Hot Type and Print Workshop in Vienna

Hot Type set ready for printing: a proverb by Rosalia de Castro

A little while ago I took part in a great workshop in the “Papierwespe – Workshop for Papermakers and Paper Artists” here in Vienna. Fascinated by printing since I can remember I’ve only ever experimented with screen printing and linocut so it was about time to learn more about the “black art” and hot type.

Lots of letters to chose from (all in Baskerville) and some of our printing equipment

The first part of the workshop led by Beatrix Mapalagama, the founder and owner of the Papierwespe, was all about papermaking. Never underestimate the number of sheets you’ll need once you start printing – I was definitely happy about each additional sheet I had the day after to experiment with. Besides white and gray sheets made of cotton (cotton linters) I opted mainly for my favorite material when making paper myself: abaca. Abaca is a banana plant and produces beautifully crisp, slightly translucent paper that is extremly tear-resistant even when wet (it’s also used for making tea bags…).

Transferring the set hot type onto the press and one of the first tries on abaca paper (as you can see the paper is slightly translucent and type from the sheet below shows as well)

The second part of the workshop was all about printing – mainly hot type but also some experiments with wooden letters. The reknown Austrian typographer Michael Karner did not only share his valuable hot type (Baskerville) but also his knowledge and experience and it became clear very soon that you need years of experience to print the “perfect line” (not to mention the perfect book!). The painter, printer and book artist Andreas Ortag was also assisting and quite sucessfully tried to nurture the wild side once the wooden block letters came into the game.

Handcut wooden type, first attempt to spell “PaperPhine” (not quite successful yet) and printed abaca sheets drying in the workshop

I guess I can say I’m now even more in love with beautifully printed letters on perfectly (or not so perfectly) made sheets of paper – no computer screen can equal the visual and tactile qualities of a properly printed word. And who knows – there is still some space left in the PaperPhine studio where some more equipment could find a perfect new home!

Links (leading to websites in German but pictures are international, no?):
Papierwespe Wien and Beatrix Mapalagama: www.papierwespe.at
Michael Karner: www.typografie.co.at/
Andreas Ortag: www.ortag.at/AOstart.html

I’m not a printer – if any technical term in this blog post is not quite correct please let me know and I’ll change it – thanks!