Letterpress
Typesetting
Letterpress printing
Goal:
Experiment with various letterpress techniques and printing presses during a 12-week period, producing a few pieces to sell for charity.
Outcome:
Three unique design pieces, the first using large, antique wooden type, the second using polymer plates, and the last using tiny lead type. The sales of these prints were used to buy protective nets for the population in the Kudoku village of Malawi.
Date: 2008
The first half of the "Home Row" piece. The design explores the relationship between antique and modern technology.
The second half of the "Home Row" piece. The ironic character choice connects the computer keyboard and letterpress type organization.
The three-color print used heavy ink pressure to illustrate the striking of a keyboard or typewriter.
This piece called "See/Believe" deconstructed an image taken from a plastic camera, and attempted to bring them back together.
I added a third color and moved the plates around on press to produce different overlapping lectures.
Setting up the tiny lead type was an exercise in patience.
Printing each sheet required a diligent approach to registration.
The final piece featured an old-style drop cap, an homage to early letterpress printing.
A detail showing the ink recessed into the paper stock.