The two are a study in contrasts.
Kayla Clark, who looks much younger than her 32 years, and Poco, her printing press, which looks much older than its 125.
Together, they’re something of a show-stealer with an act that’s actually a sneaky-fun history lesson in disguise.
The schtick starts the moment someone catches sight of Clark, a graphics instructor at the University of Wyoming Haub School of Environment and Natural Resources, and her old-time printing press. There’s a little double take — looking at her, then at the machine, then back at her.
She doesn’t hesitate a second. Clark reels them in with an offer they can’t refuse — making their own, one-of-a-kind print as a souvenir of the event they’re attending.
Clark’s most recent performance was at the Outdoor Recreation Tourism Summit in Casper, where she snared a steady flow of unwitting students, teaching them about an ancient art that she loves, while they created a fun print commemorating the event.
People in the modern world don’t think about how books were really made long ago, she told Cowboy State Daily. What she does helps them understand, in a way that’s fun and memorable, just how the world of literature came to be.
It’s an important lesson in a time when most people do their reading off screens, not printed pages.
“I do this probably at least three times a year,” Clark told Cowboy State Daily. “They’re usually smaller events, and it’s very fun for me, and very unique for people.”
Between showing her guests how to operate the press, Clark keeps up a snappy patter that’s filled with cool, fun facts.
“This,” she said gesturing at Poco, “is a U.S.-produced press. But they go back to like Gutenberg. … And then, even further back than that, to like 400 years (before Gutenberg) in China.”
Her printing press takes its nickname from its brand name, which was a Poco, Model 0.
While it doesn’t look especially large, it weighs in at a hefty 250 pounds.
“So, in terms of letter presses, this is highly portable,” she said.
Her little “portable press” was a lucky find from a poet in Virginia looking to upgrade to a larger, more precise machine for printing her poetry.
A Sense Of Wonder
Having something portable and interactive is something the graphic design instructor had long been on the lookout for since attending graduate school in North Carolina.
“The faculty at North Carolina kind of treasure craft and materiality,” she said. “So, I fell into it in that sense.”
Her first handcrafted print was made from wood-carved blocks during grad school. What she found fascinating is how the print quality of the blocks changed over time, evolving with every ding, every nick, and even every printing.
“I set that text up, inked it, and I still remember like pulling that print off the first time,” she said. “There was that moment where I actually saw that I made something, and then I was addicted.”
That little endorphin pop helps make the history lesson both fun and memorable.
And this isn’t your home laser or inkjet printer, where you push a button and a perfectly printed page slides out. This is art, where the printer has to use skill, work and attention to detail.
Between inking up her roller and then inking up a laser-cut plastic stencil, her one nod to the modern world, she keeps her would-be students entertained with a steady flow of chatter — more funny facts and historical tidbits.
Then she carefully places a sheet of handmade “super porous” paper on top of the well-inked stencil, taking care not to slide and cause a smear.
A stack of little cardboard pieces goes on top of that so everything is the exact right height.
Now it’s time for her latest guest to turn the drum of the printing press first left and then right — slowly and gently. As that happens, she talks about how the term “deadline” actually had its origin with printing presses like Poco.
“There was a ‘deadline’ or a ‘deadbar,’ which was like a physical metal bar on the press, positioned right about here to prevent media from falling out,” she said, pointing at the back end of the press. “So, meeting the deadbar or the deadline was actually a phrase coined from letter presses.
“In fact, a lot of modern graphic design and typography terminology actually originated right here.”
A Pioneer Joins The Fam
Poco is not the only old-time printing press Clark owns.
She’s got a much larger printing press at home she’s named Florence. It’s not portable at all, but it’s a little more convenient if Clark is doing a large-volume project since it can re-ink its rollers automatically.
But, as Florence weighs considerably more than 250 pounds, she can’t travel like Poco can.
More recently, Clark has found another option for her events at Bart’s Flea Market in Cheyenne, which used to be a favorite stomping ground for her. It had 10,000 square feet of space, filled with you never knew quite what.
But it wasn’t until the market’s last day that Clark found what she was really always looking for. She walked past a fellow shopper just as that shopper asked the owner if he had any of those old drawers used to hold old-fashioned printing letters.
It was like fate ringing a bell in Clark’s ear.
She stopped in her tracks and blurted out, “Oooooh yeah, do you have one of those?!”
Not only did the owner have the drawer and letters, it turned out the other shopper didn’t want the letters at all, just the drawer.
Clark only wanted the letters.
Then the owner told Clark he also had a printing press to go with the letters. He’d had it a long time, but never bothered to set it out, not thinking anyone would be interested.
Clark couldn’t believe her good fortune.
“He told me it was from a pioneer wagon, but the press was so heavy they had to throw it overboard to add more food,” Clark said. “Which could be pure embellishment, but it’s such a fun story, nonetheless!”
Clark laughs thinking about a pioneer family throwing away the printing press, because she thinks she would have kept it, even if it meant going hungry.
The pioneer press might have been too heavy for the early settlers, but it will be a little more practical for Clark than Poco since it only weighs 100 pounds.
“It’s in pretty good shape, but it needs a bit of work,” she said. “So that will be my summer project.”
Angels Sing, Hot Off The Press
The pioneer printing press even has a couple of starter wooden blocks with it. Those are likely newer than the press itself, Clark believes. One depicts a spur and the other a cowboy riding through the prairie.
But as sure as angels sing, you can bet those two blocks will be Clark’s first prints off that pioneer press, once it’s all fixed up.
The new printing press isn’t a roller type, but instead a clam shell, so it will demonstrate a slightly different mechanism.
But, it will still have plenty of moments where Clark can sneak another history lesson in, like the fact that “hot off the press” is another term that originates from old-time printing presses.
In days of old, a typewriter-like device would shoot letters into place, she explained, creating what Clark called a “matrix.”
“So basically, a negative,” she said. “And then they would cast molten metal, usually lead, into that, which is technically called the slug, or linotype.”
Hot lead was still in use up to the late 1970s, and everything printed that way was quite warm to the touch. Hence the term was meant quite literally at the time, though now it just refers to a juicy piece of breaking — or these days viral — news.
As the latest of her customers turned Poco’s drum left and then right, Clark invited the person to lift up the corner of the print carefully and slowly to admire the finished work.
Smiles came out all around, and Clark even let loose with a high trilling “ahhhhhh” — just like an angel singing, because that’s just how she was feeling right then.
The reveal is always the moment Clark likes the best. It reminds her of that time when she was a new grad student, just beginning to find her way in a wide world. A wide world that still has many fun adventures left to discover.
Renée Jean can be reached at renee@cowboystatedaily.com.
