I have a brain freeze - help me identify what this part of a printing process this is
A mystery item, I used to know the name of. Had similar items which I acquired when newspapers used set type.
7 comments
A mystery item, I used to know the name of. Had similar items which I acquired when newspapers used set type.
nanafindsvintage
·10 months agoare you looking for the word LINOCUT, perhaps?
hotwheelsbum
·10 months agoIf you're trying to figure out how to list it, try "Vintage Printing Block" or "Press Block".
They're all over ebay. Whole lot of listings, not many in Solds though.
grann-4629
·10 months agoA good friend of mine was a "Compositor" at a major newspaper for decades. He used to set the pages advertising movies, with graphics etc. The molds looked similar to your picture, except they were backwards and upside down, made out of lead, I think.
He could read a book with upside down, right-to-left printing as fast as I could read normal printing. If you want to see his POV when working, hold a book upside down in front of a mirror and read it off the mirror.
nyr134
·10 months agoYour compositor friend reminds me of Professor Backwards who died a lonely death when his cries of “pleh, pleh†went unanswered.
roccotacodad54
·10 months agoI used to practice drawing things upside down as a excercise to keep my mind from telling me the way I think they should appear instead of how they really appear.
I also practiced writing upside down and backwards. Mirror images etc.
I get some strange looks when I put a piece of paper down and write or draw so it appears normal and right to the person sitting opposite me.
Alot of artists practice in a similar fashion.
tobaccocardyahoo
OP10 months agoThis is related to the process but I still lack a name
From Wikipedia
In a newspaper press, a papier-mâché mixture called a flong was used to make a mould of the entire form of type, then dried and bent, and a curved metal stereotype plate cast against it. The plates were clipped to a rotating drum and could print against a continuous reel of paper at the enormously high speeds required for overnight newspaper production.
tobaccocardyahoo
OP10 months agoBest as I have been able to tell, this is a dry flong. But I doubt if I ever knew that term.