The guy who runs the letterpress at uni is great, but boy can he talk. It's fascinating hearing stories about traditional methods of printing and good to see we have someone at uni who is passionate about keeping these traditions alive.
I tried to play with different textures, substrates and wording to work through some of the ideas I have been having and how to visualise them. I have become interested in using pieces of the city in my work, train tickets and maps being of particular significance. I wanted to see how processing them in this way effected how we read those seemingly ordinary items. Beautifying these items and making represent much more than the original item to represent the beauty hidden within the city.
I also became interested in the idea of the hidden or the censored, of something being held back from us and wanted to play with that idea with the letterpress to represent a history that is being overlooked. I felt de-bossing and printing black on black to be particularly successful but I feel I need to maybe work on the copy a little. The black on black also felt like it represented the feeling of being down in a tunnel with only a head torch to guide you.
What helped me a lot during this time was after each round of experiments I was able to get feedback in seminars the following Thursday and so I was able to really make the most of these prolonged experiments. I decided to try different wording and moved away from some of the quotes I had picked up and started using more descriptive terms for the places I had explored and felt these were much more interesting and unique. Playing with how these words are read, tripping over themselves, repeated and confused just like the hyper aware state I enter when exploring and trying to take every detail in.
I really wanted to start looking at the relationship between the wording, it's presentation and the substrate and how these can start to connect and create a context which leaves a lot open to individual interpretation. Transforming everyday objects into something intriguing and show us these journeys into the city can be much more than just to go to work or go shopping, there can be explorations everyday, even just taking another route across the city.
