Hot Metal!

Well, lukewarm anyway! I did a little printing again this weekend using some new metal type I had bought last week. I didn’t intend to do anything ambitious, just a little typesetting and proofing, just to get back into the swing of things; it was as a student in 1987 when I last handled metal type properly. I must say, I didn’t enjoy it very much. Even then, it seemed out of it’s time against the photomechanical typesetting operations that were prevalent back in the day. Apple were just making proper headway into colleges after taking hold within the design industry just a few years earlier, and I even I thought that was just a fad!

Ah, enough reminiscing! The brand new type came beautifully (functionally) packaged with a hand written label. I couldn’t help taking it into college the day after it arrived – mainly to show it off in its pack, all nice and clean! Sad I know, but look:

With not a millimetre to spare! I think this has a beauty of its own. Not in an artistic sense, but in the precision of it’s manufacture and its shiny newness, in anticipation of its inky future. Ok, here are the close-ups  I guess you expect from me now!

These full stops print just a fraction of a millimeter. In this image, they look a little like silver ingots. Or maybe not, but they are pretty cool. I guess this is just a bit of typo-porn for those of us who appreciate, ahem, specialist tastes!

I spent a couple of hours (!) setting a few lines. I had forgotten just how fiddly and frustrating this is. Just imagine how many people were working in the print industry, their years of apprenticeship training and the speed they eventually worked at! It truly boggles the mind. Here’s a shot of my workspace on completion.

On the right is my composing stick, generously donated by Christian and my trusty tweezers – I couldn’t pick up and place individual pieces!

This shot above is now my screen saver!

So what does it say? It’s a line from a book by one of my favourite authors Haruki Murakami and I just thought it would make a good first example of typesetting on the blog! Plus, it’s quite funny and a bit surreal.

Unfortunately I didn’t get many good prints. I was either over-inking, over-pressing, or both. I smudged them, half printed them, dropped them – the air was a shade bluer than the ink I used here, which was a mix of Prussian Blue and Opaque White Caligo waterbased inks. This print was to test the opacity of the ink on a previously rolled out black base.

You can see just how much pressure I used for this one – you can even read it from the back! I need to make a holding platform to support the paper next time (like I did for the last one - duh!) to prevent it from sliding off the type as I lay it over. I should be able to control the pressure a bit more too.

I also printed off a few woodtype prints using the blue ink, this time with a little more success. Again, just a few postcards, but when I’ve got the metal type printing better, I’ll overprint these with the Murakami excerpt in black.

This is a lovely print, lightly pressed and revealing the diagonal grain on the ‘R’ and the slightly odd shape of the lower part of the counter space of the ‘D:’

This is the cleaned up type. Sometimes when the gain is visible on the face it doesn’t print. I’m glad this does. It looks more ‘wood-typey’ I guess.

I picked up another letterpress block in Portobello market last weekend, this old post card standard. I thought it would be nice to letterpress my own postcards with this period design. It is a lovely thing in itself:

There are machining marks where the surface has been ground away by hand. But how does it print? Again, I didn’t have a great deal of luck getting the inking and pressure right, but got a decent enough impression to evaluate:

This is inked up ok, but over-pressed, but the detail prints clearly:

Like I said at the start, this was not intended to be a creative endeavour, just a little typesetting and paying around on the press. again, I’ve learned a lot about the techniques I need to use to get better results from the metal type and blocks, that my new inks mix well, and the opaque white is really opaque!

There will be another post soon of some ceramic pieces that have been recently fired, as well as some lino and wood cut printing as well. Keep tuning in, and if you get a moment, send me a lie…

The Whole Truth

Over the Christmas holiday I made a pair of small books from antique paper, and had the first use of my new wooden type on the cover. You can see how they were made here in a stage-by-stage entry.

I made two – one to develop further and one to give away in exchange for a lie. I promised to choose one and award the winner about now, but unfortunately I don’t have many to choose from. Just two actually (thankyou!)

   

Normally, I would just say ‘what the heck’ and choose one and send off the book, but, as I said before, I made one to develop further in to enter it into a book arts competition in May later this year. I intend to fill it with lies – real ones – good honest, truthful lies if there is such a thing. I would like the book to be a repository for ‘owning up to past misdemeanors’ and ‘clearing out of unwanted guilty baggage.’ It is important that the lies are real.

So I will appeal again. Please send your lies either as responses to this post, or email me direct if you are uncomfortable publishing on the web. You can even send in your lies anonymously (Hotmail accounts are easily set up!) but if an anonymous entry wins, you will have to contact me again for mailing details.

Please note, that all entries that  included in the book will be anonymous – and anything sent to me direct will be kept only until the book is complete – all emails will be deleted.

Portobello Providence

I have just spent a very diverting weekend in London. After attending the Design For Music Conference at St.Bride’s Library (more of which another time) I met up with my good friend Christian for a catch-up and some expensive lager. On a slightly blurry morning after, in search of a good breakfast and some highly medicinal coffee, we headed out towards the legendary Portobello Market. It was heaving with tourists, fashionistas and, quite possibly, a few locals; but it was really difficult to tell. A good rummage around lots of vintage stuff and tat was had by us both and a small addition to my printing paraphernalia was acquired (to be revealed later!)

In the midst of all this, with stomachs stretched taut like a couple of pregnant hippos, we waddled onwards in search of the fabled coffee. In the middle of all the hubbub, Christian stooped to pick up something from the floor, which turned out to be the tiny Polaroid photo shown above. It is a bit scuffed from spending some time on the ground and was still developing – I thought it was an old photo that had faded but as I looked up I saw the buildings further up the road. We were in the opposite direction from where the shot was originally taken, so we headed off for a better look. Sure enough, we located the exact spot that it must have been taken, but neither of us could get a similar wide angle shot with our cameras. Christian suggested to try for a shot with the original photo held up in the right place, but again, I couldn’t get the angle right. Below is a look at the photo from the same viewpoint:

And the best shot I could get to replicate the original :

It turned out that the Polaroid was probably taken a few minutes before we stumbled upon it – the cars – even though you can see in my shot, were the same.

Ok, so this is not groundbreaking stuff, but maybe it is just a little moment to consider one or two of the vagaries of life; the coincidence of this particular ‘lost and found,’ that maybe we were meant to find this photo. Maybe it was left there for us. Maybe someone is looking for it. I don’t know, but like it anyway.

Keep it safe Christian - there might be a reason why you felt compelled to pick it up and hold on to it…

ADDITIONAL

See the comments…

Reading List

The Crimson Petal And The White by Michael Faber
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafón

And just beginning

Incompetence by Rob Grant

Playlist

Self Medication by The Slackers
Real Gone by Tom Waits
As The Twilight Crane Dreams In Colour by Alexander Turnquist
Take No Prisoners by Motörhead
The Trojan Rock Steady Box Set
Two Tone Army by The Toasters
Henry May Long by Max Richter
Worlds Apart by The Sub-Humans
Oolooloo by The Pietasters
And In The Endless Pause There Came The Sound Of Bees by Jóhann Jóhannsson
Dirty Reggae by The Aggrolites
Inflammable Material by Stiff Little Fingers
The Baby & The Satellite by Micah P. Hinson
Cartography and Chiaroscuro by Arve Henricksen
Alphabet 1968 by Black To Comm
Reasons to Be Cheerful by Ian Dury and the Blockheads

Reviewing The Prints

Although I did 15 prints in total, I have included just five here for comparison. There were a few that were fairly consistent in quality, and these represent the variety of impressions taken. I’m not going to add any comments as I think they speak for themselves. Needless to say, I do prefer the slightly under-inked ones and I am always happy to hear your comments…

This last one was printed on a laid paper, hence the texture, but without re-inking the type from the previous print.

This is  a visual comparison between the block and the print of the first’R’ of PRESSURE. If you look closely at the bottom corner of the counter space, you can see a small ‘nick’ but the ‘lump’ on the top of the printed character  is just clumsy over-inking.

If anyone wants one of these prints, just send me an email with where to send it to…

ADDITIONAL

I ought to give Bethany Heck a mention here. I stumbled upon her website in progress Endgrain following some image links of some large wood type. Beth is a student at Auburn University in Alabama and a really dedicated wood typer. The website is a shrine to the subject and shows a genuine passion for the detail and uniqueness of wooden letterforms. There are some beautiful close-ups to moon over and a good set of links too. I stole respectfully borrowed the idea of including the large scanned-in block from her, but I think she does it much better than I – go check her out! Thanks Beth!

The Thrill Of The Chase…

I have had a good day today. The first of my students has got a university offer – well done James! I have been creative and productive. I have been listening to Arve Henriksen all night. Yes, today has been a good day. I spent an hour this morning preparing some first year work for a forthcoming student exhibition at the Greyfriars Gallery in King’s Lynn, and the rest of the morning in the workshop, finishing off some ceramic work I began last June, but couldn’t continue as the workshops underwent a ‘H&S transformation.’ I’ll post them when they’ve been fired – probably next week.

Following a good curry – no, a great curry, I decided that it was high time I got to grips with an early christmas present.

Having had a set of wood type since just before christmas, the urge to print with it has been steadily building, and waiting for the temperature to rise a little (the press is currently in the garage) and tonight was going to be the night. Ok, so did a little printing over the holiday – don’t shoot me!)

I composed my chosen words and packed out my chase with some strips of wood and scrap greyboard (in the absence of ’proper’ metal and wood furniture) and tightened it all up using some recently acquired quoins. The image above is from a high resolution scan. I have reduced it quite a bit for inclusion here, but it is still quite big – you may experience a small pause whilst it downloads, but wait for it – it will be worth it!

It was cold and wet tonight, and I just wanted to get stuck in, so there are no photo’s of the process to accompany this, just a few close-ups of the type and couple of the prints. I’ll scan them in when they are dry…

Lovely. The kitchen table is covered in prints of various quality, everything has been cleaned up and put away, and I’m still smiling. Yes, it’s been a good day.

Progress Report

My friend and colleague Pete has been the source of many a book project and this one is no exception. It is a very old copy of The Pilgrims Progress by John Bunyon, which is a bit of a favourite of his. He originally asked if I could rebind it, but found that it was still quite secure, if a little tatty. Because of the sentimental value he places on this, I declined to make any permanent alterations to its structure and make a clamshell box, to store it and protect it from unnecessary handling.

It is a standard box, made in the same way as another one I made last year, but with an additional feature.

OK, so far, this looks like an ordinary clamshell archive box; two snugly fitting halves enclosed by a standard case, but wait!

With a gentle tip up on either side, two supporting leaves emerge and prop up within the case to make a reading frame.

The two additions were measured to allow the two halves fit together, and extra depth added to the box to account for the extra four layers of greyboard within the space normally allocated for the book. These are made separately and glued by a flap near the spine. When folded flat, the ‘prop’ piece fits in the space under the leaves, allowing the book to be enclosed by smooth surfaces.

I’m pretty pleased with the outcome and would like to give credit to whoever came up with this idea. I have seen examples of this on the internet in the past and assume that it is a reasonably common model, but cannot find any to link to as I write this. If someone else can identify a source for this, I will add it here, along with any necessary credits.

A little detail from the book. Not the kind of academic research one might expect of a worthy tome such as this, but just my little booky observations:

Steam printer! Excellent! Butler and Tanner (Now Butler Tanner & Dennis) are still going, but sadly no longer engage in the esoteric art of steam printing. Imagine the scene; a top-hatted and bewhiskered  Mr. Dennis striding purposely across the printworks amid the clatter and hiss of well-oiled, over-engineered Victorian steam-powered ingenuity, enveloped in a cloud of moist air tainted with the smells of hot oil, inks and human labour…

Oops, sorry, I forgot where I was for a moment!

There is another inscription too – 1873 Selina Waters (?) which also fascinates me – I also put my name in my books, but doubt if anyone will ponder over them when I’m long gone!

Printmaking Video

When I last posted a printmaking entry, I filmed the process with the intention of posting them here, but discovered that I needed to pay for an upgrade in order to do this. Being mean from Yorkshire meant that it wasn’t an option, so I posted stills instead. However, I was pointed in the direction of Vimeo by regular visitor Christian and have since loaded four short videos. You can see them here.

Linocut printing (Part 1) Inking up a Lino Block from Lestaret on Vimeo.

Linocut Printing (Part 2) First Pull from Lestaret on Vimeo.

Linocut Printing (Part 3) The Good Prints Come from Lestaret on Vimeo.

Linocut Printing (Part 4) A Good Print from Lestaret on Vimeo.

You can also see a short film that Christian made last year for the 48 Hour Film Project called Seduced – its short, beautifully shot, and has a great ending…

Seduced from Christian Bird on Vimeo.

High Coup

I’ve just made a small booklet of Haiku composed by my friend and colleague Jon Lawrence. Regular visitors to this blog may remember the CD design project  I chronicled for Jon’ s last CD release. He’s a talented chap he is. Check him out.

Jon has kindly let me produce a small batch of these booklets for sale, which are made from 200gsm watercolour paper and 130gsm cartridge paper, pamphlet sewn with an exterior decorative knot, in the Japanese tradition. They are digitally printed to a high standard in a traditional deep blue colour using ITC Stone Serif throughout. The symbol on the cover means change, or transformation.

There are twenty six verses in total, over eight pages (seven really, as I have included a title page.)

I really enjoyed the simplicity of the binding. The 3 hole pamphlet stitch is a very simple and elegant binding method which is usually tied off on the inside for a neat external finish, but I have elected to tie off on the outer edge of the spine and leave a generous double tail.

I noticed the effect that the outer knot and tails had on the whole batch as I was preparing them for a spell under pressure in the press.

I couldn’t resist a few close ups of this detail! I think they have a resemblance to sea anemone.

These little booklets will be available from my shop shortly (when I get around to updating it!) at the very affordable price of £4.00 (free UK postage) but until then you can always request one via email.