Mike Denker
Stoney Creek Press

Stoney Creek Press was established in 1986 and is located in Potomac, Maryland.

I am a builder and remodeler by profession. The Stoney Creek Press is the successor to my boyhood press, The DeNeuville Press, founded in New Brunswick, New Jersey, in 1961. These days I print in a shop in my back yard using a collection of wood and metal type, and a 1910 8x12 old style Chandler & Price platen press, a Vandercook SP-15 and a Vandercook 25-24. The latter two are cylinder proof presses from the 1940s and 1960s that are ideal for small press runs. My printing interest is having fun, designing and printing ephemera with wood type. I am fascinated by the vernacular typography of nineteenth-century job printing shops. I attempt to use these—many say “ugly”—type forms, in interesting and, I hope, entertaining ways.

Dyslexics Untie, a play on words and call to arms poster for that unsung tribe of humans who have trouble reading by Mike Denker of Stoney Creek Press, handset in Antique Tuscan No. 9 wood type and a wood border of unknown origin on Mohawk Letterpress paper in Van Son rubber-based ink on a Vandercook SP-15 in Potomac, Maryland, 6.5” x 13.5”, 1996.

after image, invitation to Antioch College dance and light show by Mike Denker of Stoney Creek Press, handset in Hamilton DeVinne wood type and Goudy Old Style metal foundry type, printed on blotter paper in four hand-mixed Kelsey oil-based inks on a Golding Pearl 7 x 11 press in Yellow Springs, Ohio, 5” x 11”, 1968.

Ripe Pawpaws for Sale, imaginary farm stand poster for unappreciated obscure local fruit that does not travel well by Mike Denker of Stoney Creek Press, handset in Antique Extended, Concave Tuscan and Gothic wood types and an unknown wood border, printed on Mohawk Superfine paper in Van Son rubber-based black ink No. 10850 and hand-mixed Kelsey oil-based inks on a Vandercook SP-15 in Potomac, Maryland, 7.75” x 12”, 2006.

VAPA, keepsake for Virginia Amateur Printers Association meeting by Mike Denker of Stoney Creek Press, hand set in Antique Tuscan Expanded wood type and Bodoni Bold metal foundry type, printed on Mohawk Superfine paper in Van Son rubber-based black ink on a Vandercook SP-15 in Potomac,Maryland, 5.25” x 11”, 2004.



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