“Slow Down & Simplify” Letterpress Edition

These hand-set letterpress prints were inspired by advice given by guitar instructor Rob Hampton of Heartwoodguitar.com in the context of learning to play the guitar. But, I thought it it seemed apt for just about any endeavor, and would make a good subject for some letterpress experimentation.

In the letterpress workshop I was trying out as many variations as possible in the limited time we had. In the end I ended up with 13. And, somewhat ironically, though my theme was ‘slow down & simplify’ at the time the process felt like ‘hurry up and complexificate’ as I kept trying different color combinations!

This is a ‘limited edition’ in that the type was set and prints were made, and then the type returned to the drawers. There won’t be any more exactly like this! The prints are all 11×17”, either on heavy white paper or brownish chip board. The “Slow Down” text is vintage hand carved wooden type, the “&” is brand-new wood type that I believe was CNC cut. The “simplify” is vintage metal type. The ink colors we had available were a luscious deep red, a dark blue, a medium-dark green, and fluorescent orange. The posters were hand-set, inked, and printed by me at Compound Studios in Emeryville, California, in August 2024.

Print #1 of 13: Red and blue on white paper.
This was the first image and I didn’t have my technique down, so it’s got some ghosting on it as I must’ve shifted it a bit when putting the paper down initially. I thought it looked kinda cool, though.

Print #2 of 13: Red, orange, and blue, on chipboard.

Print #3 of 13: Red, orange, and blue, with blue ink background, on chipboard.

Print #4 of 13: Red, orange, and blue, with blue ink background, on white paper.

Print #5 of 13: Red, orange, and green, with blue ink background, on chipboard.

Print #6 of 13: Green, red, and blue, on orange inked background, on white paper.

Print #7 of 13: Red, orange, and blue, on green inked background, on chipboard.

Print #8 of 13: Red, orange, and blue, on green inked background, on white paper.
Not available.

Print #9 of 13: Red, orange, and blue, on green inked background, on white paper.
Not available.

Print #10 of 13: Red, orange, and green, on blue inked background, on white paper.

Print #11 of 13: Blue, and red flecked with orange, on white paper.

Print #12 of 13: Green, and red flecked with orange, with blue inked background on white paper.

Print #13 of 13: Multiple impression experimentation.
Drop-shadow effect were first two impressions, initially the ‘Slow Down’ text was inked with green, then again but shifted up and to the right for the second impression. Then re-inked with blue, for the third impression. Both the ampersand and the word ‘simplify’ were part of the first two impressions, then masked off for the third. Would liked to have done this some more to refine it a bit, but ran out of time.