Field Trip! Jim Horton’s Letterpress Studio

Posted by: Christine Golus

This week a few of us had the opportunity to visit Jim Horton's letterpress studio located just west of Ann Arbor on Waters Road. Jim was printing a small project for our client Clark Hill PLC, so we were invited for the press check and tour. Our digital weary souls were revived with the tactile world of letterpress craft. Wood type, metal type, beautifully crafted presses that were built to last a lifetime. Ink, paper, tools and equipment that you hold and manipulate. We saw real “leading” – the metal strips that are placed between rows of type (at our computers we simply “click” to increase or decrease the leading within our web or print layouts). And we marveled over the dedicated artist-engravers who created the detailed wood block illustrations which Jim has numerous examples of.

See our Flickr page for photos and more photos. And contact Jim here.

And coincidentally I saw the film “Typeface” last night on PBS and learned about the cavernous Hamilton Wood Type Museum in Two Rivers, Wisconsin. Field trip!
 

 

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