Learn

Workshops

Unplug and create with your hands.

Process

How a workshop unfolds

Everything happens in sequence, nothing rushed.

The press comes alive under your control

Choose your workshop type and preferred date. We'll confirm availability and send you all the details you need to prepare.

A printer studies a vintage Vandercook proofing press in the Legwork Press studio

Set every letter by hand

Pull individual sorts from the type case and compose your line. There's no undo button here, just attention and a steady hand.

Hands selecting metal type from a wooden California job case

Ink, lock up, and pull a proof

Roll out the ink, lock your form into the bed, and feel the press bite into paper for the first time. Adjust, repeat, improve.

A printer locking a type form into the bed of a letterpress

Walk out with what you made

Run your final edition, clean down the press, and take home prints with ink under your nails and a new respect for the craft.

A printer beside finished prints in the Legwork Press studio

  • Intro to letterpress

    Learn the fundamentals of hand-set type and press operation.

  • Intermediate Letterpress

    Build on the basics with multi-color runs, registration, and tighter composition.

  • Advanced Letterpress

    Push technique further with complex layouts, mixed media, and finishing.

  • Custom experience

    Design your own workshop focused on your specific interests.

Reserve Gallery

Schedule

A typical workshop day at Legwork Press

We start early and finish with something tangible in your hands. No breaks for screens.

Reserve Gallery
  1. Printer welcoming a visitor by the press

    9:00

    Welcome and orientation. Coffee is real. Handshakes are firm.

  2. Hands selecting metal type from a job case

    9:30

    History and mechanics. We show you what these machines have done.

  3. Printer composing type at the press bed

    10:15

    Type selection and composition. You choose your letters and arrange them.

  4. Printer inking a press in the studio

    11:30

    Inking and the first pull. Your design meets paper for the first time.

  5. Adjusting type and registration

    1:00

    Lunch, then refinement. Dial in pressure, registration, and color.

  6. Printing the final run

    2:30

    Print your run and clean up. Leave with prints and ink under your nails.

FAQs

Everything you need to know before booking your workshop.

More Questions?

Workshops run most weekends, with select weekday sessions available. We keep groups small to ensure everyone gets hands-on time with the presses. Reach out to discuss dates that work for you.

We cap workshops at eight people. This keeps the experience intimate and lets you work directly with our equipment without waiting around. Smaller groups mean better learning.

We welcome ages twelve and up. Younger visitors can attend with an adult, though they won't operate the presses themselves. Everyone leaves with something they made.

Our workshop is ground level with accessible parking nearby. The presses themselves require standing and some physical engagement. Contact us if you have specific needs we should know about.

Wear clothes you don't mind getting ink on. We provide aprons, but old jeans work fine. Bring water and an open mind. Everything else is here waiting for you.

Ready to
unplug and print?

Tell us when you want to come and what you want to make.

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