Skeuomorph Press & BookLab
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skeuomorphpress.org
Skeuomorph Press & BookLab
@skeuomorphpress.org
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
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...
November 12, 2025 at 5:22 PM
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!
November 11, 2025 at 9:31 PM
Two weeks from now at Skeuomorph. Come learn more about the history of Yiddish print in the US & make some cool prints!
October 31, 2025 at 5:33 PM
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!
September 18, 2025 at 2:03 PM
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
Thanks to a generous donation, we were able to buy two new riso color drums, so you can officially create 4-color riso prints at Skeuomorph! Prof. @ryancordell.org’s students experimented with pink & black for their zine lab today
February 20, 2025 at 11:26 PM
Oh, we missed this one—amazing!
February 6, 2025 at 9:09 PM
Our spring practicum students practiced lino carving & typesetting by making these lovely valentines with press GA @divinetautology.bsky.social !
February 6, 2025 at 9:06 PM
We’re catching school spirit working on a limited-edition print for UIUC’s Homecoming Week. We’ll be live printing at Saturday Night Live, this weekend (9/14)—come visit & make your own poster! homecoming.illinois.edu/schedule/
September 9, 2024 at 6:41 PM
We made Skeuomorph stickers today! Look for them at press events this fall!
August 19, 2024 at 8:18 PM
After a week of obsessive sorting & (re)organization, our 24 newly-acquired wood type fonts have been integrated with our existing collection, labeled, & arranged in cabinets

For instance—we now have French Clarendon—aka wanted poster/Cowboy font—in many sizes. Come live your old west print dreams!
April 12, 2024 at 2:39 PM
There was a veritable symphony in the FabLab today, as Isabella Viega’s “Writing Across Media” students learned from our resident typewriter expert (i.e. Isabella) & experimented with our growing collection of analog, electric, & electronic typewriters
February 15, 2024 at 11:26 PM
A preview of our new broadside edition of Gwendolyn Brooks’ poem, “Strong Men, Riding Horses.” This edition is being printed by permission of the Brooks estate, as part of a collaboration with UIUc English’s Ninth Letter literary magazine. They will be numbered & put on sale soon.
February 5, 2024 at 1:04 AM
We were thrilled to welcome multiple sections of “Writing Across Media,” at the press today to learn more about the medium of print. We used “Ole Minty” (as Skeumorph GAs have begun to call our rescued green hand press) to print our popular Ursula K. Le Guin “A Rant About ‘Technology’” piece.
January 30, 2024 at 7:03 PM
Today we’re tabling at the CU Small Press Fest & test driving our new mobile print cart!
October 28, 2023 at 4:59 PM
New (to us) at Skeuomorph Press, this fabulous mobile printing cart. We’re looking forward to printing with y’all at campus & community events. Come try it out for the 1st time at Small Press Fest CU this Saturday! illinoislibraries.wixsite.com/smallpressfe...
October 24, 2023 at 8:01 PM
It looks like tomorrow's the big day—our new (to us) Washington press is moving across campus to Skeuomorph. We'll be ready to print in much larger formats (up to 20"x30"). As a ghost impression still on the tympan indicates, the press was used at some point in the 1930s to print the CU Weekly News.
September 14, 2023 at 3:13 PM
For our three workshops with Writing Across Media classes this week, we created a custom cut to accompany William Henry Davies’ poem “The Kingfisher,” in support of UIUC students’ advocacy for a new mascot. Check out the link for more on their campaign!

kingfisheruiuc.wixsite.com/uiuc
September 5, 2023 at 7:46 PM
Hello BlueSky! We are an experiential studio for teaching & researching the history & art of the book at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Learn more at https://skeuomorph.ischool.illinois.edu/ & come visit us during community hours if you’re local!
August 29, 2023 at 8:11 PM