About this project
Lead Graffiti is a letterpress studio in Newark, Delaware. We like spontaneous projects, the Tour de France, and excuses to put ink on paper.
Pitting our print race against their bike race, we intend to produce a minimum of 25 portfolios of 23 posters (about 15" x 22") via letterpress, one for each stage of the upcoming Tour de France (Saturday, July 2 through Sunday, July 24) plus its two rest days (they can rest, but we won't).
After watching the Tour live on TV each morning (8:30 am - 12:30 pm), we'll choose an incident or moment that made an impact on that day's stage or perhaps one that offers a great visual interpretation. This element will be visually represented through wood & metal type, linoleum cuts, and printing from cycling-related objects. A poster visually documenting each day's stage will be printed the same day at Lead Graffiti.
Additionally, we will produce a title page, a colophon, and a page with descriptions of each poster. These series will be enclosed in a handmade portfolio covered with Lead Graffiti pastepaper.
Kickstarter supporters of our Tour de Lead Graffiti project will receive their rewards at a discounted price from what they will be sold for after the project ends. The posters will be numbered in sequence with Kickstarter supporters getting the lowest available numbers and first choice of individual posters set aside for this purpose.
Money received through Kickstarter is intended to help fund the material costs of the project, including the purchase of Somerset paper, portfolio raw materials, and two new wood type faces being made specifically for this project. We also expect to provide at least a few keepsakes in the form of wood type actually used to print the posters to accompany each complete portfolio.
FAQ
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Overseas shipping will require an additional payment to cover the cost of shipping.
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We will have the chronological order that our supporters joined with the Tour de Lead Graffiti so we will try to follow that order. We will keep an ongoing tally on our website to indicate which posters have been sold and which ones are available. We will also have images of all of the posters online, hopefully put up at least by the day after they were printed.
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That is going to be first-come, first-served. As the reward allows for two people to be involved we will likely only offer one reward for each of the 23 days (we are holding out for some contingency we aren't aware of such as Lance Armstrong wanting to stop in). It is important to note that some days are more 'historically special' than others, such as opening day when we will see the first breakaway of the tour, the climb up Alpe d'Huez, weekends when people can get away, etc.
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Yes, up to the 5 that we have set aside.
Have a question? If the info above doesn't help, you can ask the project creator directly.
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Funding Successful
This project successfully raised its funding goal on July 3, 2011.
Pledge $1 or more Pledge $1 or more
We will mail you a nice thank you postcard cut from one of our makeready copies.
Pledge $10 or more Pledge $10 or more
You will receive a series of 5 blank postcards randomly cut from the makeready sheets we use to get the type and image correctly set up. Print quality and registration may differ in radical ways from the final broadside for that stage.
Pledge $25 or more Pledge $25 or more
You will receive a series of 15 blank postcards randomly cut from the makeready sheets we use to get the type and image correctly set up. Print quality and registration may differ in radical ways from the final broadside for that stage.
Pledge $50 or more Pledge $50 or more
Chose 1 of the remaining individual prints from the pool of 115 broadsides. Priority is generally given first to those purchasing 4 posters and in the order of the commitment to the project.
Pledge $100 or more Pledge $100 or more
You'll receive one of 10 copies that we are planning to make from multiple overprints of all 23 stage pieces (up to 46 impressions). They may end up looking like a massive pileup of the pelaton, but we are going to give it a try.
Pledge $150 or more Pledge $150 or more
We will set aside 5 portfolios (115 posters) that will be offered as individual prints. For $150 you may choose 4 individual prints from within those 5 sets with priority given on a first-donor, first-served basis from Kickstarter donors. We will try to post each day's image on our website.
Pledge $200 or more Pledge $200 or more
You and one friend can join us to watch the cycling stage on our TV (typically begins around 8:30 am and keep in mind we are in Newark, Delaware), have lunch (our treat), and help choose the day's poster topic(s). Then spend the rest of the day in our studio composing the type / images and printing the actual poster, which you will then sign along with the Lead Graffiti staff for inclusion in the portfolios. You'll receive 3 copies of the poster.
Pledge $450 or more Pledge $450 or more
Along with our gratitude, you will receive the complete set of 23 broadsides, title page, description page, and colophon in a specially designed handmade portfolio with a custom pastepaper cover made by Lead Graffiti. Essentially this is $19.50 per poster and we'll throw in the title page, colophon, descriptive page, portfolio and mailing inside the continental U.S. for free. And we'll throw in a few pieces of woodtype used in printing the posters.
Pledge $600 or more Pledge $600 or more
Along with our gratitude, you will receive the complete set of 23 broadsides, title page, description page, and colophon in a specially designed handmade portfolio with a custom pastepaper cover made by Lead Graffiti. Essentially this is $19.50 per poster and we'll throw in the title page, colophon, descriptive page, and portfolio for free. In addition, you and one friend can join us to watch the cycling stage on our TV (typically begins around 8:30 am and keep in mind we are in Newark, Delaware), have lunch (our treat), and help choose the day's poster topic. Then spend the rest of the day in our studio composing the type / images and printing the actual poster, which you will then sign along with the Lead Graffiti staff for inclusion in the portfolios. You'll receive 3 copies of the poster. And we'll throw in a few pieces of woodtype used in printing the poster (but maybe not until we finish the entire set).
Project By
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Ray Nichols, Jill Cypher and Tray Nichols are letterpress printers at Lead Graffiti.
Our design / print clients include the Metropolitan Opera, Columbia University, Nick Hornby, Bruce Springsteen, Sundance Film Festival, Art Directors Club of New York, Sagmeister Inc., Grand Army, Oak Knoll Press, and the Delaware Art Museum. Over 400 designers, students and others have taken our letterpress and bookmaking workshops.
Our 2,200 square foot studio houses our Vandercook Universal III (press we will be using for this project) & SP-15, two iron handpresses, 3 floor-model platens, 2 Heidelberg windmills, an Intertype linecaster with 200 typefaces, about 1000 cases of metal type and two dozen cases of wood type. We also intend to produce several typefaces of brand new wood type to be used in many of the posters.
This Tour de France project took root when Jill and Ray went to the 2004 opening day Prologue in Liége, Belgium, after the Gutenberg Museum in Mainz, Germany the day before and the Plantin-Moretus Museum in Antwerp the day after. That kind of explains our interest in this project.
