Ply-Woodblock Type

The Printmaking Department at Maine College of Art acquired several incomplete drawers of woodblock type in 2014 and wanted to increase the number of completed sets for student use. As a half-semester long assignment in the design class Type Studies (MECA), I participated in a collaboration to take the available letters and complete the sets. Divided into four groups (one for each incomplete set), my group focused on the largest typeface which we came to call “Plywood Bold.” Each group first printed the available letters, scaned the prints, used Adobe Illustrator to correct any anomalies, and then to design the remaining letters using the language of the existing set. We finished the letters from these files using a CNC programable router to cut the new woodblock type out of plywood, which gave us the idea to name the four sets, Plywood Bold, Plywood Regular, Plywood Condensed, and Plywood Serif.

I was involved with each step of creating Plywood Bold, along with Taylor McElhinny ‘18, and Steve Bowden (an Adjunct Professor assisting with the class). While students were on spring break, we worked together on machining the actual woodblock type by making the type-high (0.91 inches) boards out of plywood, programming the designs for cutting by the CNC, and cutting them. This process took the three of us the majority of the remaining semester to complete.