Sometimes I Love Photographing The Thing I Love More Than Actually Doing The Thing I Love

Visual odes to letterpress printing

THOSE that know me know I love doing this thing called letterpress printing — a process that this guy invented which started the movement towards ink on paper in a repeatable way. The age of the scholarly monk and their scribes was over!

#printisntdead. But that’s another matter.

Now, I don’t mind admitting this, but inspiration doesn’t always strike and I can go for weeks or even months without conceiving, designing and printing anything of merit on my printing press. I deliberately limit myself to using the vintage lead type that I have bought over time (I try to avoid buying newly cast type in favour of picking up secondhand sets), or going to the collection of printing blocks that my father used probably between the 1950s and the 1980s.

For the love of movable lead type. This system of printing letters onto paper was introduced by…

I think this doggy is waiting for his owner to come back home. #letterpress #letterpressblock

Instead I find myself photographing these wonderful objects of printing history that I and many others are still using today to create printed art as well as commercial work like visiting cards, correspondence cards, invites, personal stationery.

A “quoin”. Used to tighten up type or a block in a metal surround so that ink can be applied and prints made onto paper.

These artifacts are often brilliantly designed, have interesting shapes and bear all the dents and character of time. There are ways of making digital design looked aged and creating patina. It comes easy when you are printing something using letterpress.

A 60pt arrow. It looks great printed ↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓↓

The only way is up. #arrow

There’s nothing I love more than photographing all this stuff with the macro lens on my camera.

A numbering box used to print consecutive numbers. They would have been used for things like raffle tickets.

Though it feels quite surreal to almost get more enjoyment from photographing the various shapes, textures and representing the quirkiness of this thing I love rather than doing the actual thing itself.

Oh well, what the heck… here’s another picture.