Tickets Please!

The Lestaret Corporation has recently been granted a franchise on one of the divisions of Hell and as of May 2012 will be issuing tickets for the new system of entry (for a small administrative fee, of course.)  This will involve standing in lots of queues, and the continual listenening to the entire output of Justin Bieber. Not big changes then.

Just to demonstrate the levels of intense toil that goes into producing each ticket, here is a quick overview:

1. Taking reference from a classic format, all measurements were accurately taken.

2. A batch of sturdy card was trimmed to an oversized dimension (10mm all round,) for better handling during printing.

3. A template was created in order to gain an accurate position of the print. The centre was trimmed to show the maximum print area and used to overlay the makeready prints.

4. Printing. Well, not quite that simple. First the type needs composing – Univers 45 and 68 centrally aligned – this took around 45 minutes in all, particularly in the positioning of the type in the chase. This was then printed on the Adana 5/3 in a dark green. A day later, the numbering box was installed and the tickets were sequentially numbered in a deep red.

5. The top and bottom are then trimmed. I set up a temporary jig on my cutting mat to speed this up.

6. The tickets were then perforated using a small perforating wheel bought from a local craft store. Again, a temporary jig was used for this process.

7. Holes were punched with a hand held single hole puncher, using a cardboard jig to ensure consistency of position.

8. Edges removed to enhance the reveal the ticket! 

This is a lot of effort for such a small bit of ‘stuff’ but I like it!

Long Live the ‘Isms!’

Tonight I got the urge to print and was drawn to this 1920′s style typeface ‘Broadway Engraved’ and set up the words VIVA MODERNISM but in my haste made a bit of a typo, which needed a full manual change – no ‘control-Z’ here:

Once rectified, the satisfying repetition of a well set up press and a whole bunch of cards…

Long live modernism indeed. Look out for more ‘ isms…’

Looking for a Perfect Beach Body?

Oh yes, the easy way to that flat tum you’ve always promised yourself!

Something Fishy Going On?

Not really. Just a bit of print frenzy going on! I’m really enjoying the process again!

This card began when I rollered out some very pale and transparent ink directly onto the card, leaving roller marks and  deliberate inconsistencies in coverage. I did not photograph this for some reason.

I set up some wood type again and overprinted the background with a brighter, but still transparent green.

You can see the backgrounds clearer here:

When this was dry I made some adjustments to the type and locked it all back up again. I then mixed up some custardy yellow, also using plenty of transparent extender…

And another then another overprint…

Deliberately out of register to give a slightly 3D effect, but really trying to make the most of the transparency…

A couple of days later I got around to real reason for these prints – a new block purchased from eBay!

This time a very deep red was mixed and the Adana 5-3 was primed and put to task…

That is one hell of a flat fish!

Well? It’s a genuine request!

A Polite Response

I have had the urge to do something with some of the script typefaces that I have. Palace Script is commonly used for wedding invitations and the like, and for me, no matter what it says it will always look like it says ”Mr & Mrs Brian Dingleberry request the pleasure of your company at the marriage of their daughter Deborah Edith to Mr David Windermere Winkle…”

However, the actual metal type itself has other fascinations, particularly in its physical construction, from its delicate linework and overhanging kerning to its engineered twist in the body. In the image above, the body of the type takes on an almost architectural appearance reminding me of the supporting legs of some cast concrete motorway bridge. The image below shows how the twist is necessary for the highly slanted script to fit together snugly.

It is actually very difficult to set this type – remembering that you are working upside down and in reverse, and whilst the size of this type is 18pt, the x-height is less than 2mm!

Once the text was set I went rooting through a number of little boxes of type that I have but never used, and found this box of unused 6pt border patterns!

The final forme looks like this:

You can really see the kerned elements overhanging in these shots…

And what does it all mean?

I love to see swear words set in Palace Script, don’t you?

Birthday Greetings!

I’m not one for deep meaning, sentimental greetings cards (you may have noticed here) and decided to make some cards to send out to friends who I think would appreciate the simplicity of a hand made card.

I decided on a very formal, slightly old-fashioned message using my bold lightly condensed woodtype. I don’t use these enough and wish I could afford some classic serif type to use with them, but ebay has become too expensive for wood type these days, with most fonts being listed with a start price of £70 and going for much, much more. I’m glad I bought these when I did.

Anyway, I run about 20 cards in a light, duck-egg blue, and added a bit of extra colour towards the end to make a rather sickly green which you’ll see in later images.

I also messed about with the inks just before I finished and wiped all the spatulas onto the inkplate, lightly rolling it out to spread it, but leaving it unmixed on the roller, and got this one:

If this looks familiar,  I will confess to being inspired by the work of Alan Kitching, whose work I saw at an exhibition in 2009.

A day or two later, when this was fully dry, I mixed up a rich warm red and added a smidgen of white and lots of transparent extender medium for good effect as I offset the second inking of the word ‘happy.’

It has a nice retro quality doesn’t it?

For me, this is absolutely bang on the money. I must say that in the last year or so of printing, this is probably the closest I have got to realising an ‘in-progress’ letterpress printing. By that I mean, something that begins in front of the press (not on screen or in a sketchbook) letting the blocks and the colours influence a very raw and basic idea, led by the fact that I have all of this stuff to hand. A lovely feeling.

I doubt anyone who receives a card will really appreciate this, but I reckon they will understand the time and effort, if not the process, which is good enough for me.

I also did a couple of variations, specifically for individuals, most of whom will have received theirs by now. Happy birthday – you know who you are…

The Moving Finger Writes…

I bought this fantastic copper top block of a ‘printers fist’ during the winter and have been looking forward to using it. It’s quite big – 116mm from cuff to fingertip and fits snugly into the bed of the Adana 3-5, with just a bit of extra packing behind it to raise it up to type-high.

I made a few test prints a few days ago and although I did not get a really good print, I think I will with a little more packing. These light prints are very encouraging though!

So, to get things moving and give myself something to work to, I began cutting a lino block to use as a background colour:

The idea is to cut away the area of the card in the hand and the cuff. I am also considering making some cuts into the hand area too, but will leave that for later.

I was playing with pale yellows and greens, adding a little extra ink to the inkplate to give each one a slightly different colour.

I ran about a dozen postcards just with the colour block, along with a few for registration set up. I couldn’t help myself trying it out on one of my earlier test prints.

Not bad for guesswork registration! You can see the green ink overprinting the black on the image below – I used some extender medium to give the ink some transparency, but when I print the fist on top of the colour block there will be much more contrast.

Just like the one below! I am writing this post over several days – for me, this is now the third day I have worked on this! The setting up of the press was a little more problematic than I first realised. I had printed the background lino block on the nipping press and was using the Adana 3-5 for the copper top block. It took quite a lot of adjusting to get anywhere near to register…

And then realising that I had not been terribly accurate printing the background, I went for a ‘close as I can get’ approach and embraced the Japanese principle of Wabi-sabi to its full extent.

I was near enough on most prints and not exact on any. Wabi-Sabi, innit?

Most people who are involved in letterpress and craft printing tend to appreciate things like the ‘printerly’ effect of under-inking and a little mis-registration. I do anyway.

Pop quiz: What do you get after a session printing blue fingers?

Answer:

Anyway, the next day I set some type – 24pt Franklin Gothic Bold – I don’t have a full set of this, but just enough for a few little jobs…

So, of all the things I could have put in there, why ‘oops!’  Was it about the registration?

No. I printed them all upside down. If you look carefully, you can see the impression in  the centre of the card!

Wabi-sabi, innit?

Community Chest

I’ve been back at the press for the first time in 2011. First I…

Then I…

Until…

You may recall…

In…

On…

Out…

‘Nuff said.

Seasons Greetings!

Aah,’tis the season to be jolly! Perhaps, or perhaps not, but  it certainly the season to be sending out greetings cards to family and friends, both old and new. This year I decided I would design and print the Lestaret family christmas card and the process began way back in August whilst on holiday in Devon. I spent a few evenings upon the terrace carving out lino blocks, sipping wine and watching the boats go by as the sun went down… Sorry, I just drifted off a bit then with that memory.

Anyway, I didn’t record any of that, but decided to record the printing as I had decided upon a three colour design and thought that it might be an interesting christmas post. We’ll soon see… The first image shows the mixing stage of the first colour; a pale green. I mixed a little too much ink and quite a bit spare afterwards which I used upon some odds and ends, but still ended up wasting quite a lot.

I roughly cut the outer parts of the block radiating from the centre, deliberately leaving some peaks to pick up the ink. I normally am a bit of a stickler for removing these parts cleanly, but wanted to use them to create a tinsel-like halo around the design.

There is a bit of  ‘Mickey Mouse ears’ about these drying on the lines overhead! A few days later (the ink dries quickly in the summer!) and I was ready to put down the second colour:

A mid green was mixed this time (a little more sparingly this time) and the second block was inked up and ready to go.

If you are wondering what the heck is on these christmas cards, well, you ought to know that they are sprouts, a most beloved or derided part of the traditional English Christmas Dinner!

I enjoyed this second stage as the design began to appear, but also to see how the ink reacted to the layer below. In the print above, you can see that I used too much pressure and squeezed out the ink to create the darker lines around the shapes.

The outer edge was also roughly cut in the same way as before to add more lines to the background.

You can see the design taking shape here, but it is when the third colour was printed the following week that the whole process took effect:

Very sprouty!

So after three runs through the nipping press with the lino blocks it was time to set some type and get the message onto the inside.

This is not a traditional Christmas greeting you understand, but a common phrase heard as the Christmas Dinner is served, and can be uttered in both positive and negative intonations…

mmm… 24pt Times Roman Italic! And of course, my own little marque in a festive berry red upon the back for good measure:

And lo! A card was born, and Mrs. Lestaret didn’t think it was christmassy enough and sent out some cheesy shop-bought cards instead. I managed to send out quite a few though, so if you got one of these this year – think yourself lucky – if Mrs. Lestaret had her way they would have been consigned to the ’round file…’

Have a great holiday, bloggereenies!

Back To The Future

Whilst looking through a box of bits and pieces of paper, card, scraps and experiments I found three cloth-covered book covers that I made for a project about six months ago. I had not measured accurately and had made this a little too small for the books they were made for, so I put them aside and made new ones. I had forgotten about these!

So more book blocks were made, this time to fit the covers, and now three new books exist!

This is one of a set of two that belong together. The cover was printed in white using a mix of wood and metal blocks from my collection and the endpapers are recycled from an old school crafts magazine:

The second book used the same technique on the cover but uses part of a poster of the planets for the endpapers:

The print on the covers is quite light as the cloth was already on the boards – I have printed on the cloth first and got a more solid finish – but I like the texture of the material here:

The past and present books were made as gifts for a colleague on retirement, and she was very pleased with them!

The third book I decided to make for me as I was about to finish up my current one and fancied something a little larger.

The endpapers are some antique music sheets I picked up from a charity shop last year.

Most pages have pencilled notations which were left in.

This is already half full! I guess I’ll make some new ones then.