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Williamsburg Revisited - An Artistamp/Mailart Project
I chose themes of personal significance for me: the Revolution and patriotism of that time, slavery and particularly the slave quarters at Carter's Grove, early printing and the common press, so important in fueling the flames of revolution through the printed word.
I also wanted to show a few common scenes of the times
--members of the "middling" or middle class--shopkeepers, tradesmen, tavern owners. Starting with photos I had taken on earlier trips to Williamsburg, I edited the images on my
computer PhotoDeluxe program, importing them next as gif format images into Adobe Pagemaker, th The cardstock was then cut into four postcards, using a Challenge paper cutter. For the next step, I moved to my basement print shop. Using a popular colonial color, a pale pea-green, for the ink, I printed a zinc
etching on the address side of each postcard. This involved hand-feeding the cards one at a time onto the tympan of the press, printing each, then removing and stacking the cards. An accomplished printer can do a few
hundred cards Of note, the C&P job press is still commonly used in many commercial print shops for making signs, posters, business cards, invitations, numbering, die cutting and a variety of other jobs. Originally designed with a treadle, most were converted to use an electrical motor with a variable speed switch, once electricity became commonly available. These presses weigh about half a ton. The letterpress images I selected included a Another was originally a linocut design of the common press. Since
linocuts tend to wear out after only a few hundred images, I had the design The return address was printed letterpress in a separate step,
as etchings and text require different amounts of ink and pressure for a good impression. The text was handset in 8 point Colm Cille type. Colm Cille is an Irish typeface, an uncial type which mimics the rounded hand Now, as in the 18th century, Colonial Williamsburg uses a Caslon type face, originally designed in England by William Caslon and imported to the colonies. Today the Caslon type used at Williamsburg is supplied by the Quaker Type Foundry in Pennsylvania. I chose the Colm Cille type as a type face still authentic to the period, and a favorite of mine. After I finished the letterpress printing, I went back to the computer and
selected a series of images for stamps to complement the postcards, and again, these were computer-generated using digital photos. The photos were taken with an Olympus DL500 digital camera, which has the advantage
of a zoom lens, but is hopeless for moving objects! The printed sheets were then perforated on I continued the project in New York and Williamsburg, adding stamps, addresses and cancellation marks as I found time. I also carved several new eraser stamps. By a happy stroke of luck, I found rubber stamps with African Adrinka symbols at an art store in New York City. I added Adrinka symbols representing "wisdom," "perseverance," and "hope in the face of adversity" to the postcards of the Carter's Grove slave quarters. The final design element was added by the official Postmistress at the Williamsburg Post Office, located in the store above the print shop. Luckily for me, I was able to watch and photograph as the Postmistress’ hand canceled one batch of postcards. She took pride in placing the cancellation marks carefully and artfully, and seemed to greatly enjoy her contribution to the project, even though there were about thirty cards in that batch to cancel! ---- Rachel Scott 2000 |
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Once Miss Millie had perfected her time machine, 
Freedom of the press is almost taken for granted in the United States now, but was a new concept in colonial times.
"Newes" papers had just been invented, and throughout the colonies, the news was spread by the printed word for the
first time in history.
en printing four images at a time onto 8Xll card stock on an Epson 740 color printer.
in an hour. (It takes me longer). I used my Chandler & Price
1917 job press with an 8X12 inch chase. This is the maximum size of type that can be printed on it at a time, although when practically speaking, the type or design elements shouldn't
take up more than half of the 8X12 space.
favorite--colonial drummer boys, originally a photo of two members of Hanaford's
Volunteers Fife & Drum Corps of Underhill, Vermont. To make it, I scanned the photo onto my computer, then edited it into a high contrast black and white image, from which a zinc cut could be made.
copied as a zinc etching. Others designs were originally early
engravings. A few were by Mr. Thomas Bewick. One, of a horse’s head, by an unknown engraver, came from a 19th century book on veterinary horse care.
-printed letters of clerics of the pre-Gutenberg era.
my tabletop antique Rosback perforator, with a few hours to spare before leaving town for the airport.