Anyone can print text onto paper using their computers and home printers, but there's something special about type that has been pressed with ink into paper. For me, there is a mystery and allure of letterpress, the serendipity of slight imperfections of old wood type, the breaking down of words into single letters arranged and printed by hand.
I've been working with artists books for many years, and have been wanting to try out letterpress as a way of incorporating text into my work. I like the idea of hand printed type sitting alongside my monoprints and lithographs. I've also been working on some creative writing projects this year, so would love to print some of my poetry using letterpress.
So, once Covid-safe restrictions allowed, my first step was to spend a day at a letterpress studio, to see what the process of letterpress was. I visited Deckle Edge Press, run by calligraphic and book artist Fiona Dempster in the hinterland of the Sunshine Coast (fionadempster.com). The moment I walked through the doors, I knew I was in art heaven. The walls of her studio are lined with an assortment of large wooden cases, with long narrow drawers packed with metal and wood type, as well as various printing presses, rubber rollers, papers and plenty of inspiration in the displays of Fiona's beautiful and thoughtful artworks.
For my first go, I picked a couple of words from one of my poems ' Silent : Listen '. It was exciting to be able to select the font, then find the tray of type, then set up my 'chase' - which is the metal frame which holds the type to be printed. There is an amazing letterpress language which has been developed over the centuries - for example, forme, fount, furniture, galley, leads, make ready, pica, planer, quoin, reglet, slug ...the list goes on!
I was able to print my words onto a variety of papers, including my handmade papers. I plan to use the papers as a basis for prints, perhaps a series. And I'd like to go back and print the rest of the poem now that I have some experience with handling the type. I'm trying not to take on any more art techniques, but I can see that I'll be right at home working with letterpress in Fiona's studio when I'm ready to take the next step.
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| One of the trays of metal type |
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| Setting up the type block with my chosen font, I had to remember to put it in backwards/upside down. |
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| Yay! A successful print. |
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| Soooo beautiful |
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| Soooo organised |
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| There's something so lovely about old ink-stained wood |
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| That's a BIG H....! |
