Press Releases
Let Us Print
Date:
2016-09-14As computers allow us to move paragraphs around, switch typeface in the touch of a button and swap letter size before we print, it’s easy to forget how hard previous printers had to work to come up with a finished book page or poster.
Now the National Waterfront Museum in Swansea will give everyone an insight into how hard printing used to be as part of the Welsh Government’s Open Doors programme.
Stanhope Press
Head of the Museum Steph Mastoris will be showing visitors how printers of old had to assemble words using individual letters, and telling them of the time it took to produce even one page of type.
And Steph will be helping to print Roald-Dahl themed bookmarks the old fashioned way before giving everyone a special introduction to the Museum’s magnificent early 19th century Stanhope press.
Steph, who practices letterpress printing as a hobby, will be talking visitors through some of the Museum’s printing treasures and helping them get to grips with their own word designs.
“It’s easy to forget that not too long ago printers had to put together every single letter to print a newspaper – can you imagine how many individual letters are on a page of the Evening Post? There is a beauty and a skill in the craft of printing that I hope people will appreciate with these workshops.”
Steph will be hosting two workshops at 12pm and 2pm on Saturday, 17 September, at the National Waterfront Museum. Entry is free.
The workshops are part of Cadw’s month-long Open Doors initiative, which aims to offer both locals and visitors the chance to explore new aspects of Wales’s culture and history.