Last Saturday was the 1st session of Josef Beery’s Alphabuzz at the the Virginia Center for the Book Book Arts: a cohort of letterpress folks learning how to teach public & K-12 letterpress printing with the BookBeetle, a reproduction historical screw letterpress designed to be ultra-accessible for public and teaching use. We did 6 letterpress printing exercises aimed at public teaching various age groups from kindergarten up, including letterpress printing with legos, Josef’s new BookBlossom wood type, a Declaration of Independence photopolymer plate, & my fave: cutting craft foam to make a bestiary book!

The remaining three sessions will involve: our teaching K-12 teachers how to teach with the press, our teaching those teachers and their students, and a daylong intensive on letterpress history and practice (including printing on a Franklin Common Press!).

Photo of the BookBeetle tabletop screw letterpress, a letterpress printer made of light-colored wood with a big handle on top for turning the screw that presses the ink into the paper. In the printer bed is visible the type that was printed onto the previous photo, a pangram (sentence using all letters in the alphabet at least once) that says: “Bodoni Devoured My Ersatz Quinoa Whilst Perusing The Xray For Jack”.

Photo closeup of the BookBeetle tabletop screw letterpress’s print bed, showing the type that was printed onto 1st previous photo: rounded, all-caps uppercase forming a pangram (sentence using all letters in the alphabet at least once) that says: “Bodoni Devoured My Ersatz Quinoa Whilst Perusing The Xray For Jack”.

Photo of a tshirt cardboard with a piece of craft foam affixed to it; the craft foam has been cut into the shape of a dog with very very long legs, and inked with fluorescent blue and pink ink.

Photo of a white piece of paper printed with the shape of a dog with very very long legs, and inked with fluorescent blue and pink ink.