In the course of Lego letterpress research, I happened upon a “non-Lego” brand of building bricks, containing flat “finishing” tiles with intriguing geometries. I was curious to compose meandering paths with these new shapes, and my limited number of tiles required the creation of half the form in the press bed and a “work & whirl” approach. Earlier experiments using vellum as a print guide showed that I could again double the complexity and symmetrical richness of the work by printing “recto-verso” or on both sides of a translucent sheet. Perhaps I am being economical or just lazy with press setup, but the unpredictability of forms arising from a single “strand” printed 4 times sustains my creative eye. I find the mirroring of pattern on itself, particularly with colors slightly softened from the back of the sheet, both mathematically and visually compelling.

Lego Letterpress on vellum (printed recto-verso)

Mike Sonnichsen