The Invention series was created using a new, larger angle chase (modeled after an older Challenge angle chase used in commercial printing to print text on an angle). Similar to the action of the children’s toy Spirograph, rotating the angle chase creates the hypnotically circular letterpress-printed image. The formes are created from metal and wood Hebrew types, along with type-high rule and metal ornaments. In these pieces (Invention XII, Invention XIV and Invention XV) the circular printing element is rotated 24 times; a single sheet of paper goes through the press 24 times. In the first Hebrew books published in the late 15th century, when there was no word for the act of printing, it was described as a “miracle of many pens,” composed without a scribe. A line at the end of one Hebrew book published 1476, poetically describes the process of printing: “in a moment ink flows over me [the letters], without guidelines, the ‘writing’ is even.” These phrases are included in these prints.

letterpress from wood and metal type

Lynne Avadenka