|
California artist Claudia Laub loves the “cuts,” (a), used by her vintage
letterpress. (b) The same cuts after Claudia locked them in a frame,
inked them, and pressed them against a sheet of paper.
|
|
![]()
Text By Ellen Gardner •
Illustration by Claudia Laub
When the first issue of HOME COMPANION rolled off the presses 10 years ago,
computer-generated printing was, relatively speaking, a toddler. The rapid
development of digital technology in the past 30 years replaced methods used by
skilled craftsmen for centuries.
First came the 15th-century Gutenberg
press, in which raised, reusable letters and illustrations were arranged one
piece at a time to create a page. These mirror-image bits of type (like the ones
shown here) were locked into a frame to create a plate, which was inked and then
pressed against a sheet of paper. The Industrial Revolution of the 1800s brought
machines that fed paper into faster presses, and in 1884, the invention of the
linotype allowed typesetters to produce an entire line of type at a time.
In
the 1960s and ‘70s, printing operations began converting to photocomposition, a
combination of computer-generated type pasted on a page and special cameras that
transferred the page to lighter, flat plates.
Most printing today is fully
digital—except when used by artists like Claudia, who can’t resist the fine
quality of the letterpress.
Just their type page
1 |
2
archive »
|
