seeming

The making of seemingphoto.com print by Lostgens。 老少咸宜，歡迎觀看！

In sequence of photos:

1. Selected types to form the texts.
2. Framed and positioned the types according to the expected layout in a compositor.
3. Assembled and locked the types.
4. 30 minutes later, still assembling, yes it was tedious but fun. I was happily taking a break to snap photos, let the masters do the job lah.
5. Performing leading by inserting thin strip of leads within the gaps of types. You know, we call this letter and paragraph spacing in Microsoft Word.
6. Done, looking good and all good to go! The types can't wait to be pressed.
7. Carefully pushing the compositor onto the platen.
8. Locking the compositor against the platen.
9. Time to take out my roller blade, a mini one, yeah!
10. Rolling out inks for letterpress printing. Arm muscles needed here as the inks were quite thick, although they are water-based.
11. We are using water-based inks for this print instead of oil-based for faster drying time. Fast as in 24 to 48 hours, oil-based takes around one week. 師傅, I cannot wait that long lah.
12. Spread the inks on top of the types.
13. Carefully place a paper on top of the compositor, and rock-n-roll!
14. I was doing the actual pressing (the hardwork you know) hence no photo taken. This was after the press, lift up the paper carefully, you don't want to have motion-blur effect on your print.
15. Hooray, seemingphoto.com is ready.
16. Let's hang the prints like hanging my clothes at home.
17. Alright, lacking the patience to wait for the prints to dry, I found a quicker solution, but please do it gently, the prints need care.
18. Last but not least don't forget to wipe clean the types, with water will do, not shampoo.

@lostgens @lostgens.artspace #letterpress #letterpressprinting