Atelier Alma Charta, Toccalmatto

On Sunday June 19 we moved from Parma to begin our letterpress printing, etching and bookmaking workshop with Andre Beuchat at his studio located in the small village of Toccalmatto, a short distance north of Parma. We had been introduced to Andre and his daughter Martine by our friend Kathleen at the Codex exhibition and book fair held earlier this year in Point Richmond, California. Kathleen had taken this workshop in 2016 and wanted to return, so she invited us to join her.  Now, here we were excited  to embark on a new adventure. I with a certain amount of uncertainty, as I had never set type or made an etching before.

Andre's studio is located in the family's old farmhouse in an amazing structure with very thick stone walls and domed brick ceilings. You can see more through the website here.

Our accommodations were also at the farmhouse, which included all of our meals lovingly prepared by Andre's wife, Carla.  More about that later........

The farmhouse is tucked away down a short narrow road, which we found fairly easily with Kathleen's help since she had been there last year.

Looking into the studio before we started. You can see the vaulted brick ceilings that I mentioned above, quite remarkable construction when you consider that this space once housed cattle.
We had all come with an idea for our book project and on describing them to Andre, he began sharing many of his books from which we could form ideas applicable to our projects.   We each began at different stages of our books, which allowed Andre to guide each project through all phases in parallel, and not, for example, all needing to use the same press at the same time.

One area where we set type.

This is the type set for the poem that I had chosen. I found this pretty challenging and won the prize for the most mistakes when we made a test print.   A "b" and a "d" look pretty much alike when viewed upside down and backwards!

Diane discussing an element of her book with Andre.

Kathleen's zinc plate with her drawing to be included in her book.  The plate has yet to be etched before it is ready for inking and printing.

The weather was hot while we were in the workshop, but in the cold winter this is Andre's "central heating system".

Len with his first experience inking the type before running the press, all hand powered, by the way.

Diane and Andre working on her printing.

Satisfying to see the pages as they come off the press, one at a time.

Kathleen working on a cut-out design for the cover of her book.

The Atelier was home to several cats, who were always willing to help!

Jack was often in the studio to keep us company.  He did not like the hot weather and the studio remained quite cool.

We began work on our projects after breakfast at 8:30, breaking for pranzo (lunch) at about 1:30. Pranzo is the main meal of the day and always seemed to include three courses and wine. Carla is an excellent cook and we ate very well everyday.  We welcomed a short siesta before starting back in the studio at 3:30, working until about 7:00pm.  Ending our day with the evening meal, cenzo (dinner), more wine and lovely conversation.
Much of what was included in each meal came from Andre and Carla's garden, which made it all the more delicious.

Carla with bounty from the garden.

Just a small example of one of the lunch courses.  I think I could do a complete blog on the beautifully prepared food (thank you Carla!)  but, back to the printing.

This is the area where the ink was prepared for our etchings.

Andre prefers to rely as little as possible on powered tools and this is a good example of how to keep warm the surface used to ink the etched plates (a small tea light).

An example of an old hand-powered press, made in Monza and dated 1868.

Diane pulling her etching off the press.

Kathleen with Martine, Andre and Carla's daughter and her sweetheart, Federico.

Diane with Sylvie, Andre and Carla's other daughter.  Diane used some of Sylvie's marbled paper in several of her book covers.  They added a very beautiful element.

Critical review of an etching just completed. A good lesson was the importance of making proof copies to insure the result you want before making a number of copies.

It is quire difficult to record all of the steps involved in making each of our books, but here is Diane with Andre working on the design of  her book cover.

Another step in the process.  I loved the use of  Andre's collection of old clothes irons as weights to keep things flat and in place,

We all hand-stitched our books together, note another iron in use.  There were many steps involved to finish our books and it was a marvel that Andre shepherded us all through our different challenges so that we each completed our books at the end of the two weeks.  He is a master teacher.

 Kathleen with the intricate cover cut-out, each one done individually by hand.

Len feeling very happy with his first handmade books.

Diane with her beautiful copies.

We felt very welcome at Atelier Alma Charta, almost part of the family. Another group photo of Kathleen, Lucca, (Sylvie's sweetheart), Sylvie, Diane, Carla and Andre. (someone had to take the photo!)

Dinner on our final evening with homemade pizza "to die for". Carla's pizza crust was like no other I have ever tasted.  The best!!  We were joined by Martine and Federico and it was the perfect ending to an amazing experience.

This was the end of our trip to France and Italy, so we packed up to begin our trip home. This photo includes Kathleen's luggage as well.  We drove her back to Parma where she was meeting a friend for another two weeks in Italy.

Sadly, we must say arrivederci.  Hopefully to return another day........

There was much more that occurred during our stay at Atelier Alma Charta, so I have decided to create another post to tell about the castles, ancient buildings, and fresco's that Andre introduced us to, providing a history lesson along the way.
Stay tuned.