As many of you know, I recently completed my 2020 Covid Art Word Project, which culminated as an elaborate design I printed on a letterpress. None of this would have been possible without collaboration - collaboration from my contributors, collaboration with my letterpress teachers, and the production of my letterpress plate from none other than Concord Engraving.
This 4th generation flexographic trade shop, owned by the Otto family, was kind enough to allow me a tour of their process of creating polymer letterpress plates. This is such a high energy, very efficient, and super cool process! Many steps are taken from getting my digital design image (below) onto the polymer plate.
First, the design gets laser beamed into film, then it is light fixed, and finally bathed. It was so great to see the inner working of engraving planning. Thanks, Concord Engraving!
