Ailwylltio / Rewilding
I am incredibly grateful to have been awarded a Create Award by Arts Council Wales to develop and expand my emerging letterpress skills by working with specialist creative mentors to develop new ideas connected to public spaces within my community.
My research project hopes to deepen and extend my ideas and paperworks through exploration and collaboration; placing value on communal exchange and the simple wonder of learning something new. It’s honestly dreamy stuff and feels like a ‘pinch-me’ moment to have this time, space and incredible expertise at my fingertips.
Like all good students I hope to work meaningfully and purposefully while embracing serendipity, failure and imperfection as part of the process… easier said than done maybe?
In June lovely Theo Miller came to my studio at The Model House to assess and streamline my set up, demonstrate how to evaluate my inherited type and ‘diss’ it accordingly, as well as a glut of tips, tricks and trials to try and to test on my trusty Adana 8 × 5.
It was such a joy to be able to work so closely with such an experienced practitioner on home soil, in my studio space. No bells, no whistles and little equipment in terms of my set up as this was part of my learning - how to do it all well and how best to shop for my needs.
Theo’s enthusiasm for letterpress was utterly infectious, generously sharing so many ideas, skills and thoughtful nuggets connecting some of our conversational dots between my work and the practice of letterpress. I learned an awful lot in such a small space of time (have ditched many a bad habit) and now have a running glossary of new words that directly connect to the practicalities of the process that I am eager to explore and evolve.
Some of my favourite new words/ terms and my interpretations of how I see and understand them are listed below, take from them what you will…
diss - to put away carefully or to throw back into the pot. Both very different actions with very different outcomes. The diss is an act of patience more than it’s not.
feel guage - the tiny lip of lead that differntiates a thick, from a mid, from a thin, from a 1/6, from a hair. My fingers know what my eyes can no longer see.
case lay - the layout of fount when stored. Like music, it must be learned. We used the Californian case lay as our guide, it will be forever more.
line - the division of space on the page. The point size all the way along the line. I remain a little confused on this one, as simple as it sounds.
colophon - the provenance, unique details and thoughtful additions about the printed text. Connecting people and places, times and seasons. A tiny celebration.
pochoir - a stencil technique, layered kinda like a screen print, to illustrate ideas woven through the pressed text. I must try this, it feels important.
foxing - book freckles. Often caused by acidity in the paper and signs of life.
hellbox - the box of type you will never sort out… kiss it good bye and wish it well, be sure to send it back for casting to close the design loop.
There is so much more that I am taking away from Theo’s visit; technical things that will come into my everyday practice, others that will sit quietly in my notebook waiting for the time my head connects it back to my heart and how that might look in my hands.
It became so apparent that It takes time and patience, that this is to be expected and not rushed along, but the studio chaos needs a structure for the process to flow, so tidy up Hammerton - there is work to be done.
Most importantly I learned to work with the best people and re-find your magic; the greatest teachers are those who light up your imagination, share humble picnic lunches and good conversation, while sending you the occasional homework via instagram to inspire and test you learning. My cup is full.
