alluring stuff

I finally got a call from the local public library automated messaging machine. I literally ran to library and cozied up with Letterpress: The Allure of the Handmade. While this book is gorgeously laid out with plenty of eye candy, here's a snippet of what I'm taking away from this read.

In the words of David Jury:

"The handmade object states its speculative nature by the fact that each piece, even with letterpess printing, is an original rather than a copy of the original. During the letterpress printing process, the designer/printer is constantly judging the pressure and amount of ink, to maintain the chosen standard. The process requires constant reappraisal, suggesting improvisations, deviations, even irregularities, and continually offering fresh and unexpected alternatives to form and pattern, colour and texture. Such variations are, in fact, slight and subtle. There is the ever-present risk that they will be overplayed, but they will ensure that every sheet, despite all the printer's endeavours, will be different. It is part of the unavoidable contrast and tension - between regulation and freedom, uniformity and divergence - that is at the heart of letterpress. How these characteristics are exploited will reflect the printer's own concerns and preferences. "

I try to explain this to people all of the time ;)