Coastlines Letterpress A4 Print
£ 45.00
this print was inspired by the rocky coastlines. after reading that denmark had the third highest craggy coastline in the world (i.e. how long the length of the coastline is relative to its size), it made me wonder about the west coast of scotland and in particular the islands.
after a long search to find the appropriate data to answer this question, i decided to focus on the 99 largest islands. i then looked at the area and calculated the coastline length if it was perfectly smooth. i then compared this to the actual length of the coastline to see how craggy it was. this was the coastline ratio.
the shape of the rocks themselves are based on this coastline ratio. the left hand edge of the rocks signify the point where the islands would be perfectly round. the placement of the text (which represents the sea) indicates the area of the islands. so the island names that are further to the right of the print are larger than those that are further to the left.
the islands are then ordered by groups (as defined by haswell smith). these are then ordered by their coastline ratio. this gives the appearance of a craggy coastline. the island groups are then ordered by the overall area of all the islands within that group.
the small isles are placed at the top (with the smallest overall area) and the shetland isles are at the bottom (with the largest overall area). this calculation is only based on the islands that i’ve included within the print.
the print itself was printed by hand in innerleithen in the scottish borders. the press uses a specially made metal cast to imprint the image onto the paper. this method leaves an impression on the paper, a relief map of the sea.
the printing process is exceptionally energy efficient. the only energy required to operate the press is food to feed to the printer and a small motor to operate the printing belt. other than that it’s entirely produced by hand.
print details
210mm x 297mm (a4)
edition of 100
single colour ink (graphite)
letterpress printed in innerleithen
300gsm gf smith cranes lettra paper (tree free)
Only 2 left in stock
