Potato printing set up

This week, I chose to do the potato stamping activity because it looked fun, and I haven’t made a potato stamp since I was a child. I have some limited experience with making linocut stamps, which is a similar process.

The whole activity from cutting out the letters to stamping took about 30 minutes to complete. I chose the word codex because it was a new word that I learned from this week’s class materials. On my first try, I accidently pressed into the potato with my marker which removed the potato from the areas that should have been left behind to stamp so I had to start over. Once I thought the process through again I started cutting out the letters which was challenging for a couple of reasons.  First off, I had to be very careful when cutting away the potato near the letters. Often my knife slipped under a letter, and I was worried that part of the letter would break off by accident. Secondly, the letters C, O, and D were challenging to carve because of their curved shape and counters. The letters E and X were much easier to carve because of their straight lines and right angles. Having the right tool for the job would have make this task a bit easier. I used the smallest kitchen knife I had to make my stamp, but a linocut knife or hobby knife would have worked better.

The printing process had its challenges as well. I used a paint brush to apply the paint to my stamp which resulted in an uneven application of paint. In addition, it was difficult to apply the same amount of pressure to the potato during the pressing process. I also noticed that paint would pool in the corners and crevices of the letters, so I had to wipe the letters clean between pressings. In the end it was impossible to make two identical stamps.

While working on my stamp, I was reflecting on the mechanization of writing and how much effort it must have been just to set up a printing shop. Much skill and time must have been required to forge or carve thousands of letters by hand so that the printer had a bank of letters to use when printing a whole page of text. The font size of my potato stamp is quite large compared to what one would find in a book, and it was challenging to carve out those big letters so I can’t imagine how tedious it would be to cut tiny letters out of wood or metal to use in a codex. The printing process has many time consuming steps including making a frame, arranging the letters, applying the ink, pressing and then cleaning everything up for the next page to be pressed. I have come to realize that the mechanization of writing is a highly skilled endeavor and truly is an art form.

First try. Accidently pressed letters in instead of cutting potato away to create letter.

Second try with letters cut out and paint applied.

Final stamps.

Reference

Counter (typography). (2023). In Wikipedia. Retrieved September 29, 2023, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Counter_(typography)