The pressmen first put the ink on an inkball made of sheep’s leather stuffed with cotton, hair, and other substances, and painted the forme with the ball. It was not until the 17 th century that the manufacturing method was revealed to the public. The ink was produced by boiling down these materials, but its manufacturing method was kept secret by the printing house.
It has been found that Gutenberg used ink that contained lamp black and linseed oil, as well as walnut oil, turpentine oil, pine resin, cinnabar and other substances. For this reason, linseed oil varnish was used as a solution imitating the oil paints used by painters. To be suitable for printing, the ink has to adhere easily to the metal type and dry quickly. To obtain brownish ink, they crushed gallnuts into powder and dissolved it in water, then added ferrous sulfate (green vitriol) and gum arabic to the solution to induce a chemical reaction. Black ink was made by mixing charcoal or lamp black with gum arabic and glue. In the medieval period, scribes used black or brownish ink. The second key element in the Gutenberg printing method is ink. However, details of imposition in the era of incunabula are not known. In the process adopted in the 17th century, types were arranged in several lines within a frame called a "stick", and when the sticks for one page were prepared in this way, they were moved in a box called a "galley", and imposition (putting the pages in the correct order) followed. The finished types were kept in a case in the printing house, and a compositor arranged them to make a forme. Some claim that certain kinds of types were actually made using these materials.
GUYTENBERG PRINTPRESS TRIAL
There must have been much trial and error before this method was established, including trying sand moulds, clay, plaster, and papier mâché as matrix materials. By repeating this process, a large number of identical types could be made for each letter. Then, two L-shaped blocks were placed on the matrix to make a casting mould, and an alloy of molten lead, tin and antimony or bismuth was cast into this mould, which was removed when the alloy had cooled down to produce the type. When the punch was made, it was struck against a relatively soft copper plate to form a matrix. However, for parts that were difficult to cut out, such as independent holes, a counter punch corresponding to the hole was first made, which was then hit against the steel to make a hole. To make a type, first a punch, which is a key part of the process, is made cutting the letter into a hard metal such as steel. His method is characterized by the following three aspects.įirst his method uses arranged types to print ink onto paper, and many types must be prepared for each letter. Gutenberg developed the letterpress printing technique using metal types made by combining these relief and intaglio techniques. Again, stencils were used to color playing-cards. In Europe, also wood blocks were used for printing patterns on cloth in the 14th century, and panel stamping was used for drawing patterns on leather using a metallic engraved plate. It is well known that wood block printing was already being done in 7th century China. If we define printing as the reproduction of many copies of a material using a pattern, then perhaps Gutenberg was not the father of printing.
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