‘Like Adult Summer Camp’: Print St. Pete Offers Summer Workshops

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Print St. Pete Community Letterpress is offering a full summer of workshops at its Gulfport studio, with classes focused on zines, risograph printing, Lego printmaking and block printing.

The summer schedule fits both the season and the studio’s teaching style, Print St. Pete co-founder Kaitlin Crockett told Patch.

“There’s just something about summer where you’re like, I can finally, like, tackle that creative project, or, like, try something new,” she said. “It’s fun, because it’s almost like adult summer camp.”

The small community letterpress and risograph printshop was co-founded by Crockett and Bridget Elmer in 2016.

The two met years earlier, when Crockett took a book arts class with Elmer at Florida State University in 2010. They reconnected two years later when they both found themselves living in St. Petersburg.

Crockett was printing as Oma Darlin’ Press and Elmer was operating The Southern Letterpress.

They joined forces to create Print St. Pete and moved into their studio at 4903 8th Ave. S. in 2013.

Initially, their goal was purely practical: to share equipment and resources. But their mutual passion for education and community engagement led to their opening the space for workshops, classes, and events.

“When we first started this space, it was more like, we’re going to get a cheap warehouse where we can put all of our equipment and share resources, not thinking of having a community studio,” Crockett said.

But interest grew as they shared their work during art walks and craft markets, connecting with others who wanted to learn the artform.

And the studio’s workshop schedule and other offerings have expanded as community response has grown over the years.

“I’ve definitely been trying to do more and more, just as I, like, get that feedback from the community,” Crockett said. “I think a lot of it has to do with we’re all so like screen people. We’re in front of screens all day long, and getting a chance to do something tactile with your hands and make, kind of like a precious little book or print that you can hold in your hand, I think is really appealing to people these days.”

The first workshop is a three-day zine camp taking place June 12-14, which Crockett said she is especially excited to bring back.

Participants will work on developing an idea, then learn to print a zine and self-publish it using a risograph.

“The goal is that it’s kind of like an intensive, where you’re going to have a finished zine by the end of the three days, and it’s going to be like a riso-printed edition,” she said.

The risograph printing is a great way for beginners to get started in printmaking.

“Risograph looks like a copy machine, and it prints at the same speed, so it’s really efficient, but you use it in, like, layers of color, like screen printing,” Crockett said. “The risograph is really accessible, no matter if you’re brand new to this whole thing or not.”

Print St. Pete’s full summer schedule of workshops include:

• Zine Camp, June 12-14
• Lego Printmaking, June 20
• Queer Zines, June 24
• Jigsaw Block Print, July 5
• Block Printing, July 12
• Riso Intensive, July 18-19
• Riso Postcards, July 25
• Lego Printmaking, July 26

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