design practice: Vernon Street Letter Press Induction.

we had a session at vernon street that introduced the use and process of the letterpress. the letter press is a mechanical piece of equipment that was invented in the 1440's and is used to print movable type in large and multiple quantities.

http://ua-letterpress.blogspot.co.uk/2011/06/lettermpress-virtual-letterpress-by.html

we were each asked to bring in some text to print and i chose some song lyrics to print. the first thing we had to do was choose a typeface and so i chose Times 24pt. to work with. we were then each given a draw from the chest of fonts. the draws are arraigned in separate letters plus glyphs and are organised so that the most frequently used letter are the most accessible and central.

we were given a map to the draw which shows us where each glyph was. we had to use this map to gather and arrange all the letters and punctuation necessary for our text.

we were each given a typesetting tool with which to organise our letters. we had to make sure each letter was the correct size and case and then we had to spell our entire text backwards because this is how the correct orientation is then printed onto the stock. at the end of each line are blocks to fill the space left and in between each line is a leading block.

the lever is used to loosen or secure lines of type on the typesetter tool that are set and ready to be printed.

if more text is required than can fit on the typesetting tool a type galley is used to hold all completed text so new lines of text can be set.

once all type is set it is placed in a frame and surrounded by furniture than is used to secure the lines of set text in position in order to be printed. the frame is the placed on the letterpress and secured again into place using more furniture.