There are ways to cheat. Always have been always will be. Occasionally it can be good, but mainly it should be avoid at all time. Considering printing with letterpress only imagination can set a boundary for ways to cheat. To tell you a secret; I do cheat when I’m making a one of piece for a special occasion. Actually I won’t even cheat then if I know for sure a person with good letterpress skills will watch be set and print. Bad cheating or lack of interest and passion in working fully with letterpress is shown on the two images below.
“Locking up” type like this can both destroy the leading, spacing, furniture and type. (Leading is mainly used for line spacing and locking up type with furniture; spacing is used for letter/word spacing.) The designer has here used most of these wrongly, at least according to normal usage. Why do I complain about it? First of all; finding letterpress equipment in good condition is hard, rare and expensive. Second; seeing people (here students) treat this valuable equipment like trash makes me frustrated. Third; how long will universities let behaviours like this happen before they get rid of it? One thing is for sure; I will have a lot of troubles letting anyone near my studio and equipment when I’m fully set up in the future.
(As a small ending; the way to “lock up” type is shown below.)
