Skeuomorph Press & BookLab

Here’s what we’re printing at the press—find out how to order one and support our fundraiser at skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/le-guin-book...

Friends, please share!

Proofs are ready for @skeuomorphpress.org's edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s "A Rant About Technology." I am so pleased with this book—in many ways our 1st real book project

Details about how to get one through our fundraiser at skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/le-guin-book...

First up in the Society of Early Americanists joint fundraiser are the protest posters of @ryancordell.org - Ryan directs @skeuomorphpress.org an experiential studio for research and teaching in book and information arts that is housed in the @Champaign-Urbana Community FabLab....

Over the next few weeks I will finally have the bandwidth to work on @skeuomorphpress.org’s numbered edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “A Rant About ‘Technology’”

So today I’m in the press experimenting with ink/paper combos for the front covers

Watch this space for fundraiser info—coming ver soon!

We’ve been running low on wall space @skeuomorphpress.org for awhile, so while course prepping this weekend I decided to use our vertical space—now we have prints up into the rafters!

Had a fantastic time at @skeuomorphpress.org 's #buildingbooklabs25! It was truly humbling to learn from master printmakers and digital humanities enthusiasts like @josefbeery.bsky.social, @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social and many others. I cannot wait to apply everything I have learned to my work!

A drying rack full of white bookmarks reading in blue ink “Building Book Labs, a book is… Spring 2025”. There is an image on the bookmarks of a flower growing out of a book.

A woman with glasses mainly in shadow gestures to a power point in a dark speakeasy. The title slide reads “Open Hours at Skeuomorph Press”.

A group of participants circles a blue table as they watch an instructor demonstrate papermaking.

Feeling grateful for getting to attend #BuildingBookLabs25. In an absolutely insane time for arts, humanities, and libraries alike my work at @skeuomorphpress.org has been a vital outlet. Getting to see the incredible work by Booklabs and artists across the country shows— we’re not going anywhere!

💜 UMD BookLab's @natmcgartland.bsky.social @mkirschenbaum.bsky.social @kmkraus.bsky.social et al rageprints; @skeuomorphpress.org @ryancordell.org @transbookhistory.bsky.social et al just joy—eg their community print day filling printshop w/families printing posters supporting trans kids: beautiful.

Some would say week 8 + behind on grading = the worst time for travel to a symposium. Actually it was the best time for the intellectual haven of #buildingbooklabs @skeuomorphpress.org. Pics of last day zine charter workshop @literaturegeek.bsky.social; + me, happy. #letterpress #bookarts #printing

Photo of a wall covered in letterpress and other kinds of prints, at the Skeuomorph Press. These include: navy ink on maize paper "this machine kills fascists", white/silver ink on blue paper "to an editor all things are possible", and rainbow ink on midnight blue "when I dream, I dream in color"

Photo of a wall around an open doorway, covered in letterpress and other kinds of prints, at the Skeuomorph Press. These include: briwn ink on cream paper "California job case" with an illustration of the same, black ink on trans flag pink/white/blue paper "God is trans", and black ink on white paper "undead media" with a large superimposed print of an eye

Photo of a wall over an open doorway hung with in letterpress and other kinds of prints, at the Skeuomorph Press. These include: blue ink on cream paper "no tyrants! & no kings!" with illustration of a printing press beribboned with "the people's friend, the tyrant's fire" text; red ink on kraft paper "trans kids are safe here"; and red ink on cream paper "for transporting us beyond seas to be tried for pretended offenses"

Photo of a white-painted wooden door with a frosted grid window in its upper half, which has a black adhesive sign on the glass that says "Skeuomorph Press & BookLab"; the is an underline under the first two words that has some decorative drip details on it

The @skeuomorphpress.org space has so many good prints on the walls:

Photo of a piece of white paper in which the same design has been printed twice, the second time 180 degrees reversed. The design is printed in dark purple ink and shows a cartoon of a shifty person trying to sell you something from inside one side of an opened trechcoat; inside the trenchcoat is printed the text "Garage type!?!?"

Photo of a mortised (carved-out space to insert type) letterpress block showing a cartoon of a shifty person trying to sell you something from inside one side of an opened trechcoat; inside the trenchcoat is arranged the type "Garage type!?!?" in a serif font.

Doing 1 small, 1 poster print for @skeuomorphpress.org BookLabs swap. Small one: ("Garage type?!?!": much letterpress type=acquired used or donated; for the latter, often sat in a garage for a while before printers admitted they were done w/it, free cost means a lot of cleaning before use) #DHmakes

2023 RBS BookLab class had so many folks—excited for next week's "Building BookLabs" symposium at @skeuomorphpress.org further cohering the movement of "booklabs", humanities-focused makerspaces, & other creative+critical teaching+research printshops: skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/cfp-building...

Photo of a stack of handmade paper printed with outlines of large initial letters

screenshot of a slide that reads: Make your own Illuminated Initial, Dot Porter, Schoenberg Institute for Manuscript Studies, Building Book Labs Symposium, May 20, 2025. The large initials in the title are colored Red and Blue. All the text is in a medieval gothic font.

Screenshot of a slide that reads: Header: Why a workshop on making illuminated initials? To provide insight into historical bookmaking practices To illustrate the labor involved in the work To present a good entry point for the study of medieval manuscripts. Because… Illumination is neat and pretty! To give students a fun, creative method for learning, and they have something to take away and share with friends

Prepping for my workshop "Make your own Illuminated Initial" next week at the BookLab Symposium sponsored by @skeuomorphpress.org and I am EXCITED

Photo of a poster-size letterpress print in violet ink on cream paper; it uses many different fonts and images, and includes at the bottom a print saying "made w/💜 by a trans (checkbox) printer (checkbox) ally", where both checkboxes have been checked with black marker, and the outline of a trans flag has been filled in with pink and blue colored pencils. The poster's text says: "Here's your proof letterpress is something special: here's the idea: nearly everybody likes original printing. It's extra great and can be joyful, hopeful, just! (it's a fact!) and heavenly (as in can help kill fascism). Whoopee! Way to go!" with lots of illustrations of cheering people and thumbs up. There's also an image, in parentheses, of a cartoon monk picketing a "Gutenberg Press" shop with a pried sign that says "unfair to scribes". The image is followed by the text "tho..?!" and an asterisked "Gutenberg didn't invent print!!"

Photo of a letterpress print bed packed with wood and metal blocks to form a solid rectangle around a variety of metal illustration blocks such as a shady man holding open his trenchcoat to show he is selling old print presses, and a 5-times-repeated motif of a hand giving a thumbs up next to the text "way to go!"

Photo of a letterpress printer with rollers inked in a deep burgundy bullet, and in the press bed amid blue magnets, a cherry wood block lasercut to say "made w/💜 by a trans (checkbox) printer (checkbox) ally" and the outline of a trans flag

Photo of a large work table covered by copies of the letterpress print in the first photo, violet ink on cream paper

"Enthusiastic Letterpress", my poster for the @skeuomorphpress.org print swap! Ran out of time to do as technically perfect as my skills allow (bottom's warped old blocks need more packing TLC; +arranging, borders to look less busy/more aligned), & to add some features; but I still love it #DHmakes

If you'll be at @skeuomorphpress.org's Building BookLabs this month: BookBeetle designer, accomplished printer, VA Book Arts cofounder @josefbeery.bsky.social is bringing a fleet of BookBeetle presses for a workshop on teaching public, library, K-12 creativity+learning w/accessible letterpress:

You run a community printing space supported by a combination of public arts grants and funding from the local city council, a shoestring arrangement at the best of times. Members of the general public can, for a small fee, use the type and the presses— unsupervised-for personal projects once they have passed a printing certification process. You managed to grow an enthusiastic group of patrons with this model. One day, local neighborhoods are blanketed with a series of eye-catching posters containing messaging like FUCK THE POLICE and ALL COPS ARE BASTARDS. Much of the community is outraged. The posters are letterpress printed (part of what makes them so distinctive) and it doesn't take much detective work to trace them back to your studio. (In fact, you have a pretty good idea of who is responsible, and expect they would make a scene—including on social media, where they are an influencer— if you attempt to abridge what they no doubt would perceive as their first amendment rights.) Your phone is ringing. It's the mayor. How do you handle it?

Looking forward to leading a workshop on “Printing in Difficult Times” at the upcoming @skeuomorphpress.org shindig. Here’s one of the scenarios I will be presenting for group discussion.

Photo of the Scholars' Lab Makerspace lasercutter, named Vader, a large oven-sized royal blue container with a pipe to ventilate it and glass top to see the laser working through. Some lasercut wood airplanes and Star Wars ships, and a laser engraved piece of leather that dates "Vader", are visible on the back of the machine

Lasercut 7 new letterpress blocks from wood today (cherry, hard maple, Shina plywood/basswood, white ash; from best to worst results) but waiting to share photos as they're gifts for folks at next week's @skeuomorphpress.org BookLabs symposium. Mix of mistakes, middling, & good results #DHmakes

I’ve just been feeling so patriotic every time I walk into @skeuomorphpress.org lately.

Today’s broadside from the US Declaration of Independence was inspired by a @lollardfish.bsky.social thread earlier this week

Poster displaying Élika Ortega’s quote: There is nothing more ephemeral than a website. Black background and golden print letters

Yes! That’s @elikaortega.bsky.social wonderful quote! The poster is from @skeuomorphpress.org Here’s the full poster!

Shout out to @ryancordell.org for talking to my Digital Preservation class about his and the role of intermediate media in digital preservation at @skeuomorphpress.org The best remediation moment was him using a portable document scanner to show the screen of a 2000s era Macbook.

Really enjoyed hosting Lori Newcomb’s undergraduate and graduate classes @skeuomorphpress.org today. The grad class, “Reading Embodiment in Early Modern Britain, worked together to create this broadside based on “The Roaring Girl”

Letterpress printed sheets reading TRANS KIDS ARE REAL TRANS KIDS ARE SPECIAL TRANS KIDS ARE LOVED

Dropped by @skeuomorphpress.org to check on @transbookhistory.bsky.social’s community print for Trans Day of Visibility & found it bustling, full of kids & families happily setting wood type & printing these incredible broadsides. If we founded Skeuomorph for anything it was for events like that

Slinging some ink this evening with local trans youth!

We’re proud to be co-sponsoring this event this evening with @meanwhilelttrpress.bsky.social for Trans Day of Visibility!

Wood type in the bed of a press reading (backwards) “Trans Kids Are [Blank]”

We’ve partnered with @skeuomorphpress.org and some local queer organizers to do a little ink slinging with trans youth this evening for Trans Day of Visibility. Can’t wait to see how they fill in the blank (inspired by @jsench.bsky.social’s “[blank] is a printer” demos with young folks) Stay Tuned!

Another question for the practical printer/media lab/teaching collection folks—next year @drtlwagner.bsky.social will be working with an LIS student to create a metadata/cataloging plan for @skeuomorphpress.org’s materials—from type fonts to floppy disks—what precedents should we be sure to consult?

Hi Charles, unfortunately the print run is gone. You can still order the high-quality scan using this form docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1F...

a large poster on off-white paper with blue ink that says, No Tyrants and No Kings, with an image of a wooden printing press with a banner above it that says, The Tyrants Foe, The Peoples Friend. resting on top is a small sticker of a rainbow floppy disk that says Skeuomorph Press

hell yeah @ryancordell.org @skeuomorphpress.org

Added the @skeuomorphpress.org printer’s mark before printing a larger batch of 14th Amendment broadsides. Gonna try to print a few hundred today

I just received this poster from @skeuomorphpress.org

Seems appropriate and timely