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Digital Media Productions
Letterpress
What is letterpress printing?
After doing a quick search on my phone, I have got the perfect for this answer. According to Google, Wikipedia had the best answer for the question about what exactly letterpress printing is. Letterpress printing is "a technique of relief printing for producing many copies by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against individual sheets of paper or a continuous roll of paper" .
Never knowing a lot about letterpress printing and reading about how it actually is created I was quite intrigued and have decided to look more into it and research artists and media creators who have used this technique to impact todays world.
During my research I have come across an artist that to me was very different to others and their name is Danielle Wagner. She is an artist that mostly focuses on manifesto's and making sure her message gets across very easily.
The piece that really made me pick her it's her letterpress print piece called "MBMC"; acronym to "My Body, My Choice" (which is shown below).
This piece is very what I would call " In your face", it's extremely different and peculiar compared to other letterpress printing artists I have seen before as it not only uses bright and extremely colorful background colors but also a huge text that it's spelled in a way to show you it is her choice and her freedom to do as she wants with her body and her choice in general (This is conveyed by the use of an excalamtion mark "!" put upside down instead of an i.).
After looking at more artists similar to Danielle, I have discovered someone that in my opinion has a bigger and larger impact than her and that is "North or Nowt"
Their work is aboslutely amazing and inspiring to say the least. As you can see in the images linked below, the artist uses a bright background made out of bright pink background made from numbers that are often used in a sexual matter, such as "69".
The message also is straight-forward and very in your face because it is trying to directly explain that women aren't just numbers and they all are free women. This is a very strong message and it is displayed perfectly.
Letterpress printing tutorial and lesson:
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to attend the letterpress printing lesson due to some personal matter, but after speaking to a few of my classmates about their experience in the tutorial I have come to a few conclusions. One, I should sign up and try the letterpressing tutorial soon and experience with it myself, and also that there is a few things I would've done differently to others such as using more Bold words than the others have used, and also experiment more with different ways of creating the words (such as using punctuation instead of letters, or even numbers) as this really showcases the power of letterpress printing.
After researching multiple artists and watching a few videos on it, I would create a brightly colored background and then use contrasting colors/shades to showcase and put the focus on the word/phrase I am trying to expose people to mainly as a main point of focus.
Shown below is a letterpress print poster I have created on my computer using photoshop.​
As you can see I have used a bright color background made using a splatter brush, then picking a word from the manifesto which to me meant the most. That word was "FREEDOM" as it's the one thing everyone wants and needs, wether it is creative freedom, or freedom from everydays struggles or society; freedom is needed and wanted by everyone hence my choice of picking it.
I have then used the word in Helvetica neue Bold font and using a very bright yellow to add more to the background. Then I have decided to repeat it once more but using bright green to further enchance the BOLDness and the "in your face" matter. I have then decided to use black, a contrasting shade/color to perfectly showcase what I stand for and what the piece was created for, simply conveying my idea of freedom, in this case creatively by doing this.
Below you can see the finished product
During the process of creation I didn't have any doubts or made any mistakes as I was using my creative freedom to guide myself and did something that represents exactly what I would have created if I was present at the letterpress printing lesson.
Letterpress Induction & Work produced:
As mentioned above I was unable to attend the first induction and couldn't do a real letterpress creation. Thankfully I have managed to book myself an induction where I have finally learned more about letterpressing, how to use the machines and finally being able to create my ideas using the machinery available.
During the induction I learned many things about what letterpressing actually is and how easy and difficult it can be at times. To use the letterpress machine you first have to look and decide what word/s you would like to create then pick the font and picking each letter individually to form a full word.
After that we got to decide wether or not we want to first give the page a background(adding colour to it by using a ink roller and additionally also a screen printing machine. I have decided to first give it a baby blue and indigo background using the roller in many different patterns. Then the word I have picked from the manifesto is the word "FREEDOM" as also mentioned above in my digital creation, it's something everyone craves and needs.
Creating the type and putting it into the chase was quite a simple task as all I needed to do was first find the letters in the specific size and font I wanted, then put them in a chase and make sure to fully set and secure.
Afterwards, I have decided to put the chase onto the letterpressing bed and put the fade mix of the two colors onto it using a piece of paper that has I have previusly inked using the roller.
Below I have added 4 photos I have taken of the process and you can see exactly what I did and what the final outcome was.
Personally I was quite pleased with the outcome although the first E in the word " FREEDOM" didn't fully print, it looks very good and it sort of gives it a very dystopian, worn out look.
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Final product
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