From the Printer's Devil's Monkey
I was in the workshop until about 10:30pm last night. Then I went home and took a shower and lay in bed far more than I would have liked because I've had a consistent stomachache from having had nothing but take-out college food since it's easier to go to Potbelly's or similar during breaks than it is to go home and I for sure have no cooking energy.
So. Yesterday we made letterforms. We made imprints of Gutenberg style letters into pieces of lead that were then inserted into a handmold, into which we then poured liquid metal to cast the piece and then popped it out. And voila: a letter. Mine were a slightly squished "i" because I didn't hold it exactly right the first time, a corrected "i", and a "P." I'm rather fond of that squished "i" as there's something very sweet about first attempts to compare with the corrections.
Today we actually did printing. We took the long sets of type we'd put together over the last two days into a printing press, inked it, pressed it, and poof, printed page. This is remarkably satisfying.
We also made paper. My boss made a large cat of lukewarm water with cotton lint pulp and some blue dye and put it out on the loading dock, and everyone took turns to go out there and set pages and hang them up to dry.
I've a lecture on collecting volumes of Virgil to go to in about ten minutes. I can barely see straight from tiredness but am having lots of fun (tummyaches aside)!
So. Yesterday we made letterforms. We made imprints of Gutenberg style letters into pieces of lead that were then inserted into a handmold, into which we then poured liquid metal to cast the piece and then popped it out. And voila: a letter. Mine were a slightly squished "i" because I didn't hold it exactly right the first time, a corrected "i", and a "P." I'm rather fond of that squished "i" as there's something very sweet about first attempts to compare with the corrections.
Today we actually did printing. We took the long sets of type we'd put together over the last two days into a printing press, inked it, pressed it, and poof, printed page. This is remarkably satisfying.
We also made paper. My boss made a large cat of lukewarm water with cotton lint pulp and some blue dye and put it out on the loading dock, and everyone took turns to go out there and set pages and hang them up to dry.
I've a lecture on collecting volumes of Virgil to go to in about ten minutes. I can barely see straight from tiredness but am having lots of fun (tummyaches aside)!