During an artist residency at the Museum of Fine Arts in Santa Cruz de Tenerife, we developed a special technique to create one of a kind monotype prints using nothing but type, ink and super-thin tissue paper. The prints are created by inking a huge offset roller and then removing ink by rolling it manually over compositions of dry clean woodtype. As the roller passes over the text the information is transferred onto the roller, layer by layer. The result is a unique negative print with an almost ghostly quality to it. Small imperfections vanish as the thin paper is very absorbent. The transparent paper combined with lighting opens up endless creative possibilities but for this very edition we have used black ink and pieces of colored paper that can be seen through the semitransparent tissue paper. The element of chance with experimental letterpress printing is liberating and surprisingly inspiring and these experimental prints we see as a tribute to letterpress printing and woodtype.

Monotype print and collage

Lars Amundsen & Matthias Beck, Tipos en su tinta.