"2009" PRINT EXCHANGE.  With only a few people signed up for the Print Exchange by early December 2009, and the holidays upon us, we made the decision at the November Guild meeting to postpone the Print Exchange until the February meeting. That meeting falls on February 6, 2010, the weekend before Valentine’s day, which works perfectly with our Print Exchange theme of “love.” If you participate in the Exchange, you will have a packet of printed items on this theme, and one of them may be perfect to give to a special person in your life on Valentine’s day.  The Print Exchange is a wonderful opportunity for Guild members to share their work and build a collection of other members’ work.  The Guild had its first Print Exchange in 2008, and it was a great success.  Here are the rules for this year: There will be a maximum of 35 participants.  You just need to print 35 prints, using the following guidelines: 1.The letterpress process must be used somewhere in your print, although you can incorporate other techniques as well. 2. The size is 8.5" x 5.5" ( half of a standard 8.5x11" sheet of paper). 3. The paper can be any paper or card stock you choose. 4. The "theme" for this year, decided by a close vote after the last meeting, is "Love." This can be love for a person, place, pet, memory, idea, thing, country or activity; it can be paternal, fraternal, maternal or romantic; it can be about discovery, possession, celebration, or loss of love, or anything else you can think of, and it is not necessary to use the word "Love" in the print. 5. Everyone who participates will make 35 prints, regardless of how many people sign up. These prints will be sorted into 35 "bundles" each  consisting of a set of prints by all participants. The print exchange will be at our December 5, 2009 meeting, but we would encourage you to turn in your prints before that date so they can be be sorted before the meeting. On the exchange date, each participant will receive one of the bundles. It there are more bundles than participants, the extras will be donated to the Museum gift shop. The more people participate, the more fun and interesting this can be, so please sign up!

2011 CALENDAR PROJECT.  We are already assigning months for the Guild's fourth annual collaborative calendar.  The Guild first produced a calendar in 2007 (for the year 2008), when the project was initiated by former Guild president Maryellen Quarles. The Guild's prior calendars are on display in the Letterpress Shop.  Every year, the Guild donates a number of calendars for sale in the Museum's gift shop.  The Guild finished its 2010 calendar in November 2009, and the calendars sold out by early December!  This is a fun group project for members.  Click here to see images of the Guild's 2009 Calendar Click here to see images of the Guild's 2010 Calendar Here are the specs for this year -- a little different from last year: Each participant prints (letterpress) one month of the calendar year, and all twelve months are then collected in  a CD jewel case with a colophon listing the artists/printers and the materials they used. Each participant chooses their own paper (size: 4-5/8" wide by 5-3/8" high and no heavier than card stock), and designs their own page. The Guild provides magnesium plates for the numerals for the days of the month. People have used metal type, wood type, linoleum cuts, photopolymer and magnesium plates, and silkscreen for their designs. Everyone prints 175 copies of their month, resulting in 175 finished calendars. Each participant (or group of collaborators) will receive 10 calendars.  The remaining 55 calendars will be donated to the Museum to sell in the Gift Shop.  Any participant who does not need all 10 calendars can also donate the extras to the Museum.  Here are resources for plate making: Boxcar Press--for polymer plates and base: www.boxcarpress.com Owosso Graphics--for magnesium plates: www.owossographics.com

MPH PRESS CATALOG.  At a Guild meeting in late 2007, the subject came up whether there is any written guide with information about the Museum’s historically significant presses.  Apparently there is not one, and Guild members expressed interest in making one, not only to make us and others more knowledgeable about the history of the presses, but to document how these valuable artifacts should be maintained and preserved.   The Press Catalog has been on the back burner for a while as the Guild focuses on other projects.  However, volunteers have signed up to assemble information for each of twelve presses in the Museum: (1)  Chandler & Price 10x15 Platen Press; (2)  Curtis & Mitchell Columbian Rotary 8x12; (3)  Vandercook No. 4; (4)  Ostrander Seymour Washington-Style Hand Press; (5)  B.F. Woods Amateur Press; (6)  Harris Offset Press; (7)  Cranston Newspaper Press; (8)  Albion English Hand Press; (9)  Gutenberg Press Replica; (10)  Columbian Press 1854; (11)  Craftsmen Superior Press; (12)  Albion Press – Hopkinson & Cope.  The focus of the press catalog is:  What is the history of the press?  What is its significance as a historical museum piece?  Is the press in top working condition?  If not, what is necessary to bring it to that condition?  What regular maintenance needs to be done to keep the press in top working condition?