Next up for a Letterpress Worskhop at Base Press were some of my dear friends from the Manly Beer Night crowd. “Manly Beer Night” (or MBN as we affectionately call it) is our guys version of “Girls Night Out.” We meet occasionally, jokes abound, hilarity usually ensues, and usually some form of liquids are consumed.

This Workshop was notable from the get-go when dear friends Steve DeCusatis (“Stevie D.” to us) and Mario Zucca worked together on a logo that ended up being a custom T-shirt design just for this occasion. It’s not every day that someone designs a T-shirt for your Workshop! Completely love the melding of the brayer and a beer can, in this creative solution. This design even won an award in Logo Lounge—so there you go, and has become a T-shirt staple.

The MBN Boys worked with the H. N. Werkman style of printing, where one collages with type and images on the press. Hendrik Nicolaas Werkman was an experimental Dutch artist, typographer and printer. He set up a clandestine printing house during the Nazi occupation (1940–1945) and sadly was shot by the Gestapo in the closing days of World War II.

This method has proven to be a very accessible way to approach letterpress printing and working with the press. No experience in printing or design are necessary whatsoever to work with this method, and generally speaking folks have a blast with it. If you have any interest in participating in your own workshop with a group of friends—or joining in on an existing workshop—please contact me and let me know. I would be more than happy to go over details with you. Workshop size limited to seven attendees, with a minimum of three attendees.