In Fall 2021, my sons’ high school marching band had a great season with a return to in-person performances. To celebrate the end of their season, I designed and printed a letterpress poster for the team and their instructors. The marching band show was entitled “Slither,” based on the ancient Greek myth about Medusa. I used digital and analog techniques to print about 80 posters in three press-runs.

• First, I used Adobe InDesign to create digital mock-up of the poster. It would be printed in black, gold, and silver on green 12 x 18 inch paper.

• The design incorporated the vector Medusa head graphic plus the names of the band members. The names were typeset on curves, like slithering snakes. These would echo a print from a snake skin at the top headline. All type was converted to outlines.

• I had a photopolymer relief plate made at Boxcar Press for the illustration and names.

• All the impressions were done on a Vandercook Universal 3 printing press at Dry Inc. Press in Rochester, NY.

• Black impression went down first. I had to print black under the names to make the gold “pop” on that matte green paper.

• Then I printed the gold snake skin and names. The snake skin was actually a piece of tanned fish leather. It's low-relief, pebbled surfaces mimicked the scales of a snake.

• Finally, I used vintage wood type to print the Slither headline in a black and silver gradient at the top. The type dates from the late 1800s.

• A friend did some gold hand-embellishment with a brayer for some special gifts.

• The three-press runs were done on three days to allow ink to dry.

• They were given to the band—everyone likes to see their names in print!