Hunter Ashworth

How the notes reach you, from first look to a printed page

A short path, the same one whether you are setting type in Observatory or binding zines in Braamfontein. No account, no queue, no promises about what lands next.

  1. Step one

    Read what is already here

    Start with the pieces on hand-set metal type, paper stock and risograph behaviour. They are written from workshop afternoons, not from a desk, and they tell you plainly what went wrong.

  2. Step two

    Pick the thread that matches your bench

    Letterpress, risograph, bookbinding, paper or independent publishing. Each thread gathers the notes and open studio days that sit closest to the work you are actually doing.

  3. Step three

    Send a note about your own run

    Tell me what you are printing, which stock you are fighting with, or where a forme came loose. Questions about technique, tools and materials are the ones I answer first.

  4. Step four

    Get pointed to a nearby studio

    If you share your city or town, I can pass on the suppliers, binders and open days I know of in that area. It is a short list, kept by hand, and it grows slowly.

  5. Step five

    Keep reading at your own pace

    The blog updates slowly and on purpose. New notes appear when a run is finished or a method has been tested enough times to write about honestly, so there is no schedule to keep up with.

    Browse the resources for supplier lists and open studio days, or see the use cases for how these notes get applied in small studios.

What the plans actually give you

Five working threads run through the notes here. Each one is a subject I keep returning to because it keeps teaching me something new at the press.

Hand-set metal type

Setting a paragraph line by line, reading the stick as you build it, and catching a loose quoin before the ink goes down. The failures get written up alongside the runs that held.

Paper stock choices

How weight, grain direction and coating change what a sheet does under pressure, and which stocks are actually findable from suppliers working in South Africa.

Risograph quirks

Misregistration, roller marks and ink that dries on its own schedule. Notes on designing with the drift instead of fighting a machine that was never built for precision.

Zine binding methods

Saddle stitch, pamphlet and coptic compared for editions of twenty to two hundred copies, with honest notes on thread weight, hole spacing and time per book.

Photographing prints

One window, one diffuser, a low angle across the sheet. How to show paper grain and the relief of a deep impression without a studio, and where that setup simply runs out.

Interviews and supplier lists

Conversations with independent publishers and binders around the country, plus short lists of local suppliers and open studio days worth the trip.

Hunter Ashworth: plans

If you want to see how these threads come together in practice, the use cases walk through real studio situations, and the resources page collects the reference material behind them.

Threads I keep pulling on

These are the subjects and formats the notes keep circling back to. Nothing here runs to a schedule, and nothing is promised in advance. It is simply where the work tends to go next.

Hunter Ashworth: plans

Hand-set metal type

Spacing, justification and the small corrections that decide whether a page holds on press. Written for people standing at a composing stick, not reading about one.

Read the notes on setting type
Hunter Ashworth: plans

Paper stock choices

Weight, grain and coating change what the ink does. Comparisons lean toward stocks you can actually find locally, and toward the ones that fight back.

Compare paper stocks
Hunter Ashworth: plans

Risograph quirks

Misregistration, roller marks and ink that dries on its own terms. Notes from repeated small runs, aimed at designing with the drift rather than against it.

Read the risograph notes
Hunter Ashworth: plans

Zine binding methods

Saddle stitch, pamphlet, coptic. What each one asks for in tools and time, and which suits an edition of twenty rather than two hundred.

See the binding methods
Hunter Ashworth: plans

Photographing prints

One window, one diffuser and an honest account of what a desk setup can and cannot capture. Paper grain and ink relief, without a studio.

Read the lighting notes

Interviews and open studio days

Conversations with independent publishers and binders working across South Africa, plus short lists of local suppliers and open days worth the trip. Formats stay mixed: process photos with brief notes, longer reflections on a failed run, and the occasional interview.

If you want to see how these threads fit together, the use cases page groups them by craft, and resources collects the reference material behind them.