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Sunday, February 5, 2012
Macro Monday: Old Printer's Blocks
I guess it wasn't that many years ago that printed materials were all made using printing presses, led type and printing blocks. Showing my age here, but I can remember in Junior High School having my choice of signing up for Wood Shop, Metal Shop, or Graphic Arts. I opted for Graphic Arts and learned a little about setting type and printing presses. Very cool!
We have almost 20 of these blocks that my wife bought years ago at a garage sale. They are all similar (though not identical) in size at about 2"x2". They appear to be made out of a hardwood base with an etched metal (copper?) print face. The metal face is nailed to the wood block beneath it. I love the detail in these old blocks. I tried to research them but couldn't find much. I'm guessing these date back to the '40s, and they all appear to be advertisements for an electrical motor repair company. They represent a photographic challenge: To capture the beautiful detail, and because they are made as a mirror image so they print correctly, I need to flip them around so you could read them. Hope you like them!
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Fabulous detail and a great and interesing macro subject.
ReplyDeleteNeat printing blocks. Thanks for sharing that. I too went the graphic arts route (well did the other two also) mainly for the silk screening process so we could make our own t-shirts - Powered by Coors. It was the early 60's, what else?
ReplyDeleteI'm well acquainted with printer's blocks. My dad had a small job shop behind our house where he would do printing when he wasn't operating a Linotype at the LA times. When a customer brought him artwork they wanted included in a job he would sent it out for a "cut" to be made.
ReplyDeleteQuite the find. Never know what will pop up at a garage sale.
ReplyDeleteThese are works of art in their own right. How I wish California schools would offer vocational arts again.
ReplyDeleteThese are very cool. Hope you have a way to display them for your enjoyment. Good garage sale find.
ReplyDeleteThose are amazing! Your wife has a good eye, I'm glad that she found them :)
ReplyDeleteHi there - I like objects like this - they speak of a level of craft that I think we are about to lose - assuming we have not already lost it!
ReplyDeleteStewart M - Australia
These are wonderful. Love the art deco style.
ReplyDeleteHow cool! I love garage sales!
DeleteVery cool! I love the one that says Motor Repairs that Satisfy!
ReplyDeleteLooking at these makes me nostalgic for simpler times. Nice subject for Macro Monday.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful details and photos.
ReplyDeleteRegards and best wishes
Really interesting subject, and a nice job handling the photographic challenge. I bet it was not too easy to get the light just perfect to make these readable since all the detail is in the texture without any color contrast.
ReplyDeleteWonderful details in these photos.
ReplyDeleteHappy MM
I'm jealous, these are beautiful.
ReplyDeleteInteresting information. I think they were great tools at that time. :)
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in 7th grade, shop was mandatory and it consisted of the three parts you mentioned, print shop, metal shop, and wood shop. I hated print shop because we had to memorize the letters in the type case and I thought it was stupid (I guess I was clairvoyant).
ReplyDeleteThese are really cool with great detail.
Hey Spare Parts! Cool pics! Looking forward to the desert. Git ya camera ready! yee ha!
ReplyDeleteThis is great! «Louis» has two uncles who are printers and he remembers print blocks like these from their print shops.
ReplyDeleteHow interesting! Glad you reversed these so we could read them easily :-)
ReplyDelete