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in paperside The Paper Cult newsletter
From the Preachers’ desk, We find ourselves amidst a period in civilization wherein fools continue to be fools, but perhaps at a faster rate than ever before. I am speaking of the Information Age. Our culture’s obsession with digital information, social networking, and data is unhealthy—and it is misleading. Most of the data is nothing more than static, like a radio or television station with a weak signal. Humans have long turned to technology to solve problems, without regard for what we lose in adopting the new technology. This is true also for moving away from paper to digital media. Aren’t we losing too much? long term history, traditions, relationships and beliefs. Entire cultures are surrendering. Paper is the antidote. We used to know that, but have lost our way. Restore paper, and you are restoring loyalty, balance and wisdom. The Paper Cult newsletter will let us share our knowledge and fascination towards it. The current issue will provide an overview on the importance of printing for the survival of paper. Welcome! ***
in paper side The Paper Cult * Postbus 2841-3552 XM Utrecht, The Netherlands
contents
in paperside
I. Preacher
Anna Fewster, letterpress artist
print issue
II. Living the paper
The present of Print - CMYK power Designers discuss around a table
III. Inside the paper
The Gutenberg Bible The first movable type printed book
IV. The -now-
ClichĂŠs: a modern way to letterpress
V. in paper side
What is now in your hands can be surprising, discover it.
preacher
preacher ANNA FEWSTER, LETTERPRESS ARTIST Using an Adana Eight-Five platen press, metal type, cotton papers, hand cut linoleum and wood blocks and linseed oil inks, I use traditional processes and craft techniques to create work that expresses and reflects my love of design and detail, and inspires an appreciation of the characteristic texture and quality of letterpress. Each piece is unique, produced with careful attention on a small scale and in short runs, under the imprint Lampyridae Press. “My interest in letterpress printing developed as I carried out research on early 20th century book design for my doctorate, a collaborative project with the University of Sussex and Charleston. With unlimited access to Charleston’s unique collection, and a workspace in Vanessa Bell’s studio, I spent four years closely studying the books designed, illustrated, printed, and bound by the Bloomsbury group at the Hogarth Press and the Omega Workshops, and I became increasingly interested in the ways in which visual and verbal interact on the page. In the middle of writing a chapter about the influence of typesetting on Virginia Woolf ’s fiction I decided to buy myself a press and teach myself to print. Using an Adana Eight-Five platen press, metal type, cotton papers, hand cut linoleum and wood blocks and linseed oil inks, I use traditional processes and craft techniques to create work that expresses and reflects my love of design and detail, and inspires an appreciation of the characteristic texture and quality of letterpress.” Despite digital technology dominating the way we communicate and record information, the stationery industry today is thriving, and is home to some of our most interesting examples of illustration and design.
I Love Stationery is a luscious collection of the very best of these, from gift wrap to greetings cards, notebooks, journals, invitations and much more. Organised by technique, it covers handdrawn illustrations, screen prints, letterpress, woodblock, digital illustration, calligraphy, spray paint, papercut, relief print and etchings. Each chapter begins with an explanation and tutorial on the specific technique featured, and includes an arresting array of lovely examples. Top tips and bite-sized interviews with stationery designers offer useful, practical advice on everything from paper choices to sustainability and how to approach manufacturers. Beautifully designed and in a gorgeous, take-anywhere small format, I Love Stationery is jam-packed with stunning notepaper, bags, wrapping paper and letter sets. It is a testament to the many designers, to those who’d rather send a beautiful letter than text or e-mail, and to the crafters who prefer to put their thoughts in a journal than post a blog.
living the paper
living the paper THE PRESENT OF PRINT, CMYK POWER All over the world, people use paper every day. From food packaging to recyclable newspapers and magazines, to office paper, printing paper and tissue paper, most people can’t get through the day without it. Paper makes our world better. And when we make the right paper choices, we get the chance to return the favor. Small costs. Big results. Direct mail is a very efficient marketing medium — and it shows in its response rates, which are typically measured in whole, single or even double-digit figures. In contrast, response rates for other media types are usually measured in the hundredths or thousands of a single percentage point of the total audience reached. Point, aim, shoot — and if necessary, re-aim. While billboards and broadcast advertising cast a large net on a largely disinterested audience, paper lets you market your message to only the customers you choose, and deliver that message directly to their door. It’s a more personal way of connecting with people based on their interests; and with variable data printing, you can even address them by name. So, why is it that so many people seem to have turned on paper? Through misleading environmental claims like deforestation, excessive energy consumption and crowded landfill sites, it’s been the source of recent bad publicity. However, with a little more information, it soon becomes clear that paper isn’t the cause of environmental destruction. In fact, it just may offer a solution. So we decided to clear up the confusion and turn a page in the way people see paper. Below are a few key reasons why paper is good — and why the right paper is even better. Selected comments from a meeting in which designers, business front men and artists discussed this time about the Present and the Future of print.
“As our industry grows and evolves, both print and paper have become even more important in the retail area as more and more consumers are becoming desensitized to online and electronic visual solutions. Our clients have learned that to experience the full impact of a designer’s concept, one cannot use a paper substitute. One must listen to the creative experts to convey the message to maximize impact and effectiveness.” Jerrett Dornbush, Southern Patio “There will always be a need for printed media. People like the tangible aspect of print media. It stimulates all the senses.” Brad Aull, Morph Creative “Print is a necessary and essential support medium that still works, especially in direct mail and product brochures. Print catalogs still serve some markets and customers equally well with online catalogs. People will always want to hold and access print publications because, when properly designed, they organize and allow access to information as quickly as a website ... plus they offer the thrill of big beautiful photos to show high resolution printed products.” Don Bagwell, Digital Impact Design “Of course print has a place for communication. The catch, though, is that lavish spending on print and paper can no longer be the norm. It’s great when new products are created to make a published piece stand out, but new products just seem so much more expensive that it is hard to convince clients they need it” Brian Yates, Sullivan Higdon & Sink “Print and its tangibility can serve as a good supporting piece to direct people online for an extension of the experience.” Karla Santi, Blend Interactive
inside the paper GUTENBERG BIBLE, A PREACH TO PRINT The Gutenberg Bible (also known as the 42line Bible, the Mazarin Bible or the B42) was the first major book printed with movable type in the West and the first major book produced on a printing press anywhere in the world. It marked the start of the “Gutenberg Revolution” and the age of the printed book in the West. Widely praised for its high aesthetic and artistic qualities, the book has an iconic status. Written in Latin, the Gutenberg Bible is an edition of the Vulgate, printed by Johannes Gutenberg, in Mainz, Germany, in the 1450s. Forty-eight copies, or substantial portions of copies, survive, and they are considered by many sources to be the most valuable books in the world, even though a complete copy has not been sold since 1978. In a legal paper, written after completion of the Bible, Gutenberg refers to the process as ‘Das Werk der Bücher’: the work of the books. He had invented the printing press and was the first European to print with movable type. But his greatest achievement was arguably demonstrating that the whole process of printing actually produced books. Many book-lovers have commented on the high standards achieved in the production of the Gutenberg Bible, some describing it as one of the most beautiful books ever printed. The quality of both the ink and other materials and the printing itself have been noted. The paper size is ‘double folio’, with two pages printed on each side (four pages per sheet). After printing the paper was folded once to the size of a single page. Typically, five of these folded sheets (10 leaves, or 20 printed pages) were combined to a single physical section, called a quinternion, that could then be bound into a book.Some sections may have been printed in a larger number, especially those printed later in the publishing process, and sold unbound. The pages were not numbered. The technique was not new, since
it had been used to make blank “white-paper” books to be written afterwards. What was new was determining beforehand the correct placement and orientation of each page on the five sheets to result in the correct sequence when bound. The technique for locating the printed area correctly on each page was also new. The folio size, 207 x 355 mm, has the ratio of 1.45:1. The printed area had the same ratio, and was shifted out of the middle to leave a 2:1 white margin, both horizontally and vertically. Historian John Man writes that the ratio was chosen to be close to the golden ratio of 1.61:1.To reach this ratio more closely the vertical size should be 338 mm, but there is no reason why Gutenberg would leave this non-trivial difference of 8 mm go by in such a detailed work in other aspects.
THE SACRED PAPER Possibly to save paper, later pages of the book had the line spacing decreased (margins remained the same) so that more lines (from 40 to 42) of text would fit on a page. Thus it became known also as a 42-line Bible. In subsequent printings the earlier pages were reset to 42 lines as well. A single complete copy of the Gutenberg Bible has 1,272 pages; with 4 pages per folio-sheet, 318 sheets of paper are required per copy. The handmade paper used was of fine quality and was imported from Fabriano, Italy. Each sheet contains a watermark, which may be seen when the paper is held up to the light. Some editions include vellum for a few pages. Gutenberg developed an oil-based ink that would better adhere to his metal type. His ink was primarily carbon, but also copper, lead, and titanium.
inside the paper
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Microscopic views of the letterpress printed Gutenberg Bible page one - New Testament 400%, 1000%, 4000%
the -now-
the -nowCLICHÉ, THE MODERN LETTERPRESS In printing, a stereotype, also known as a cliché, stereoplate or simply a stereo, was originally a “solid plate of type-metal, cast from a papier-mâché or plaster mould taken from the surface of a forme of type” used for printing instead of the original. The compositing of individual cast metal sorts of type into lines with leading and furniture tightly bound into a page forme was laborintensive and costly. The printer would incur further expense through loss of the sorts for other uses once held in formes. With the growth in popularity of the novel, printers who did not accurately predict sales were forced into the expense of resetting type for subsequent editions. The stereotype radically changed the way novels were reprinted, saving the printer’s recompositing expense while freeing the sorts for other jobs. Stereotyping was invented by William Ged in 1725, who apparently stereotyped plates for the Bible at Cambridge University before abandoning the business. Wide application of the technique, with improvements, is attributed to Charles Stanhope in the early 1800s. Printing plates for the Bible were stereotyped in the US in 1814. Over time, this became a metaphor for any set of ideas repeated identically, en bloc, with minor changes. In fact, cliché and stereotype were both originally printers’ words, and in their literal printers’ meanings were synonymous. Specifically, cliché was an onomatopoeic word for the sound that was made during the stereotyping process when the matrix hit molten metal. This was known as ‘dabbing’ in English. Precisely, the form was placed on molten lead at the point of cooling to make the cast. Generally they fit most machines. We use Japanese and German machines for making these plates.The plates are made in a material contain properties to last at least 3,00,000 impression but our plates are known to last
more than 1.5 million impressions depending on machine, designs, pressure etc. A good clichés will need a very accurate depth. The selection of depth is very important. For example if the lines are thin then 18-20 microns are enough but if the design has a patch the depth will need to be increased upto even 30-35 microns. Printing on ceramic with ceramic colors will require more depth, hence only a specialist with years of experience can make these clichés. Steel clichés made of high-quality corrosionresistant chromium steel (hardness 63 Rc). For many years, special casting processes and a high percentage of chromium have enabled our steel clichés to win a substantial market share thanks to their quality. Steel clichés are also largely produced using laser engraving. This innovative technology is something of a novelty on the market. Extremely high performance can be achieved with no problems. Nowadays the cost of steel has really gone up hence most of companies find the cost of 10mm thick plates very high and they want thin steel plates. We also make thin steel plates, some sizes come in very high surface finish of ra value <0.05 - 0.09 mu. Both are extremely polished surface. The hardness of both type is 50 - 52 HRC. Nowadays, easier ways to make a cliché exist. A cliché is made by etching an image into the plate by exposing ultraviolet light to it’s surface. The cliché’s surface is made with either a polymer coating with a metal backing or of hardened steel. Once placed on the pad printer, the cliché is inked by sliding the sealed inkcup across the etched image. The ink is deposited within the etched area and then transferred to the substrate by the silicone pads. For bigger purposes, rotative stereoplates are still used to print medium volume of publications on these papers:
agenda * Encyclopaedia Britannica 1960 Challenge: A collaborative book arts day. Tuesday 28 October 2012 10.00-16.00 Venue: SNT Grain Barn Workshop, London. Cost: £10 / SNT Members £5. To book please email or phone 01544 260149 *Annual Fine Art Prints and Book Arts Exhibition as part of the Art herefordshire art week, Sydney Saturday 8 - Sunday 16 November 2012 * The Future Of Print Media: Does It Have One? Open Book Festival, Cape Town. Central Library. 20-24 November 2012
The researchers part of The Paper Cult want to deeply share their experience of looking* at such precious paper document. This microscope slide gives you that chance of appreciating the Gutenberg Bible in a different way. (Taken from the Page 01 of the New Testament, right column)
*Microscopes available in The Paper Cult facilities
the paper Papers used for the PRINT issue of in Paper side, The Paper Cult newsletter: Bamboo paper: bamboo has been not only one of the first fibers used to make antique paper but it is now considered the most quickly renewable resource. It is the fastest growing species of plant on the planet with some species growing more than a meter a day. In sharp contrast to trees which require decades to recover from harvesting, bamboo reaches maturity in three to five years or less and when it is cut, the stem is left in the soil to sprout a new shoot and start the growing process again.
Now, it is your turn to print. We will be thrilled if one of your valuable prints is sent to in Paper side, The Paper Cult newsletter. Enjoy!
BIO TOP extra: It is produced by an environmentally friendly manufacturing process that uses fibres sourced only from sustainable forestry, eliminates chlorine to a total chlorine free level and involves opti足mum energy efficiency, low water consumption and minimized emissions to the environment. Cotton paper: it is a extremely soft paper used since the medieval times in replacement of parchment. Cotton is currently mixed with some other materials to produce lighter and cheaper paper. However, the paper cotton 100% is still highly appreciated for artists and book publishers.
FRAGILE -Extremely valuable paper sample-
The Paper Cult now present in: The Netherlands - Colombia - Italy- United States - Canada - UK - France and Germany
GUTENBERG BIBLE 1450 Germany Language: Latin Type of paper: Handmade watermarked cotton 100% Technique: Movable type printing, oil based ink No conservative, only preservative, processes involved.