TexasDesign

Casey McGarr of McGarr Creative is an exceptional graphic designer (his work has appeared in Communication Arts, HOW and other leading graphic design magazines). Additionally he is past president of the DSVC, the largest independent graphic design club in the USA. One of Casey’s passions is printing using any one of several letterpress machines. Today we are discussing the aspects of letter press with Casey McGarr of InkyPipsPress.com

TDc: Let’s move on to Letterpress. Let’s talk a little bit about Inky Lips Press.

Casey McGarr: Okay. Inky Lips. I was with – when I was with Fossil, we did a couple of annual reports. Actually, maybe - I think it was 1 or 2 annual reports with Hatch Show Print in Nashville, Tennessee. And the manager there, Jim Sherraden. So we called him up and he did a little bit of work for us. And the next year we called him back, and we did some tin designs with Hatch Show Print, and those tins are in his book. John Dorcus and I worked on those tins, and it was a lot of fun.

And then I brought Jim up for DSVC to speak to the first DSVC meeting. This is back in like ’96 or ’97, and I just kind of remained friends with him.

I love the letterpress, the tactile feel, using your hands. But I didn’t know much about it then. And so when I lost my job in 2001, I got onto one of the auction sites and bought a small letterpress; a little 3×5 Kelsey. And I found out real quick, I love the machine and I have it on my table. But it didn’t do what I wanted to do on it.

And I really didn’t know that much about letterpress anyway, so I was open to everything. I then purchased a 6×9 Kelsey that is a little bit larger; it’s hand operated. And it still didn’t do what I was hoping it would. I just wanted to do larger pieces. So I bought a poster press, a Challenge MP15. And then the following year, I bought a Vandercook #4. And then I did some trade with some companies here in town. And the trade was a platen press, a Klugy. And some type cabinets, some cabinets for type.

And then I bought a larger poster press, Vandercook 3228. And I sold the Klugy, and now I have a Heidelberg Windmill. So, I operate 4 presses and I have 8 cabinets of type and just a regular – a good hobby business.

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TDc: It sounds like it’s overtaking your house, if not your garage.

Casey McGarr: Yeah. It’s my 4 garage. It’s a full working shop. I love working with my hands, and I think it’s – when I can push myself away from the computer and go out in the shop because letterpress is very methodical. There’s a certain way to do it correctly.

A lot of experimentation is involved but there are certain ways to set type, and to set a form up to print from it so everything doesn’t fall all over the floor.

I love to do small illustrations so most of the stuff on my Inky Lips website is all hand-carved at linoleum that somebody would use for – if there’s at an art store, you can buy blocks of linoleum, so I use the same thing. But I buy linoleum in 45-foot rolls because I like to carve a lot, obviously.

TDc: It’s not a very forgiving material though is it?

Casey McGarr: You’re right. Once you make a mark and a carve, it’s there. There are ways to cover it up. But there are some pieces on my website that’s taken me literally 6 hours to carve.

There are a lot of steps into doing it – the transferring it to the top of the linoleum, tracing it off, removing – it’s a subtractive medium. You have to take away for the image – because the image is released so it’s a subtractive environment. Or it can be the other way, you can carve into it to create the image.

But most of my work – most of the print blocks or cuts that you found maybe at antique shows is subtractive. The element is raised up.

TDc: So with somebody – how do you work with Inky Lips? I mean, if somebody wanted to design something, would you – how involved would you be in that? Or is this something that – somebody brings you an idea and you’re doing not only the printing but also the execution?

Casey McGarr: Well, I work with both.

There’s a lot of designers that I’ve worked with. I love working with designers because I know whatever I’m going to do is usually going to come out to be really sweet. Now you’ll always get excited about doing really good work so I have to help them along. If we’re gong to have a digital file, if they’re going to do the file, an illustrator in design, then there are certain things that you have to be aware of. And that is, some of the type – handset type, metal and wood are – basically metal was meant for letterpress.

So there are some things that you have to tweak on using digital, using your type in your computer – like burning and leading and things like that and making sure it’s open.

Then I work with a lot of people that want me to design. I do imitations or posters and they want me to design them, and they say, “We’ll pay you for that. You just do it and these are our thoughts.”

I basically do the same brainstorming with them as I would just any other client for design purposes. If it’s a wedding invitation, I ask, “Where are you getting married? What do you like? What kind of flowers? What are your colors?” I recently did a wedding invitation that was at the Natural History Museum, so I tried to make it using ferns and plants from that time period and kind of distress looking colors, but it’s a lot of fun.

Whether the designer sends me linoleum plates that they’ve already carved or maybe they have some type that they want to print. I work with just about everybody, but usually it’s some conversation with them about maybe some of the challenges on letterpress.
TDc: Right. So it’s somewhat consultive printing, you could say?

Casey McGarr: Pretty much. A lot of – most people are very comfortable with offset printing because that’s all we see. So letterpress is a whole - another challenge. There are certain things that can be done, and there are certain things that can’t. So changing your design or knowing those – that challenge on how to overcome the problem and come to a good solution that it still looks great with letterpress.

Letterpress is for a lot of things, it’s not for everything though.

TDc: Where do you want to see Inky Lips in 5 years?

Casey McGarr: Well, I’ve been growing my business for the last 5 years. If it’s 20 or 15% of my business now, I would love for it to be 50% or more.

There are some things that my wife and I are doing now, trying to realign the business where we’re making the most – what people are asking – most people are asking for invitations and posters; mostly invitations.

So I think we’re realigning – right now, we are realigning the business to maybe talk to more of that consumer about invitations and social things and some – maybe, business cards, but more along those lines. I think there’s a big gap there, but going that route – I still love carving and doing posters. I still love that aspect of it, and I’ll still do my own self-promotion, but I think it’ll be more in the consumer – hopefully in the consumer market.

TDc: Okay. Great. Well, I really appreciate you talking with us today. Good luck with everything. If you want to go to the website, it’s mcgarrcreative.com and inkylipspress.com. Again, thanks a lot, Casey.

Casey McGarr: You bet. Thanks, Dan.