After turning up at the print studio, we were told to write out our quotes on a piece of paper and then choose our font and point size. I chose Times Italic 24pt as I felt it fitted the aesthetics of the message I was reflecting.
I took out the typeface drawer and took it to the table to prepare my print. We were given our typesetters where we placed our letters one by one on a 30 pt kerning. Because my quote was quite long I had to place it on two lines with another 30pt kerning between each line.
After the type was laid out and in line, me and Sophie had ours set together between a mixture of different sizes of furniture and tightened jacks to place it in the metal frame and support it with pressure so it didnt move.
Our frame was then placed on the letterpress between a selection of more furniture to set it for print so it wouldn't move whilst printing.
To print, I placed our chosen paper at the bridge of the letterpress and fixed it in place so it wouldn't move. I then put my hand on the paper and cranked the puller to push the paper under the roller to print both mine and Sophie's type onto the paper.
I wanted to use a selection of different papers so achieve different effects and learn what kind of stock to use for different aesthetics.
I learned that the glossier papers have a cleaner and nicer effect in letter pressing and so that would be what I will use in future briefs.
After we had both finished printing I went and cleaned the oil based ink off the lead pieces of type with white spirit, took them apart and then put them back into the type drawer.
I really enjoyed learning an older traditional method of printing and I thought the aesthetics were a lot nicer than when using digital print. I will no doubt want to use this again at some point.
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