I recently had the chance to spend the day visiting the Cary Graphic Arts Collection housed at the Rochester Institute of Technology. Located in the western New York city of Rochester, the Cary Graphics Arts Collection is one of the country's finest special collections libraries focusing on graphic arts. With over 40,000 volumes and an impressive collection of personal papers, I had a hard time fitting everything I wanted to see in one day.
Read moreBig Border Sampler
he School of Visual Concepts has a really nice collection of metal type ornaments. I’ve been wanting to work more with the borders specifically and decided to print a sampler– mostly for the sheer fun of seeing what they all look like, but also as a resource for future projects.
I poked through the collection and chose borders that I especially wanted to see printed, and then moved on to others that showed the variety of the collection. Many of the borders are designed to be used in different combinations and directions. I believe most of them have been typeset in a traditional way, but in some cases I doubled or tripled up a line for aesthetic reasons.
Read moreOld-Timey Cars Card
This card was inspired by a new acquisition of ornaments for the type collection of the School of Visual Concepts. They were... old-timey cars!
Read moreThe Thorniley Collection
The Thorniley Collection is an amazing collection of antique wood and metal type and printing equipment collected by Bill Thorniley during the middle of the twentieth century. The collection is now owned by WCP Solutions, formerly West Coast Paper.
Located off the lobby of an industrial building in Kent Washington, visits to the collection are by appointment only. I had the privilege of accompanying fellow printer, and friend of the Thorniley Collection, Carl Montford. What follows is just a sample of what is on display.
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