may day studio

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What is May Day Studio?
It's a custom letterpress shop and bindery in one!

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Here's just a sampling of some of the work that the studio has produced recently:
:: business cards and handbills for The Country Bookshop
:: business stationery and brand suite for St. Clair Scents
:: Vermont Book Award invitations for Vermont College of Fine Arts
:: poetry broadsides for Mount Island Literary Magazine
:: holiday greetings for the Ruth Stone House
:: Artist's Companion Sketchbooks for The Drawing Board
:: poetry chapbooks for Hunger Mountain Literary Journal
:: branding, business cards, and stationery for The Burroughs Garret
:: custom illustrated wedding invitations, rsvp cards, stationery, and
business cards...& more!

What kind of equipment do you have?

May Day Studio proudly prints on five printing presses: a Chandler & Price Pilot, a Chandler & Price 8x12, a Vandercook SP15, a Vandercook #1 and a Nolan proofing press.  I can't use all of them at the same time, of course, but it means I have the perfect press for almost every project!

Other shop equipment includes a Chandler and Price 30" guillotine, a Kwikprint hot foil stamper, six cabinets of handset metal type, fifteen fonts of wood type, three 10x13 book presses, and many hand-bookbinding and typesetting tools. We design a good part of our custom work on a MacBook, using Adobe CC.  Oh, and we have a coffee pot and a stereo.  Totally essential.

What else do you do?


We teach letterpress and bookbinding workshops in our studio and all over New England. Send us an email for further inquiries!

We offer several lines of blank journals and letterpress notecards, for sale online and in many local shops. Check out our most recent wholesale catalog online, or email for more information.

We exhibit our fine art broadsides and artist's books at galleries worldwide.

Who is May Day Studio?

May Day Studio is Kelly McMahon, a one-time poet and type junkie who learned the tools of the trade and never looked back. I have a BA in English Literature from Smith College, and an MFA in Creative Writing from California College of the Arts, where I spent (a little) time writing and (much more) learning the craft of letterpress. While in San Francisco, I interned at the San Francisco Center for the Book, and my book arts were shown at several group exhibitions. I now make my home in sleepy Montpelier, Vermont, where I can indulge my penchant for snow and sun--often in the same month.

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may day studio :: 190 river street, montpelier, vermont 05602 :: all rights reserved