Levi's Print Workshop Part 1

Yesterday I took advantage of the free open workshop that Levi's has temporarily set up on Valencia @ 17th here in San Francisco.
Had a poster ready to get silk-screened, but while waiting for my turn, I put together a little poster from their collection of wood type.
Saw this quote in a scene in "Easter Parade," a 50's musical with Fred Astaire. A needlepoint artwork of this phrase hangs framed above a piano where Judy Garlands sings a tune.
After noticing this small sign as a background element in that film, I always wanted to reproduce it in a unique way.

After picking through their collection of type, I assembled the phrase within a "chaser" which is a metal frame that contains the type blocks.


Like a cross between Jenga and a jig-saw puzzle, I had to squeeze in wood blocks and small pieces of lead in between the letters & words to keep them tight within the chaser.
After about a half hour, with the tireless help of a great volunteer, I was able to get my blocks nice & tight within that metal frame, so that if you lifted the whole thing up, not one bit would fall out.


Here's the cool, ol' letter press that I used to make the print.
They inked up that big disk at the top & attached the chase sideways on the printer's side.
This ain't no Canon laser jet scanner/printer combo, I tell ya!


As part of lowering the lever, these big rollers collect ink from that big disk & then ink the type blocks. At the final push of the lever, the chase is pressed against the paper and that's what actually makes your print...cool, aint it?


Left out to dry for an hour or two, hoping that nobody in that huge crowd that's crammed in the workshop at that time absent-mindedly sets their Four Barrel latte on one of the prints!


Kinda blushed when one of the head print guys complimented my work & took a copy for their workshop.

I made it on the wall, folks!

Stop by and have a look before the end of August 'coz that's when Levi's closes shop and moves on to another temporary workshop in NYC. Though next time they're not doing print but photography...and in Chicago they're doing music workshops.
Here's a link to some info: http://workshops.levi.com/visit/