Hunter Ashworth

Field notes from the slow side of print

Hunter Ashworth writes about South African print culture, hand-set metal type, paper stock, risograph quirks and zine binding. Notes from workshops, second-hand bookshops and small studios around Observatory, Woodstock and Braamfontein.

Expect process photos, ink recipes, short lists of local suppliers and open studio days, plus honest notes on what failed. Written for letterpress operators, independent publishers, binders and students who get their hands dirty.

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Curious how the notes are organised? Browse the use cases for a quick overview.

Hunter Ashworth: intro focus

If a note here answered something, say so

Most of what ends up on this blog starts as a question someone asked in a workshop or over a table of loose type. If you are stuck on a forme that will not lock up, a paper that keeps fighting the press, or a binding that will not sit flat, that is worth writing down. Send it through and it may turn into the next set of field notes.

No newsletter funnel, no schedule to keep. Just a working conversation about print in South Africa.

The quickest route is the contact page, where you can describe the job, the stock or the machine giving you trouble.

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Prefer to read first? Browse the field notes archive or see the kinds of work covered.

Keep reading from the same bench

Posts that pick up where this one leaves off, mostly about the materials and the small decisions that decide how a print turns out.

All field notes

Letterpress

Setting Metal Type by Hand in a Woodstock Workshop

An afternoon at the composing stick, with the uneven word spacing and loose quoins left in rather than tidied away.

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Paper

Choosing Paper Stock for Letterpress and Risograph

Weight, grain and coating compared across stocks you can actually find here, plus why a winter sheet feeds differently.

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Risograph

Risograph Quirks Worth Knowing Before You Print

Misregistration, roller marks and drum texture, and how to design around a machine that drifts on purpose.

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