Potato Stamp
I was a bit anxious getting started as I only had two potatoes so I could not afford to mess it up. Although I am comfortable with drawing, painting and crafting in general this was my first time making a stamp and I found it to be more technical and precise, than creative. In fact, the only creative part of this task was picking the word and stamp colour.
A lot of planning was involved in creating the stamps. In regards the letter themselves, I paid attention to making the size, font (style), and width consistent. I found it difficult to gauge if the surface of the letter was even enough to create a full impression on paper. The letters with straight lines which did not have closed counters where the easiest to carve. In this case “T” and “M”. Alternatively, the letters with curves where more challenging, especially the letter “P” which had both curves and a close counter and having to carving out backwards made it the most difficult part of the assignment and I almost cut the potato in half.
When it came to the layout and spacing, I drew lines on the paper as guides to make both copies the same. I felt it was the only way to control the spacing between the letters given the asymmetry of the potatoes. I made mistakes in trying to reproduce the first copy and its particularities; The overall layout and spacing between the letters were similar but I miscalculated the amount of paint on the letters which made them look different from one copy to another.
I was surprise that the longest part of the process was creating the letters and trying to figure out the logistics of the layout. This took approximately 45 minutes, whereas the actual stamping part took only 20 minutes. It reminded me of Paul Collier’s comment in Upside Down, Left to Right:
That’s where technology has really pushed forward, is that we can change things in an instant. Here you set up a paragraph or sentence, if you get it wrong, or if you haven’t planned your way forward through that, then you have to take it all apart and start over again.
However, once I had set up and stamped the first copy, the second one was much faster to produce and I could imagine getting into a flow and perfecting my method to produce better versions. I quite enjoyed the task beyond the crafting part, it made me consider the arduous labour and patience required in the early days of printing but also how every word in the codex would have been more valued than it is today.
References:
Danny Cooke. (2012, January 26). Upside Down, Left to Right: A Letterpress Film [Video]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n6RqWe1bFpM&t=143s
Hi Johanna,
I really enjoyed hearing about your production of your stamped word and found it interesting that you considered it more of a technical exercise than a creative one. I think that we often lose an appreciation for the printed word when we can so quickly and offhandedly generate text using digital devices and printers. I wondered in my blog post on the same topic as to whether printing in this stamp manner was reserved for important topics only or were there still usages, such as entertainment. I am curious as to what you think.
A difference that I noticed in your version of this task was that I used a single potato for the whole word. What inspired you to do it in this manner? I think your interpretation was much closer to the reality of the printing press. Do you think you would make any changes if you were to repeat this task?
Thanks for sharing!