Fable, Folk, and Fairytales
Madison College CFPA | Letterpress Calendar
Each fall, the CFPA letterpress classes vote on a calendar theme for our winter pop-up sale. This year we were inspired by nature and the Brothers Grimm, leading to a mostly animal-focused fairy tales theme.
Letterpress is always a bit tricky to design for — you can’t guarantee accurate print colors (compared to the digital Pantone) or perfect alignment.
I enjoy a little off-printing, it shows off the handmade part of the medium. But, I can generally avoid more noticable misalignment by designing with bolder lines and more forgiving fills.
Photo-Polymer Layers
I was inspired by vintage folk and fairy tale illustrations, and wanted to mimic the ornate borders, pen & ink illustrations, and antique typefaces in my composition.
My May page was a last minute edition inspired in part by my Snake & Heron screenprint, and The Heron fable.
Since both of these colors were likely to print too dark, or too light, I opted for minimal overprinting in my design to maintain readability of all elements.
Each calendar is printed on Vandercook cylinder presses, and cut, sorted, corner-rounded, and bound by the Center for Printing Arts letterpress students & instructors.
