Carissa & Claude Leading The Printing Revival

“My brain gets interested in different forms of art on a pretty regular basis, and so I will explore something, feel like I've mastered it to the degree that I wanted to, and then go on and try something new.”

In the front window at 208 E Louisiana St (Neighbor Books) in downtown McKinney you will find a modern renaissance women dealing with a moody 80 year old machine. Carissa Bleecker has been in a love hate relationship with her Kluge printing press, Claude, for over seventeen years.

Bleecker received her bachelor’s of fine arts in printmaking from University of North Texas after changing her major multiple times. Though because it is an old technology the printmaking school didn’t even have a letterpress. Her internship at Bell & Vito in Dallas is where her fascination for the process bloom. A beast of a machine like Claude is not something you can often see in action and having the opportunity to share the art with others on the square is a gift.

Watch the process in this 4 minute segment.

McKinney Camera: Are you excited about bringing people in and showing them how intricate the process is?

Bleecker: I am really excited. I love inviting people into the studio to see the process because a lot of people will come by the studio and think that I'm making t-shirts because they've never seen the letter press because how many people have. Being able to bring people in and slow down together is really beautiful. I think that's something that a lot of us are struggling to do on a regular basis. I know that I am. I want more information and more content and more all the time, but really there's so much beauty in the slow process of creating art and be able to bring people in and have them get excited about what's happening.

“ I love getting to bring art and beauty into a special moment and help people market in a way that they're gonna wanna hold on to, that they're not just sending out an invitation or giving out a business card. They are really, they're sharing art with other people and bringing them into their lives in that way.”

McKinney Camera: Letterpress is such a customized art. What are some services you offer that really highlights the personalization?


Bleecker: One of the business cards I made was for an artist who his signature was very well known in his pieces. And so he gave me a copy of his signature and we used his signature in his business card. There are also ways to write out letters in your own handwriting and create a font. If someone wants some kind of letter or something that they want to send out to a lot of people, they want it to look like them, they recognizable as their handwriting, but the letter press, that's definitely possible too.

McKinney Camera: Claude is a big old guy that most people have never seen before. It is fun to have the machine (and you) exposed in this big window.

Listen to the full uncut 15 minute interview

Bleecker: I think people appreciate letterpress a lot more when they see the work that goes into it. I've already seen just the joy of people walking by and stopping to watch a physical process of art being made. All the print studios that I've worked in and been in have been in warehouses and secluded away. It's not something that you can go and see.

One of the cool things about letter press, the reason why you don't really see these machines anymore is that this technology was how they printed the Gutenberg Bible, it's 500 years old. Before digital printers, this is how everything was printed with tiny movable type that had to be locked in to say certain things, it's how books were printed. But letter press is actually considered bad printing for the way that everything was done. There wasn't supposed to be any impression in the paper, that was bad printing.

So a lot of the old print shops went out of business when digital printing came into existence because it could do it faster. Those digital printers could do it in seconds, it was cheaper, it was faster, less dangerous. And so the art of letter press has not been around for that long. So I ended up getting Claude from an old print shop that was going out of business. I had to drive up to Minnesota to get him in a U-Haul and drive him back, which was a whole ordeal, but that's why this is considered a new art with an old technology.

“I think art should be seen. I think the process should be seen. I think people appreciate letterpress a lot more when they see the work that goes into it. I've already seen just the joy of people walking by and stopping to watch a physical process of art being made.”

From limited edition prints to customized invitations next time you are in downtown McKinney head on over to Louisiana St and you might get to see Heyday Press in action.