[UPDATED] WHO ARE WE? Letterpress survey

Are you going to let us in on your results? I am curious to know what you find.

Sure. I’ll let people answer for a while and then post some results.

I guess you don’t get my answers…Questions 2 and 3 i can’t answer with any of the supplied answers…and I can’t leave them blank.

I couldn’t answer everything as some questions don’t relate to the work I do.

Arie is correct, your choices are skewed to reflects preconceived opinions. I also use copper cuts from Owosso as opposed to photopolymer.

It’s safe to say the meaning of the options are set type vs. custom plates. Regardless of the material they’re made from. I’d go out on a limb and say that far more people are using polymer than newly made custom copper cuts.

Think of it as type vs. other

Megahurt,
Ok, I get that, but there is a place for a deep impression and a soft kiss. Sometimes both.
Steve

Hi Mega,
I think this is a fun idea, and I would love to see a cross section of BP’s participants surveyed here, but your questions aren’t really geared towards the full time professionals. But I look forward to seeing where the target audience stands on the questions.
Bill

i know i’m in the minority on this site, but i’m a fine artist and create my own cuts, which is a long-standing tradition with letterpress as well as other kinds of presses. i know this site focuses more on type (which i’m getting into, and i love the knowledge i can glean from the discussions), but i don’t see my work anywhere in your survey.

you might also offer a middle ground on the deep impression question, something like “it’s an interesting style that is unique to letterpress and can be appropriate for some jobs.”

Mega- I have to agree with Martha Kelly in that some of the choices for answers don’t allow one to answer correctly. Personally, I think deep impression is just another methodology…. niether worse than kiss impressions, nor better…. just different.

Also…. you need a “not applicable to what I do” type of choice, so that we can decline to answer those questions that don’t apply to our work.

Martha- how do you make your cuts? Are you using copper? magnesium? wood? I make all of my own cuts, too….. and it’s good to learn that I’m not the only one left who is doing so.

The question about deep impression is basically asking whether or not you feel it is “wrong”. If you think it is ok to do, even sometimes, even a little bit, then the answer goes that way. So for you Dave, the 2nd answer is a match.

Imagine how many options I would have for each question if I put every possible minute difference that everyone could think of! I kept it simple to make the final graphs/responses very clear.

I edited the polymer vs. type question to be more inclusive.

OK…. I’m now surveyed….

What’s your plan to do with the answers? Are you planning to use them as a guideline for your self – if the main part says it, then it must be true …
Print, learn, use a lot of time and get the only answers you can use – your own!
Gott grüß die Kunst
Jens

Winking, when you got surveyed where did they put those orange tiped stakes, or did they use iron pipes?? Dick G.

neither….. since it’s just a temporary survey, they used orange marking paint and a nail. The REAL question is how long do I have to sit here now.

winking, i use linoleum blocks for my letterpress (they’re almost type high, and i can shim them with a couple of cereal boxes). i’ve done both linoleum (backed with just burlap) and wood for the larger hand printing blocks i do. (not that large, but larger than my c&p can ink evenly.)

you can see my work at www.marthakellyart.com. there’s a page of letterpress cards (not that many — i just got my press this spring) plus my other prints and my paintings.

I vote for iron pipes

Hi Megahurt,

How about some intermediate survey results?

Best,

Alan

So far 83 people have filled it out. I figure I’ll let it go until 100.

I finally reached 100 completed surveys. Here are the results:

http://blackheartletterpress.com/letterpress-survey/

Thanks for sharing :)

Interesting survey