This way to Signal Return: 1345 Division St. in Detroit’s Eastern Market.

Thursday night was an open-studio meet-and-greet at Signal Return, a community letterpress shop (and Knight Arts grantee) that opened in the Eastern Market this summer, and is seeking to gain purchase within the Detroit DIY and art community. The facility is impressive, with a wide range of letterpress equipment, including flatbed cylinder and platen-type printing machines, and endless drawers of typeface in all sizes.

Workspace and flatbed cylinder letterpresses in the shop area.

Letterpress is not limited to typeface; it is possible to carve blocks into designs of all kinds.

Letterpress involves the meticulous assembly of words one letter at a time, perhaps lending brevity to the soul of the letterpress artist.

The structure of Signal Return is designed to grant letterpress knowledge and access to anyone who wishes to enroll in two of their workshops. Once students have achieved this basic level of equipment training, they are free to attend open shop hours and work on projects of their own devising. During this open studio event, the presses were opened and arranged so attendees could run a three-color text design, utilizing different styles of letterpress devices. The analog feel of the mechanisms and materials, as well as the hands-on quality of the work was quite appealing to me, and it’s fun to see your finished product appear at the other end.

Joel Grothaus (left) explains a platen-type press to an open studio attendee.

The Signal Return crew was also engaging and helpful, walking this rank amateur through the process with grace. Shop Director Ryan Schirmang was on hand to answer questions, and Joel Grothaus helpfully walked me through some of the finer points of the process by which loose pieces of individual type assemble into structured layouts for letterpress prints and cards. Instructor Lynne Avadenka was also on hand, and cheerfully discussed the functionality and horrific health hazards of a (currently) dysfunctional linotype machine, which serves more as a museum piece and point of interest than as a working addition to the shop.

Instructor and artist Lynne Avadenka displays a sample of output from the linotype machine, a device which mechanized the process of type assembly, creating lines of type by continuously pressing them into molten lead and recycling used type back through the machine.

It will be exciting to see the printshop collective concept unfold as Signal Return works to engage and embody the best collectivist concepts — bearing the cost of equipment and maintenance collectively, in order to teach the largest number of people a working skill. If you want to join up, check in or just get some made-in-Detroit merch from the shop’s store, Signal Return is currently open Tuesday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m.-7 p.m.; Saturday, 9 a.m.-5 p.m.; or by appointment.

Some collective members have work up for sale in the shop store.

Flyers for the upcoming Holiday Card Jam: Friday, Nov. 2nd from 9-10 p.m.

The video above was produced by the Detroit Symphony Orchestra.