Letterpress Diary Day 1 : Wednesday 8th January

I started setting my type on the 8th of January, prior to this I had been working out what I wanted to say on each of the posters, I had to produce statements which were short and to the point. One of the issues I had was working out what type I could use as there was a limited amount of letters with certain typefaces. This meant I had to use a mix of typefaces. After a short tutorial with Neil I began to experiment with the letters to create my posters. The next few posts document my experience printing.


Today letterpress leaves an impression on the page and the viewer

The first poster I decided to do was a bit of a challenge, I got a carried away and realized during setting the type I should of gone for something a bit easier to start with. I found I could get a pretty uniform composition if I lined the chase up with a cutting mat. From here I began to piece together my statement using 2 different typefaces to emphasis the 'Impression'. I found this process really therapeutic, but also quite challenging. It was a different experience having to work backwards in the chase. On quite a few occasions I had the letters the wrong way round which became a pretty time consuming errors once the type had been locked in place. Another problem I encountered was loose type. Not all of the blocks were even in size which meant that many letters would drop out of the chase. In order to solve this problem I had to cut many slithers of paper and mount board to pack the type.

After the long process of setting the type it was time to ink up the lettering. I found that the consistency of the ink improved the more it had been rolled about and left to heat to room temperature as at first the ink was quite sticky. printing became allot smoother once the ink was in a fit state.

I made sure I only used the weight of the roller to apply the ink in order to avoid over inking. I also made sure i regularly rolled it back through the ink to make sure I even applied it onto the type. As time progressed I got into the swing of things and could prepare the type much quicker.

Here you can see the type inked up and ready to press.

Last minute touches



Even spreading of ink

 

Once I was ready to print I placed my stock in the chase as neatly and as central as possible. This is something that I found rather difficult, it was really hard to make sure it was neatly aligned without being able to see the inked lettering. I slowly got better at this, but as I changed to a new poster I found I was back to square one.

Once the paper was all set in place I had to pad the press in order to get an even amount of pressure. This was just a means of trial and error, the more padding used meant a larger impression and a little padding meant a light impression. This differed depending on the different types of stock.

The next step involved pulling the press to print the poster. I used the Colombian pull press to create the posters which is virtually the same relief printing process than what would be carried out on an actual letterpress machine. Due to colleges lack of resources I was unable to use the real letterpress machine however I still learned the same skills of typesetting which are crutial to graphic design.

Once I made the impression I rolled back the press and removed the padding.

One of the hardest parts out of the process was removing the stock from the chase as it often moved and smudged on the document. It was really difficult to pull it off in one smooth motion and found that it was sometimes better to wait slightly before removing the page. This differed depending on the stock, the coated lino stock was brilliant, the ink remained quite tacky which meant it stuck to the lettering allowing it peel off with ease.

Time = Money

After producing a rather difficult poster I decided to do the easiest to finish off the day. This took a lot less time than the previous poster which took around 2 hours + to set. For this piece I had to make some custom furniture out of mount board in order to pack the chase. I also improvised with the equals sign using 2 'I's' to make it. This poster turned out to be a lot less hassel than the previous.

Here you can see some of the prints drying on the rack. I printed on 4 different types of stock to get a variation of how the ink works on different surfaces.

Overview

Today went really well overall. It took me a while to get into the swing of things and to learn the little things which make the job easier. I would say that one of the biggest problems I had was finding the correct type to use and then making sure they stay locked in the chase without falling out. I spent so long cutting bits of card in order to make everything hold together. This didn't always go to plan, as when I jammed a piece in one place and tightened the chase back up it would make another letter fall out somewhere else.

I progressed my printing skills throughout the day working at a much faster rate towards the end of the day. I produced around 30 posters for each of the designs, there were quite a few poor prints but this is expected for my first time on the job. I definitely think tomorrow will run allot more smoothly as I have definitely found my pace.