Engraving Moments at TypeCon 2011 in New Orleans

TypeCon, North America's premier typography conference that, this year, will be in the storied French Quarter section of New Orleans, features some engraving moments.

TypeCon runs from July 5-10 at the Sonesta Hotel. The first part of the week is specialized typographic, letterpress, calligraphic and book arts workshops interspersed with evening libations, entertainment and education.

The main program begins Friday morning, July 8. At 8:40am, master lettering artist and engraver, Yvette Rutledge presents, Analog Dialog / Painting signs in New Orleans and at 10:30am, Mrs. Collins presents engraved treasures from The Historic New Orleans Collection.

Specimens shown are from The Collection's Williams Research Center. "...at 410 Chartres Street in January 1996. After an extensive restoration, the Williams Research Center (WRC) serves as The Collection's research facility. City architect Edgar Angelo Christy designed the 1915 Beaux Arts structure, which initially functioned as a a police station and municipal courthouse. Today the façade and the reading room—which occupies the former courtroom—are suggestive of the building's earlier design, although the remaining floor space has been reordered to operate as secure, climate-controlled storage. These will include selections from Het Groote, The Great Mirror of Folly, early sheet music, Mardi Gras invitations, and an exquisite steel line engraving of Longfellow.



Saturday, July 9 is the opening reception for:
Graver to Press,
Mystic Blue Signs
2212 Magazine Street
New Orleans, LA

For more information, please call 504-525-4691.
The Center for the Lettering Arts in New Orleans is pleased to announce Graver to Press — an exhibition of hand engraved printing in collaboration with Nancy Sharon Collins, Stationer.

The show includes intaglio pieces selected from Mrs. Collins’ commissioned design work and specimens on loan from her collection of historic prints, plates, dies and ephemera, along with metal — and wood — engraved printing, type, and tools from the engravers at Mystic Blue Signs.

Map: "Carte générale du territoire d'Orléans comprenant aussi la Floride Occidentale et une portion du territoire du Mississipi. Dressée d'après les observations les plus récentes par Bmi. Lafon."
Created by: Lafon, Barthélémy, 1769-1820.
Published: Nouvelle Orléans, 1806.
Louisiana and Lower Mississippi Valley Collections, LSU Libraries.

Touch Me, Feel Me. Wow, its Engraved!

Engraving—Letterpress' Shy SisterLecture with copious quantities of impressive visuals!
By Nancy Sharon Collins

Thursday, June 16
6:00-8:00pm
Type Directors Club
347 W 36th St # 603
New York, NY 10018-7243
(212) 633-8943

Commercial engraving for print has an illustrious history as a vital technique for graphic design and typography. Engraving is a fluid, free-hand expression restricted only by the perimeter of the surface upon which an engraving is worked. The exquisite beauty and gracefulness of arcs and shading inherent in the engraved line is unparalleled. For centuries prior to the digital age, engraving was the dominant methodology for teaching and innovation in lettering, and especially for calligraphy.

Nancy will explain why the organic nature of steel die and copper plate engraved imagery and text complements and enhances our visual experiences, and will demonstrate the importance of engraving as a modern graphic design technique. She will show examples from several avid collectors of elegant and unique engraved imagery, and share her expertise on engraving techniques and methodology. She will also describe the recent installation of a working engraving proofing press and the establishment of a new and growing engraving community in the great American city beneath the sea (New Orleans).

To read more about the speaker, Mrs. Collins was just quoted in Neenah paper's blog.

The TDC Events and Salons are held at the Type Directors Club Center, 347 West 36th Street, Suite 603, New York, NY 10018, unless otherwise noted. Click here for directions. Seating is limited so please click on an event you'd like to attend and use the link to pre-register. Type Salon admission is free for members and $20 for non-member professionals and $15 for non-member students. Admission fees vary for special events.

Image: Trade card, engraved with the anaglyptographic method, on coated stock. © Richard D. Sheaff , http://www.sheaff-ephemera.com/
Anaglyptography was a peculiar way to engrave the appearance of 3-dimensional medallions and designs. It utilized a special pantograph engineered to copy the surface of bas-reliefs like the face of a coin. Much as a topographic map follows the contours of land, anaglyptography replicates the gentle differences in surface levels of a dimensional sculpture.

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Here are a few more images for the June 16th TDC presentation:

Details will be posted shortly on the Type Directors Club "Salon" page...

"Allied Oil" courtesy of Strathmore archives, Mohawk Fine Paper, Cohoes, NY; Monogram © Richard Sheaff; "D" monogram engraved by Emily DeLorge.

Resources for Engraving

This list includes some resources and information about American commercial engraving and engraving for social stationary, it is by no ways complete. However, it is the beginnings of a more robust reference for intaglio engraving, and commercial engraving for stationery relevant to today: Some universities still have intaglio areas in their print making department for fine art etching and printing, one of these are great places to start.

There is a fully restored engraving proofing press in the graphic design department "dirty room" at Loyola University New Orleans. Small plates and dies, prepared commercially can be printed on it. Here are links to the entire, several year journey of the engraving proofing press:

http://typophile.com/node/61604
http://typophile.com/node/59459
http://typophile.com/node/58983
(Sample of the 1/2" thick steel dies for which the press was designed.)
http://typophile.com/node/51189

Photo-engraved* (etched) copper plates, art must be in vector, saved as Illustrator CS3 or earlier, or EPS:

Beaver Creek Engraving
P. O. Box 766
660 Creekside Drive
Dobson, NC 27017
336-356-8760
beavercreek@surry.net
rdoby@beavercreekengraving.com
http://www.beavercreekengraving.com/

Intaglio (copper) plate, ready to draw-on, comes with etching needle (to draw with—you have to draw flopped, as in backwards or mirror image). He etches, pulls a print, and ships it back to you (as in “print and ship”:

PrintShip
PO Box 86583
Portland OR 97286
503.348.9214
info@printship.net
http://printship.net/PS/Orders.html

Commercial engraver, (primarily a pressman—the guy who can take your commercially genegrated intaglio plate or die and print it) can provide plates from your vector art, as well as paper and the actual die stamping**:

Hart Engraving
4928 North 29th Street
Milwaukee, WI 53209-5407
414.445.5555
http://hartengraving.com/

International Engraved Graphics Association website includes their directory of commercial and stationery engravers:

http://www.iega.org/

A brand new online engraving community underwritten by Crane & Co. and Neenah Paper:

The Beauty of Engraving

http://thebeautyofengraving.com/

Another full service engraving shop, independently owned by a lovely married couple (she's the engraver and he's the pressman):

First Impressions

900 East Jefferson Street
La Grange, KY 40031
(502) 265-9821
www.firstimpressionfse.com/

Pneumatic engraving system, developed for engraved jewelry, guns and fine knives, GSR is working with University of Kansas at Emporia on intaglio engraving for print:

GRS Tools
900 Overlander Rd.
P.O. Box 1153
Emporia, KS 66801
1-800-835-3519 or 620-343-1084
http://www.grstools.com/

The first [program] “in the world” to offer a BFA in engraving arts.

http://www.emporia.edu/engravingarts/instructor.html

Contact:

James Ehlers
The Don & Mary Glaser Distinguished Professor of Engraving Arts
Emporia State University
astronautlover@gmail.com
jehlers@emporia.edu
http://www.jamesehlers.org/

Trade school for engraving the old fashioned way (James Ehlers, above, calls this “push engraving”) with graver or burin, though their instruction is for jewelry (which is right-reading. Remember, for intaglio printing you would have to learn to do this backwards.) This is one of the oldest continuously running trade schools in the country.

http://www.gemcitycollege.com/engraving.php

Master engraver (jewelry and fire arms, though doing only jewelry these days), Sam offers private lessons and instruction on the GRS machine as well. (Sam spent 3 years of his own time perfecting replicating engraved scroll work through vector art in Illustrator, check-out his website for this, great resources, too, though not for print) :

http://www.masterengraver.com/

Sam demonstrates engraving script:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3s9hOGwUF-s&feature=related

Extreme close-up of engraving scroll work:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Dn5P98sWYw&feature=related

Fine shading and cross-hatching:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ck8Q6xJJB4I&feature=related

Master engraver (the old fashioned way for jewelry, primarily, but also collaborating with intaglio print makers). Proprietor Yvette Rutledge is also a master lettering artist, tell her I referred you. Through the Center for the Lettering Arts, Eve is trying to get together a class for print and metal engravers:

Mystic Blue Signs
2212 Magazine Street
New Orleans, LA 70130
504-525-4691
http://mysticbluesigns.com/

Beginning engraver, learning from her Dad, master gun smith Ed DeLorge:

J. Emily DeLorge
http://www.etsy.com/people/JEMengraving

Louisiana Engravers Society, fledgling organization of south Louisiana regional engraving practitioners and enthusiasts:

http://handengravedstationery.blogspot.com/
http://thesttammanynews.com/articles/2011/01/30/northshore_life/community/doc4d445fd9510c4232164706.txt

The Brilliant Line: Following the Early Modern Engraver 1480-1650, print engraving exhibit with online components, Museum of Art, Rhode Island School of Design (engraving demos in Flash, I think, and also a video—access video button is in the upper right hand corner on the navigation bar.)

http://www.risdmuseum.org/thebrilliantline/

* Also spelled “photo engraving” and “photoengraving”.
** Commercial engraving presses are actually die stamping presses or machines.

Inaugural Meeting of Louisiana Engravers Society (working name)

Last Thursday, January 6, in Jennifer Rice's Innisfree office at 729 East Boston Street in Covington, the inaugural meeting of the Louisiana Engravers Society met. This is a landmark event because engraving for print is almost a dead art. Nancy Sharon Collins of Covington and Yvette Rutledge of New Orleans have banded together to formalize the growing group of engraving enthusiasts whom they meet and who practice here in south Louisiana. Together, they have made it their mission to not only keep this venerable, exquisite art form alive but also encourage its growth by introducing it to younger generations. Highlights were meeting and networking, learning and sharing information and resources, especially sharing technical innovations. Sam Alfano demonstrated the work he has been doing creating digital translations of ornate engraved scroll designs, a process that took him three years to perfect (you can see some on his website.)

Engraving is the most beautiful form of printing known; think of Old Masters prints, those portraits and landscapes made-up of thousands of tiny lines, that's engraving. Albrecht Dürer was a master engraver, Raphael and Rubens allowed master engravers to copy their work thus increasing the market for their famous paintings. While etching has come to be the prevalent form of intaglio printing practiced in the fine art, printmaking world, engraving has fallen out of favor because it takes 6-10 years to become a master! (The difference between etching and engraving is that in etching, acid is used to make the “cut” while engravers literally cut into the surface of the metal to form designs. The similarity is that the printing process is then the same; ink is worked into the “cuts”. the excess wiped clean, and a print then pulled. Several etching artists are represented at the St. Tammany Art Association where their work can be seen). These days, engraving is best known on the currency carried in our wallets, all our postage stamps used to be engraved, and fancy social stationery and wedding invitations are still engraved. However, we have master engravers right here in our community and several students locally who want to learn.

Participants included Yvette Rutledge and Vince Mitchell, co-directors of the New Orleans Center for Lettering Arts and Mystic Blue Signs (Rutledge is herself a master letter and engraver), Nancy Sharon Collins, bespoke hand engraved social stationer (who also teaches graphic design at Southeastern Louisiana University), the Alfonos (Sam is a master gun and jewelry engraver), Cordelle Louvier, master printer, Emily DeLorge (graphic designer and engraving apprentice) and Skye Jenkins and Alex Babbit (enthusiastic students wanting to learn.) Noel Martin, local master stationery engraver, was unable to attend at the last minute but was present in spirit. Alfono offers engraving classes for jewelry engraving and Rutledge will be offering an engraving class for print, jewelry and metal work this coming fall.

http://www.nancysharoncollinsstationer.com/
www.mysticbluesigns.com
http://www.masterengraver.com/
http://www.jenniferrice.net/
photo: Kyle Petrozza http://www.kylepetrozza.com/

http://www.slidellsentry.com/articles/2011/01/31/northshore_life/community/doc4d445fd9510c4232164706.txt

A new morning for mourning stationery?

This article published today in Mohawk Fine Paper's "Felt & Wire" (re-published here with their kind permission):

"[Tom Biederbeck] Nancy Sharon Collins thinks the time has come to revive a useful asset for our letter library: mourning stationery. Collins, a designer, researcher and writer about paper and print, says mourning stationery was intended to help the bereaved adapt to a new role in society. I asked her about her interest, how mourning stationery functioned graphically, and how it might have relevance for our time.

What are some of the ways we used to grieve when there were rules?

Mourning stationery was integral to the communication toolbox in the 19th century, and may have reached its apogee in the grief-obsessed Victorian era. In those days, women wore heavy black veils to separate them from the public. Most cultures allow for this outward sign of grieving to “protect” the mourners from the rest of society. A lot of these traditions have been lost, and these days it’s expected we just “get on” with our lives. I feel we are missing customs that could help those who are grieving heal.
How did you become interested in the subject?

I have some knowledge of bereavement customs from my family. My maternal grandfather founded a funeral home in Detroit still operated by descendants. So I know that bereavement acknowledgment cards are part of the funeral package — these cards are what the mourner sends to everyone who came to the funeral, sent flowers, helped out, signed the guest book and the like. I have an old, uncut flat of engraved acknowledgment cards from one of my engravers. I hope these are still offered by funeral homes in lieu of the online services provided by the local newspaper.

Not long ago, bereavement acknowledgments and other condolence-related correspondence would have been on the bereaved’s own stationery — or, ideally, the bereaved’s own mourning stationery.

Recently I viewed vintage mourning stationery, once offered by Strathmore, in Mohawk Fine Papers’ archive [shown directly above]. I’ve also done research at the Harry Ransom Center on the letters of famous authors like Edith Wharton and Mark Twain, some of it on their mourning stationery, with its distinctive heavy black borders.

When my husband passed away unexpectedly earlier this year [see Collins’ moving article], I was asked if I wanted to create my own mourning stationery [shown at the top of this post].

How did mourning stationery work, graphically?

The graphic trick or clue to real mourning stationery is the distinctive black bordering on each sheet and envelope. This sends an immediate message to the recipient: When you get one of these in the mail, you’re made aware that someone you know has passed.

There are stages of grief and mourning … grief comes first. The stationery, usually based on the owner’s regular personal stationery, had black borders diminishing in width with the passage from grief through the various stages of mourning.

Why should we be concerned with mourning stationery today?

I was chagrined to find that, of the stack of thoughtful condolence missives sent to me since my own husband passed away, only a couple were on personal stationery. The rest were commercially produced cards with sentiments written by copywriters. Mind you, most of these had long personal notes written in the sender’s own hand … but so few real notes or letters on blank or personal letter paper.

As a society, we need customs that help people recover from grief and loss. Corresponding with friends and relatives plays an important role in mourning, and in recovering. Taking the time to sit down purely for the purpose of writing a personal note or letter is a wonderful act that allows ample time and attention to focus on expressing true feeling.

Adding mourning stationery to one’s wardrobe of personal letter papers is important when the unfortunate occasion arises. It’s good form and offers a formal catharsis. When I realized that mourning stationery is for the bereaved and not the deceased, it was a revelation … as if to say, “Oh, yes, now I have to make decisions for myself.” It was a big moment for me when it came.

Nancy Sharon Collins is known for her exemplary bespoke hand-engraved social stationery. She is a stationer; graphic designer; typographer; print history scholar; partner in Collins, LLC; director of special projects for AIGA New Orleans; and an educator for Louisiana State University and UCLA. She is working on a book about American commercial engraving. She also sells her work at Felt & Wire Shop; see all of her products here. And visit her engraving blog here.

08.11.10"

American Revolution Makes an Engraver from a Messenger

This country's most famous horse back rider, Paul Revere, was also an engraver.

Listen, my children, and you shall hear Of the midnight ride of Paul Revere, On the eighteenth of April, in Seventy-Five; Hardly a man is now alive Who remembers that famous day and year — a portion of "Paul Revere's Ride", first published in The Atlantic Monthly, 1861 by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Its fairly common knowledge that Paul Revere, the subject of the now famous Wadsworth poem, was a silver smith who had followed in his father's footsteps in that trade. Even though he is most well known for that "midnight ride":

...the night of April 18/April 19, 1775, when he and William Dawes were instructed by Dr. Joseph Warren to ride from Boston to Lexington to warn John Hancock and Samuel Adams of the movements of the British Army, which was beginning a march from Boston to Lexington, ostensibly to arrest Hancock and Adams and seize the weapons stores in Concord. —http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Revere, Revere was also a gold smith, and, come to find out, an engraver.

Engraved commentary, civic and fiscal communications, cultural iconography and satire have long been subjects, and purpose, for goldsmiths wielding the mighty burin, thus did Mr. Revere take up one of his engraving tools and, ummm, appropriate the scene of the historic Boston Massacre and sell an edition of engraved prints for his own personal profit.

Well, the craft in his prints is not beautiful, but I guess he may have made a few coins scooping the efforts of two fellow commercial engravers:

Documentation has come to light over the years indicating that Revere copied engraver Henry Pelham's drawings of the Massacre, produced his own engraving, and three weeks after the occurrence was advertising his prints for sale in Boston's newspapers. By the time Pelham's prints hit the street, Revere's print had flooded the market. A third engraving was executed by Jonathan Mulliken, who also issued prints depicting the event. Except for a number of minor differences, all three prints appear alike. —http://www.earlyamerica.com/review/winter96/massacre.html

Its interesting to note that the specter of easy money is sometimes the motive for highfaluting goldsmiths taking a less lofty professional turn into selling popular editions of prints. (See "History" section in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldsmith and "Cards" in http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Master_of_the_Playing_Cards.)

Macro-photography of Engraved Stationery Die

This image is an extreme close-up of a portion of a steel engraved die, the original image area you are viewing is but 15mm X 20.1mm, that's way less than one inch square, and the digital image is approximately 34 inches wide at 240dpi. (Needless to say what you are viewing has been reduced for use on the internet.)

Visible at this clarity (although we will soon be able to provide even clearer images at this degree of enlargement) are several factors that go into what is this die.

First, it is both etched and touched-up with engraving, the tell-tale granular texture of the bottom of the deep areas is because etching corrodes the metal, thus rendering it much less light reflective than engraving.

Second, notice that some areas (the tops of the arches at top, right) reflect light and look smooth like ice. The engraving tool polishes the metal so light bounces off of it like a jewel.

Other areas of interest are the rust not noticable with the bare eye and the very interesting texture all around the edge (left and bottom) made by the file that beveled the edges of this 1/2" thick steel die. Also, there are many surface scratches that would not print with an engraving press but look kind of spooky here.

While creating this image it was discovered that, at this extreme magnification, minute vibrations blur the image. So, now we will work on stabilizing everything for absolutely maximum focus (and we will be able to get closer, too.)