Letterpress Induction

As part of our overall development we had a letterpress induction. As an induction, it was the basics on what to do as preparation and how to use the equipment. We were asked to think of a quote we wanted to use, the quote I chose was;

every day comes with 86,400 seconds.

Tick Tock.

The first element to letterpress is the type-setting. After we had chosen a font, we set out our quote. Whilst holding the block we added our letters. The word spelt as usual however they appeared either upside down or back to front, depending on how the block was held. If more than two lines were used the gap between the lines was filled with leading. Once the quote was laid out and set, it was put into a frame and packed with furniture. Once it was ready to print the whole thing was placed in the bed of the already inked up press. The paper was then added and rolled through the press by hand.

We printed on a variety of stock so we could witness the different results depending on the thickness and the finish.