Workshop Fee (includes materials fee): $700
Scholarship available; click here to apply.

This is an in-person workshop. As of January 2023, masks are strongly encouraged but not required unless otherwise indicated. 

Cylinder Core Certificate Program

The hand-fed cylinder proof press, also known as the Vandercook press, has a special place in both print history and in teaching book arts. Immediate and accessible, yet nuanced and specific, it is the press that introduced many of us to letterpress. The four class Cylinder Core Certificate Program allows students to move quickly through the press basics while also addressing relief printing in general. Students who finish the four Core classes are qualified to rent press time as well as move on to more advanced classes and techniques.

Cylinder Core 1 :: Experience Letterpress! 

Dig in to the tradition and history of letterpress printing and get your hands dirty. Learn about the process and practice of setting type, mixing inks and pulling impressions. In this class you will learn how to print your own cards! 

Cylinder Core 2 :: Power of the Broadside

Build your letterpress skills: learn advanced justification, typesetting, and composition. Put it all together to print a broadside of your own design.

Cylinder Core 3 :: Posterized

Develop your letterpress design skills and aesthetic while increasing your letterpress versatility: learn to set up the press, refine your registration skills, and run an edition. Learn more about packing, roller height, and make-ready. Come ready to run an edition of your own small poster.

Cylinder Core 4 :: Digital into Analog

Bring digital back into analog in this final core course and learn to print from photopolymer plates. Apply your letterpress skills to artwork created digitally to make fantastic plates for printing. Walk away with a stack of greeting cards printed from polymer plates. 

>> Prerequisite: None <<

Materials to Bring: None. All tools and materials will be provided.

Date & Time: Tuesday-Friday, June 13-16, 2023 :: 9:30am-5:30pm

Location: 375 Rhode Island St, San Francisco, CA 94103

NOTE: Please read over the SFCB Registration Policies before signing up for a class. Registration will close three days prior to the start date of the workshop to allow the instructor time to prep materials for class. 
 

About the Instructor | Alan Hillesheim (he/him)

Alan Hillesheim has been wrenching around printing presses for 35 years. Printing presses need to be moved, oiled, inked, cleaned, and maintained, in short they need attention like a six year old. Maintenance is a dirty business, but a necessary one for beautifully printed anything. Alan has a passion for the mechanics of the print studio and enjoys encouraging others to roll up their sleeves and grab a wrench. His 35 years in the letterpress business and “all-ten-fingers” count speak for themselves. Join him and wear old clothes.
Oh, and once the press is in fine order, Alan has a few secrets to divulge about perfect inking and stellar printing.

Past Student Reviews:

“Alan is super knowledgeable and did a great job of translating our mistakes and difficulties into teachable moments that everyone in the class could all learn from...without making us feel like we messed up. If that's not the mark of a good teacher, I don't know what is. I'm excited to take more classes from him in the future.”

“I will take any class that Alan offers.”

“Alan's knowledge was only exceeded by his warmth.”