What a cool task! My kids and I actually worked on this task together (so much fun!). We all quickly discovered how challenging potato stamping can be: particularly when you’re trying to stamp a legible word.
My first mistake? I carved my letters from left to right. I didn’t think about the fact that I would be stamping the text in a different orientation to what I was seeing as I carved: oops! That was the first big lesson (which cost me the first half of my potato). I also had to learn to make my letters more obvious by carving around the letters more deeply in order to remove more of the potato-otherwise, my letters were like little blobs of paint on the paper.
During my second (and final) attempt, the last hurdle was figuring out how much paint to use and how to press the potato down on the page. In the end, putting a light coating of paint and placing consistent pressure from left to right, was the best and most consistent stamping method.
The entire project from start to finish took two hours; the first version took the most time because I was learning how to carve correctly (and of course, I carved the letters in the wrong direction). The subsequent attempt was much faster but still time-consuming!
Mechanization of Writing
I spent two hours diligently styling, carving and stamping one 5-letter word. Two hours! (And the word was massive on the page). I can certainly appreciate the convenience of mechanized writing as a result of this task. I can only imagine the effort required to make or find writing material and the length of time it would’ve taken to write a full page of text: exhausting! (Bring on the printing press, please!).
Update
I am very much like other classmates, such as Norah Smith, and I dove head-first into creating my potato stamp immediately after completing the readings and prior to watching Danny Cooke’s video about the letterpress. “…where technology has, really, pushed forward is that we can change things in an instant. Here, if 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 just have to take it apart and start all over again” (Cooke, 2012). In so many ways, this epitomizes my potato printing experience. I literally had to take my potato apart when I made a mistake, and of course, start all over again; but also, it made me appreciate all the effort and skill that must have gone into writing those early texts on questionable writing material.
8 Replies to “Task 4: Potato Printing”
Hello Tamara,
First of all, well done with your potato printing! I’m lucky to have escaped this task with all of my fingers still attached! I had already finished the first part of this task and was pretty frustrated when it came to the potato stamps!
Do you think that the recognizance of the challenge potato printing poses adds value to the words being created? I think about this in context of access to information.
“Do you think that the recognizance of the challenge potato printing poses adds value to the words being created? I think about this in context of access to information.”
Absolutely! If I’d had more space in which to write my reflection, I would certainly have added that sentiment: If I had to spend countless hours copying or writing a text by hand without modern tools, the words and text I’m copying better be worth the effort! After 2 hours (and yes, I did manage to stab myself a few times), the effort I put into stamping the word “Point” helped me gain a much better understanding of just how important a text must’ve been in order for it to be recorded by hand.
Well, your kids did a great job! Mine is just a lame attempt! I like the very physical nature of it; it seemed very much an expression of my self, something I do not feel even in these words as I tap tap tap them out on my page . . . I find the idea of the word, as infused by Being, becoming increasingly voided as it is further removed from the body until, at last, it is void of signification . . . my mental image is a word that is dried up with nothing left but a skeletal shape that points only to the memory of the word, and not its presence.
The “Point” you see above was actually my attempt, Margaret. 🙂
My kids decided they’d give up on the carving and stamping and painted the OUTSIDE of the potato instead. (Though I have to say, my daughter’s attempt at creating a stripe pattern with her potato was pretty cool. She watched the video at the bottom of the assignment description page and thought she’d try a pattern instead of a word).
I love the imagery you conjured in your description of “a word that is dried up with nothing left but a skeletal shape that points only to the memory of the word, and not its presence”. So, by losing our connection with words (if that’s what’s happening as we no longer immerse ourselves in building words on a page), do you think that through mechanization of writing, that we’re losing the meaning of words?
I really like your word – it is quite pretty and shows that this is certainly an art form now, especially as have the modern technology of typing things, but we can still use things like this for fun projects or to make cards, which perhaps in this day and age may make 2 hours worth spending our time on. I appreciate your insight into how important a text must’ve been to record it by hand and you have a point there, yet who decided the importance and the worth of those texts?
I also like your insight into what Cooke said in his video and how applicable it is here but also in daily life where we need to persevere and thus without perseverance in the art of letter printing we would not be typing on each other’s blog’s today.
Thanks, Alexandra! This was a tough task to complete because getting two samples that closely resembled one another was so tricky. I do like how it turned out, though. Recognizing the sheer effort involved in creating two similar versions of ONE word, ensuring it is legible and perhaps pleasing to the eye, really did help me understand the importance a particular text must have held in order to be recorded on paper.
Your typography is gorgeous! I could almost imagine this being a brand logo – wow. This makes me think how we can still take manual printing and then mechanize it. Creating a font is essentially that process – creating each letter by hand and then coding and mapping it to be used digitally on keyboards… Thats what I like about tasks like these, is the appreciation and also the nuanced understanding we get to underlie the ease we have access to now! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks, Jamie! It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure! But you’re right, I absolutely have a much better appreciation for font creation and honestly, just how lucky we are that things are far more automated.
Having said that, I found myself really enjoying the hands-on nature of this task; it’s been a while since I’ve really dug into an assigned task quite like this and it was a most welcome change.
Hello Tamara,
First of all, well done with your potato printing! I’m lucky to have escaped this task with all of my fingers still attached! I had already finished the first part of this task and was pretty frustrated when it came to the potato stamps!
Do you think that the recognizance of the challenge potato printing poses adds value to the words being created? I think about this in context of access to information.
“Do you think that the recognizance of the challenge potato printing poses adds value to the words being created? I think about this in context of access to information.”
Absolutely! If I’d had more space in which to write my reflection, I would certainly have added that sentiment: If I had to spend countless hours copying or writing a text by hand without modern tools, the words and text I’m copying better be worth the effort! After 2 hours (and yes, I did manage to stab myself a few times), the effort I put into stamping the word “Point” helped me gain a much better understanding of just how important a text must’ve been in order for it to be recorded by hand.
I’m glad you survived Task 4, Andrew!
Well, your kids did a great job! Mine is just a lame attempt! I like the very physical nature of it; it seemed very much an expression of my self, something I do not feel even in these words as I tap tap tap them out on my page . . . I find the idea of the word, as infused by Being, becoming increasingly voided as it is further removed from the body until, at last, it is void of signification . . . my mental image is a word that is dried up with nothing left but a skeletal shape that points only to the memory of the word, and not its presence.
The “Point” you see above was actually my attempt, Margaret. 🙂
My kids decided they’d give up on the carving and stamping and painted the OUTSIDE of the potato instead. (Though I have to say, my daughter’s attempt at creating a stripe pattern with her potato was pretty cool. She watched the video at the bottom of the assignment description page and thought she’d try a pattern instead of a word).
I love the imagery you conjured in your description of “a word that is dried up with nothing left but a skeletal shape that points only to the memory of the word, and not its presence”. So, by losing our connection with words (if that’s what’s happening as we no longer immerse ourselves in building words on a page), do you think that through mechanization of writing, that we’re losing the meaning of words?
Hi Tamara,
I really like your word – it is quite pretty and shows that this is certainly an art form now, especially as have the modern technology of typing things, but we can still use things like this for fun projects or to make cards, which perhaps in this day and age may make 2 hours worth spending our time on. I appreciate your insight into how important a text must’ve been to record it by hand and you have a point there, yet who decided the importance and the worth of those texts?
I also like your insight into what Cooke said in his video and how applicable it is here but also in daily life where we need to persevere and thus without perseverance in the art of letter printing we would not be typing on each other’s blog’s today.
Thanks, Alexandra! This was a tough task to complete because getting two samples that closely resembled one another was so tricky. I do like how it turned out, though. Recognizing the sheer effort involved in creating two similar versions of ONE word, ensuring it is legible and perhaps pleasing to the eye, really did help me understand the importance a particular text must have held in order to be recorded on paper.
It really was an eye-opening task.
Your typography is gorgeous! I could almost imagine this being a brand logo – wow. This makes me think how we can still take manual printing and then mechanize it. Creating a font is essentially that process – creating each letter by hand and then coding and mapping it to be used digitally on keyboards… Thats what I like about tasks like these, is the appreciation and also the nuanced understanding we get to underlie the ease we have access to now! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks, Jamie! It wasn’t easy, that’s for sure! But you’re right, I absolutely have a much better appreciation for font creation and honestly, just how lucky we are that things are far more automated.
Having said that, I found myself really enjoying the hands-on nature of this task; it’s been a while since I’ve really dug into an assigned task quite like this and it was a most welcome change.