- Was there something particularly challenging in the process?
It was extremely humbling to think of scholars of antiquity working on wood blocks, casting metal letters, and the production of vellum, papyrus, and parchment. I struggled to keep consistency between the letters in my stamps. I also failed twice in a row to create both stamps facing backwards.
- How much time did it take for you to create the stamps?
I was working on these stamps for about 30 minutes
- Have you notice anything particular about the letters that you have chosen to reproduce?
My first attempt (spelling out the word COVID) used curved letters which were extremely difficult to carve consistently in each half of the potato. For my second attempt, I took a bit of extra time to layout the lettering a bit more carefully with measured spacing. I also chose to use a more linear and block-ish lettering style which I feel led to a more consistent lettering between the stamps. I did however fail to reverse my lettering for my first three stamps.
- Considering the time and effort that took you to create a 5-letter word, how do you feel about the mechanization of writing?
I found this week’s podcast enlightening as I had never known that Gutenberg was originally a goldsmith. I have done a bit of jewelry work myself and I can appreciate how he was able to apply his knowledge of intricate detail work to successfully develop his printing press. This exercise drove home the intricacy of the process of creating a consistent and repeatable set of lettering – I even opted to choose a less detailed font for my second attempt to achieve greater consistency whereas Gutenberg’s press went for the gothic style of handwriting prevalent in the books of the era. My second attempt drove home the importance of taking your time for your initial layout and setup – by breaking the letter spacing down to a specific measured value greatly aided the ability to repeat the lettering later on.