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skeuomorphpress.org
Skeuomorph Press & BookLab
@skeuomorphpress.org
1.7K followers 48 following 28 posts
An experiential research & pedagogy studio for the history & art of the book at UIUC. We are housed in the CU Community FabLab & sponsored by the iSchool and English Department. Directed by @ryancordell.org
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claudiaeberger.bsky.social
I am so delighted to add my copy of "A Rant About Technology" written by my fave Ursula K Le Guin and printed by the amazing folks at @skeuomorphpress.org to my work library of books, zines, and decks about data and technology.
A small booklet titled A Rant About Technology. It has black text and orange art and is being held in front of a collection of other books and zines in an office cubicle.
November 20, 2025 at 1:56 PM
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bhgross144.bsky.social
“That’s the neat thing about technologies. They’re what we can learn to do.”

This letterpress edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s “A Rant About #Technology” exceeded all my expectations. Thanks to @skeuomorphpress.org for making it available during their summer fundraising drive! #STS #scifi #booksky 🗃️📜
Cover of “A Rant About Technology” But the word is consistently misused to mean only the enormously complex and specialised technologies of the past few decades, supported by massive exploitation both of natural and human resources. This is not an acceptable use of the word. “Technology” and “hi tech” are not synonymous, and a technology that isn't “hi,” isn’t necessarily '“low” in any meaningful sense. Technology is the active human interface with the material world.
November 20, 2025 at 1:03 AM
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dorothyjberry.bsky.social
Now that I have made my donation, I share with you to continue to support this really impressive project at UICU
skeuomorphpress.org Skeuomorph Press & BookLab @skeuomorphpress.org · 10d
Now that our edition of Ursula K. Le Guin's "A Rant About 'Technology'" is (finally!) printed, bound, packed, & with campus mail, on its way to folks, we’re making approximately 60 of the internal poster available separately

If you’d like to claim one see the order form at forms.gle/BKJQWSmcnuq8...
A poster on white paper. In orange ink is an illustration of six matches, with a flame rising from the first four, reaching to the top of the page. In various fonts of wood type, black ink overprints the flames and reads: TECHNOLOGY IS THE ACTIVE HUMAN INTERFACE WITH THE MATERIAL WORLD In the bottom right corner is an attribution to URSULA K. LE GUIN A stack of posters on white paper, with an individual poster sitting to the right of the stack. In orange ink is an illustration of six matches, with a flame rising from the first four, reaching to the top of the page. In various fonts of wood type, black ink overprints the flames and reads: TECHNOLOGY IS THE ACTIVE HUMAN INTERFACE WITH THE MATERIAL WORLD In the bottom right corner is an attribution to URSULA K. LE GUIN
November 18, 2025 at 11:19 PM
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literaturegeek.bsky.social
Very good mail day: @ryancordell.org @deliadraws.bsky.social & other @skeuomorphpress.org students' gorgeous handmade (book, letterpress, illustrations>lino) edition of Ursula K Le Guin's "A Rant about 'Technology'" #DHmakes Some poster versions from the book may still be available? (link in QT)
Photo of a letterpress print by Skeuomorph Press, on white paper with black ink text on an orange background of a giant flame rising from multiple lit matches. It says "'TECHNOLOGY IS THE ACTIVE HUMAN INTERFACE WITH THE MATERIAL WORLD - URSULA K. LE GUIN" Photo of a letterpress print book cover by Skeuomorph Press, on white paper with black ink text on an orange background of a giant flame rising from multiple lit matches. It says "A Rant About Technology" Photo of a letterpress print book back cover by Skeuomorph Press, on white paper with black ink text on a charcoal background image of a giant flame rising from multiple lit matches. It says "A Rant About 'Technology' / Ursula K. Le Guin"
November 18, 2025 at 11:13 PM
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ryancordell.org
This linocut that my colleague made for tomorrow’s Yiddish printing event @skeuomorphpress.org looks absolutely incredible
November 13, 2025 at 10:32 PM
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ryancordell.org
I’m pretty pleased by this riff on a @iamdylanlewis.bsky.social / @umdbooklab.bsky.social print I worked up for my “Writing with Robots” class’ visit to @skeuomorphpress.org today
A letterpress print with red ink on brown paper. The text is wood type and reads small LANGUAGE MODELS MADE HERE! In the center is a woodcut of an antique typewriter. The paper has text reading “Printed by hand at…” with the Skeuomorph Logo below wood type on a press reading small LANGUAGE MODELS MADE HERE! In the center is a woodcut of an antique typewriter. The paper has text reading “Printed by hand at…” with the Skeuomorph Logo below
November 13, 2025 at 6:01 PM
skeuomorphpress.org
Now that our edition of Ursula K. Le Guin's "A Rant About 'Technology'" is (finally!) printed, bound, packed, & with campus mail, on its way to folks, we’re making approximately 60 of the internal poster available separately

If you’d like to claim one see the order form at forms.gle/BKJQWSmcnuq8...
A poster on white paper. In orange ink is an illustration of six matches, with a flame rising from the first four, reaching to the top of the page. In various fonts of wood type, black ink overprints the flames and reads: TECHNOLOGY IS THE ACTIVE HUMAN INTERFACE WITH THE MATERIAL WORLD In the bottom right corner is an attribution to URSULA K. LE GUIN A stack of posters on white paper, with an individual poster sitting to the right of the stack. In orange ink is an illustration of six matches, with a flame rising from the first four, reaching to the top of the page. In various fonts of wood type, black ink overprints the flames and reads: TECHNOLOGY IS THE ACTIVE HUMAN INTERFACE WITH THE MATERIAL WORLD In the bottom right corner is an attribution to URSULA K. LE GUIN
November 12, 2025 at 5:22 PM
skeuomorphpress.org
This past weekend Skeuomorph GA @divinetautology.bsky.social led a workshop for kids & parents as part of the "Spurlock Sundays" series in local museums & cultural orgs—participants drew designs & then overprinted them—the results are delightful!
Posters with hand drawn doodles, flowers, and more with I AM AN ARTIST! overprinted in large wooden type Posters with hand drawn doodles, flowers, and more with I AM AN ARTIST! overprinted in large wooden type
November 11, 2025 at 9:31 PM
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ryancordell.org
As always seems to be true @skeuomorphpress.org, the most recent tech is hardest to maintain

We love this 90s-era Brother typewriter—it’s lightweight, super portable, clear impression—but its ink comes in proprietary cartridges that are just gone—ribbon is easy to find for our older machines
November 10, 2025 at 4:07 PM
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ryancordell.org
Seems like every week I walk in to find new messaging from our local Luddite Society drying on the racks @skeuomorphpress.org
A letterpress poster in wood type reading: LUDDITES RESIST OBNOXIOUS TECHNOLOGY
November 6, 2025 at 2:48 PM
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ryancordell.org
Maybe it’s the Luddite Society that’s been printing @skeuomorphpress.org all this semester—or maybe it’s the lesson on Luddism I’m planning for my undergrads tomorrow—or maybe it’s the #dhmakes discussion we’ll be having in my grad "Intro to DH" class, also tomorrow BUT +
November 6, 2025 at 2:45 AM
skeuomorphpress.org
Two weeks from now at Skeuomorph. Come learn more about the history of Yiddish print in the US & make some cool prints!
A poster reading: MIDWEST YIDDISHFEST YIDDISH BLOCK PARTY NOVEMBER 14 | 2:30-4:00 PM SKEUOMORPH PRESS AT THE UIUC FABLAB REGISTRATION REQUIRED WWW.CUJF.ORG/YIDDISHFEST
October 31, 2025 at 5:33 PM
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ryancordell.org
Today @skeuomorphpress.org is out tabling & live printing at the Banned Books Week popup sponsored by the cultural houses on campus!
A letterpress poster reading read & RESIST! with a linocut of a hand holding an open book A table with various prints, wood type and printing cuts Type and a linocut inked on a printing press Two hands using manual typewriters
October 8, 2025 at 5:58 PM
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transbookhistory.bsky.social
It's a unicorn job for this printer-scholar and I am beyond excited to be continuing the work I did at @skeuomorphpress.org with @ryancordell.org! I'd love it if folks helped me celebrate by making a donation to support KLP's programing: give.uky.edu/campaigns/47...

2/2
give.uky.edu
September 15, 2025 at 9:52 PM
skeuomorphpress.org
In today’s mail: two beautiful new mould & deckle sets from The Papertrail for hand paper making at Skeuomorph. One makes 8.5x11” sheets & the other 12x18”, we can make sheets for posters or large book impositions. Looking forward to trying them out in upcoming workshops & classes!
Two paper mould & deckle sets made of white plastic, with silver metal fixings on the corners. The bed has a mesh screen. The smaller one is open and the larger closed.
September 18, 2025 at 2:03 PM
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ryancordell.org
You’d better be careful @sarahebull.bsky.social this is precisely how @skeuomorphpress.org started
sarahebull.bsky.social Sarah Bull @sarahebull.bsky.social · Sep 9
I’m teaching my book history class across campus this semester, so my wonderful dept bought a giant steel work cart. This is going to make the whole mobile book lab thing so much easier! (Some of my colleagues also use material items, e.g. puppets, for teaching, so useful all around, I hope).
A picture of a very large red steel Milwaukee service cart in my department’s hallway, filled with materials for today’s class (less unwieldy than materials are for some weeks - a baking sheet, clay, aprons, clean up stuff, a bag containing chopsticks and gloves for people with sensory sensitivity, scrolls, wax tablets.
September 10, 2025 at 4:39 PM
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ryancordell.org
Realizing that our Le Guin prints offer a really dramatic example I can use when explaining that letterpress ink is semi-transparent. Under the solid black letters you can see the lines of the underprint design
September 9, 2025 at 1:53 PM
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ryancordell.org
Love the prints @divinetautology.bsky.social made with students getting oriented @skeuomorphpress.org last night—they learned to set type, print, & cleanup by printing over scrap prints or hand-drawn backgrounds
A letterpress print reading MAKE UGLY ART printed in black ink from San serif wood type, over a hand drawn background illustration letterpress prints reading MAKE UGLY ART printed in black ink from San serif wood type, over hand drawn background illustrations
September 8, 2025 at 3:58 PM
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ryancordell.org
We welcomed a Social Work class on the social impacts of technology @skeuomorphpress.org this afternoon. Spent time with our typewriters, word processors, & vintage computers talking about textual technology transitions & the relationships between media tech & expression
September 3, 2025 at 10:37 PM
skeuomorphpress.org
Middle-schoolers in the FabLab’s printmaking summer camps designed cards using our risograph machine & prints using P22’s modular printing Blox—we’re bowled over by their results! dry-inc.com/products/p22...
August 8, 2025 at 5:49 PM
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ryancordell.org
The iSchool’s incredible facilities director made space in a loading dock where I can work on the press—cleaning, replacing rollers, etc.

When it’s ready, we’ll replace the less-fancy Vandercook @skeuomorphpress.org with this one (we just don’t have room for 2)p
August 7, 2025 at 3:26 PM
skeuomorphpress.org
Here’s what we’re printing at the press—find out how to order one and support our fundraiser at skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/le-guin-book...
July 10, 2025 at 11:38 PM
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ryancordell.org
Friends, please share!

Proofs are ready for @skeuomorphpress.org's edition of Ursula K. Le Guin’s "A Rant About Technology." I am so pleased with this book—in many ways our 1st real book project

Details about how to get one through our fundraiser at skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/le-guin-book...
July 10, 2025 at 9:45 PM
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markalanmattes.bsky.social
First up in the Society of Early Americanists joint fundraiser are the protest posters of @ryancordell.org - Ryan directs @skeuomorphpress.org an experiential studio for research and teaching in book and information arts that is housed in the @Champaign-Urbana Community FabLab....
May 29, 2025 at 10:49 PM