The Art of Bad Printing
People of Print article:
Phil loves the intricacies of letterpress printing; “The inky textures, the imperfections in the wooden type, and even the grain in the paper. All of these attributes culminate to make letterpress printing truly unique”.
Due to the process of letterpress printing, no two of Phil’s prints are ever the same, and each hand inked run produces a different finish. “Some might say that these misprints are not true to the origins of letterpress, as printers strived for the perfect impression, and that these mistakes were simply bad printing” states the printmaker. However, Phil believes these imperfections are where beauty really lies; “you can see the heritage of the vintage type showing through, and the wonderful ink overlays interacting together to form new colours and textures“.
He is fascinated by the unpredictable results achieved by experimenting with new inking techniques and type compositions. Pushing the boundaries of the vintage medium to produce contemporary, eye catching art, Phil often overprints type with residual ink in order to see how the letters emerge from the wash. He also experiments by printing repeatedly over the same page until it becomes illegible, and new type forms emerge. He concludes; “There is no such thing as a bad print“.
