Last week I had the pleasure of printing up some personal calling cards for the brother of a friend. In barter for the cards, the brother sent me a set of lock picks, which I really enjoy fooling around with. Figuring that a guy who barters and plays with lock picks is probably a giant nerd, I decided to record the printing process for his cards. And, because he gave me permissions, and so did the other friend whose cards are being printed in the video, I figured, "why not just share the video with the Everyday Correspondence community?" And so it was.
Without further ado I present to you: Hacking Letterpress, letterpress printing on an 1890s squeegee. Please, enjoy.
4 comments:
Re-post of an unintentionally deleted comment by Lisa Ridgely:
"James, I loved watching this. The whole process was so interesting! All of the little tricks you have developed in your process are so resourceful. Next time I need a 'hack', I know who to get in touch with!
Also, so nice to see/hear you...I feel like I've actually met you now!"
that was really cool to watch! thanks for sharing.
Neat video, James! It would be neat to see the actual printing process--please post a video of that some time too! Do you have a studio or is all of the machinery just in your house?
Thanks, Eliza! The printing process (the actual transfer of the ink from plate to paper) is the same as the dry run I do at 4:40 in the video. The platen and chase are folded together and then passed through the cylinder press. The pressure transfers the ink onto the paper! Hence, letterpress.
I wish I had a studio, but I am a student and only to press work as a hobby, so what you are seeing in the video is me working in my living room.
Thanks for watching!
James
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