put together a Gordon Franklin press. Who knows what we can accomplish this week on volunteer day (Sat, 11/3, 10-4)? Type inventory to landscaping and yes, to building more presses, there’s always something to do at the Depot. Come down and see.
Three old presses found a new home at the Depot in August. First to arrive were a 7,000-pound Campbell Pony Press that printed a Leadville newspaper way back in the day and a very rare Chandler & Price automatic cylinder press, both thanks to the estate of John Major Jenkins. John also left a wonderful history of the Campbell…
What a feast of friendship, type, talk and memories. The APA RetroGoose is over but not all the good feelings it left behind. Over 40 APA members and several spouses came from around the country, joined by a strong network of Colorado printers….
The #MoPrint crowds at the Open Portfolio show (displays by board members Kim Morski and Tom Parson) and those who came to our Open Studios were very interested and interesting. A few pix below, including a kitty who decided hiding in the bushes made most sense. Also check @GenghisKern Insta account for a video from his shop.
There was shoveling, plank-moving, talk of how/where to move 6,000+ bricks so we can fix the leaky patio, inventorying and much more. Marc Silberman's son Jeff came and shared his woodworking skills to plane down an old door. Another volunteer day upcoming February 24. Check out our volunteer page and tell us what you'd like to do to help and what days are best for you - or just show up on a scheduled day. We can use anything you have to offer!!
It was great seeing old and new friends at The BoB for our January meet up
More meet ups to come in 2018!
This month, all donations will be doubled. So please help us as we raise funds to put in a gas line for heat (it will get cold!), electricity (the better to see you with) and bathrooms (well, you know). The money donated during our Indiegogo made possible a wall, concrete ramp and coated floor - ie a lower level ready to accept the first load of donated presses and type. Putting all our knowledge of mechanical engineering, physics and brute strength to the test...the first load of donated presses and type was moved into the Depot recently. Much much more to come, with your help.
To donate, join or buy something (10% off this month with code 0918), please go to http://www.letterpressdepot.com/marketplace/
Concrete! I've always taken for granted what's beneath my feet. But the slurry! the choreography of pouring, raking, edging, smoothing! And then lo! we have a ramp. Thanks to your donations, for the first time since the building was moved to this location in 1994, an area drain and concrete steps and a ramp/drive mean we can move in our collection of printing equipment and type.
Tom Parson can give a whole run-through of all that was done as our major ramp was laid down, but these pictures give a sense of it all.
As soon as the concrete cures, the grand move will be possible! Volunteers are now clearing the lower room, sealing the floor, unplywooding the walls, and planning the layout for cabinets and presses. Join us in getting this prep work done.
Thank you for your support! We are about to launch a double-your-donation effort for the next phase of construction, so if you missed out on supporting this ramp there will be more. Heat! Electricity! Toilets! And we need additional volunteers to help move our collection out of storage and into the building. Suggestions, donations, volunteer offers, and all questions are welcome. Email: englewooddepot@gmail.com or phone: 720-480-5358.
First, if you're looking for a fantastic workshop, head right now to http://www.letterpressdepot.com/events/2017/10/5/sign-up-now-to-marvel-learn-print-with-brad-vetter
Jason Wedekind leads a team of volunteers
New wall for access ramp
Curtis & Mitchell tabletop platen on a new hydraulic lift table…ready to print the winning design of art student Cassie Schaad, Platte Canyon High School: tickets for the Hootenanny!
Printing on a Poco for the Alliance of Artists Communities:
Newly donated Heidelberg on the move!
Come volunteer, donate, check out our posters, memberships and other perks available on our website at www.letterpressdepot.com; further info by phone (720-480-5358) and email and by direct mail (Letterpress Depot, PO Box 798 Englewood CO 80151).
John Major Jenkins was optimistic when he went in for surgery for kidney cancer in January; he even said he was doing well after the operation. But sadly, he passed away July 2 at the way too young age of 53. We knew John as a printer, as someone who was very knowledgeable and interested in presses, who regularly came down from Fort Collins for our Depot meetups. He shared blogs with us – which we are reprinting at http://www.letterpressdepot.com/blogs-on-type-presses-history/– on moving his humongous presses. And now he has left to the Depot the Campbell Century Pony press that he wrote about. Wish we still had John instead, but we are grateful to share this treasure.
Nationally, John was known as the author of five books on ancient Mayan cosmology, the meaning of the Mayan calendar and what he called archaeoastronomical research: He was proud of his exploration of the “galactic alignment in the vicissitudes of human history.” In February, his novel went up for sale on his website and Amazon, followed in March by an updated “Journey to the Mayan Underworld.”
John also wrote movingly when his ex-wife died in 2015, acknowledging their ups and downs, but saying “from our first encounter in early 1996 … to our final farewell in early 2015, we loved each other.” In 2015, he also lost his 13+ year-old cat. John said since he didn’t have children, “Tyko was like my little boy, my papa wingnut.” Here are John and Tyko in happier and healthier times.
John leaves behind two brothers, a sister and all the presses he saved and restored, which are now finding new homes with other printers.
John leaves behind two brothers, a sister and all the press he saved and restored which are now finding new homes with other printers.
It's been a busy summer and it's not nearly over yet! Upcoming are the Rocky Mountain Book and Paper Fair (Aug 4-5) and Boreas Pass RR Day (Aug 19). But here's a look back at the last jam-packed month. First and foremost in everyone's mind... progress at the Depot. Thanks to our Indiegogo campaign we were able to start the first phase of the work.
Dirt in this case is a good sign!
The Depot was also the site of a BBQ, poetry reading by Paul Hunter, poster display by Iowa printer Rick von Holdt, and a chance to just get together. Thanks to Len Lingo, grillmaster, and Chris Citron and family, helpers extraordinaire.
One of the highlights of every summer: the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. We enjoyed printing for kids and excited adults alike, and spreading the Depot word.
