Why the HECK did you ...
Out of context: Reply #14
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- Horp0
My dad was a print apprentice in his youth and worked in print. By the time I came along he had moved into sales for a company that made packaging - not retail packaging but carton packaging for industry. Part of that job was still doing some basic printwork on the packaging the company devised, and my dad used to pay me from the company's petty cash for laying out artwork, reproducing company logos in black and white with rotring pens on art board, and letrasetting type. I was doing this from about the age of 8 years old. From about the age of four though, I was swallowing bits of lead type and scribbling in type catalogues because my dad ran a letterpress workshop from our family garage as a moonshine operation to earn a bit of extra cash outside work.
It wasn't the kind of 'cool hipster' letterpress that everyone thinks letterpress is all about these days though, it was proper jobbing printwork letterpress. My dad would make up order books and duplicate invoice pads and do really complicated bound stuff... books and legal documents that were essential to business back in those days. We also did letterheads, comp slips, business cards, wedding invites and envelopes.
I learned to comp hot metal text around the age of 8 or so. and I could prep and clean up an Adana press by 10. I had my first business card by about 10 too... I'd helped my dad typset business cards for various small companies in the area and I decided it was time I had one too. It was awesome. It had red and blue stars on it and I used to hand it out at school and tell all my friends to tell their dads where to come for their print requirements. It did actually bring my dad some additional business, despite the fact my dad was so paranoid about getting caught moonlighting that he refused to let me put our family name, phone number or address on the card. It just had my first name and my job title "Typesetter & Manager,
Wirral Print Services".I totally fucked my education up and when it was time to get out there the only thing I had was my really well rounded understanding of print, typesetting and repro, so I did a sort of apprenticeship (a YTS scheme) in a design studio and then five years later went to art school.