Art Out There

by Jen Anne, wood grain
printer & wood type cutter



Reviving English Wood Type Cutting



The DeLittle type factory in York, UK was one of the UK’s leading wood type manufacturers, and the last surviving UK wood type factory by the time it closed in 1999. Despite the firm’s global importance, scholarship on DeLittle is limited. Following the closure of the Type Archive, DeLittle documents and machines were brought back to York.



The DeLittle collection’s documents are being catalogued and accessioned at the York Explore Library and Archive. The collection’s objects were donated to Thin Ice Press: the York Centre for Print, which is working to establish itself as a world-leading center for letterpress printing and practice-as-research. This includes bringing one of the DeLittle pantographs back into operation for the renewed, small-sale manufacture of wood type in the UK using traditional methods.


During an 8-week 2026 summer residency, I will undertake new research into the DeLittle collection. I spent 6 years in the Wood Shop of the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum and then completed a flash residency at Moore Wood Type. I have extensive knowledge of wood type cutting and history that I will bring to my work with the DeLittle collection. This work will include cataloging items, bringing the pantograph back into active use, and sharing findings from the collection.



The proposal for this residency was presented to the American Printing History Association for consideration, and was granted the Mark Samuels Lasner 2026 Fellowship in Printing History!



I am honored to be working alongside other active wood type scholars: Prof. Helen Smith [pictured above], Thin Ice Press Director, is writing an article on the colonial and global history of DeLittle’s wood use Master Printer Nick Gill was designated a Heritage Crafts England Maker of the Year in 2024 and Manager Lizzy Holling leads efforts bringing heritage and creativity-driven renewal to York.



[Lizzy Holling and Nick Gill during a 2023 visit to the Hamilton Wood Type & Printing Museum, where the author co-hosted them for pantograph sessions in Hamilton's Wood Shop.]



As the residency proceeds, I look forward to sharing progress through social posts. After the residency concludes, I will work with Prof. Smith to produce at least one article on specific findings, possibly including the divergent histories of American and British wood type manufacturing and the value of practice-as-research.


MAKING OF AN ART WORK: 'WOODGRAIN RAINBOW BIRD'



As a birder, I rather enjoyed giving this little fella an outrageously broad spectrum of colors!



I found this board on Red Arrow Beach in 2019 near my first Manitowoc apartment. The size of the knot was perfect for printing a cute lil' bird, especially given the 1x3" size of the commercially-milled board.


I experimented with mask shapes for printing the birds. The one shown above is the first and not the final mask I used. The key points of refinement were the beak (smaller and closer to the eye) and the tail (less pointy, more curved).



After I settled on the mask shape, I had to decide which color(s) of ink and which color(s) of paper to use. [The photo above shows prints from Template #1, which I didn't end up using, but it's the best visual example I have of this part of the process.]


Eventually I decided to print a run of Template #2 in two colors (a foresty green and a sort of wine-y purple) on two types of paper (French Kraft text-weight and Neenah Royal text-weight).



These prints were originally intended as swap pieces for Hamilton's 2023 Wayzgoose, until I choked on how to finish them/whether to distribute them. I probably printed about 80 of each of the two colors, split evenly between the Kraft and Neenah papers.



At the very end of the 'regular' print run, I did some experimentation. The birds on the left were printed by brayering on top of paper that was overlaying the mask, which was on top of the board. (The mask and board were both clean/dry of ink.)



The wax pastels I used for Woodgrain Rainbow Bird have become a staple of my art practice, and I've developed a few techniques for using and blending them.



The possibility of color combinations is both endless and a bit daunting!



These color combinations were used for other pieces, and I looked at photos of the pieces for reference on how to apply color to Rainbow Bird.



I ended up using 13 separate colors in varying amounts.


Woodgrain Rainbow Bird has become an avatar of sorts for my latest round of branding! Digitally, he gets up to a ton of fun.




See You Out There!