I was really excited to start my internship at the Western New York Book Arts Center (WNYBAC). However, when I started last week, I wasn’t exactly sure what I would be doing besides letterpress. I am learning letterpress printing, but also almost everything that goes on at WNYBAC, from business to managing a store to actual creative work.
My first day I made buttons. As boring as that sounds, I actually really enjoyed it. The process included finding images in magazines, cutting them out, punching them into a circle, layering a metal frame with the image, a plastic cover and a metal back, then pressing it all together to create a cute, little pin. The buttons are actually on sale at the store and the reason they had me make them was because they ran out. The best part was, because a lot of the customers are creative people, the more obscure the image, the more people would like it. I made them with landscapes, images of people, images of animals and holiday ones.
My second day was a long day. Because there was a gallery opening that night, most of the day was dedicated to cleaning up the store, yes with a mop and broom, and folding programs. It was as exciting as it sounded, but the last half of the day I got to actually work with the presses. Well. I got to first learn how to clean a press with baby oil and even though I had gloves on, I still got black ink all up my arm! But later I got to help print some cards, and then clean the press again.
I really am enjoying my internship so far. Even when doing boring work, like folding programs and cards, I still have fun talking with my supervisors and other volunteers. They offer me coffee too, which is always a plus. My next project is learning screen printing and I am super excited to learn more about that!
Emily,
I’m glad to hear you really enjoy your internship! I think it would be really neat to intern somewhere where you get to do creative and hands on activities. It’s also so cool that you got to make something that would be put in the store! I’ve never been there before but I would love to come and check it out and see what the screen printing is all about. My sister did it when she was in college and I know she really enjoyed it a lot.