pressure print

ABT Definition

letterpress technique and resulting print made by placing a flexible, layered matrix behind the printing sheet which is then fed into the grippers to pull an impression from a type-high, inked plate. The plate is most often a solid, uncut surface.

A pressure print is characterized by soft edges and a range of tonalities accomplished in a single run. Essentially, the matrix is elaborate make-ready that applies more pressure in thicker areas and less in thinner. Often, pressure prints introduce visual noise around the central image. To limit this marginal noise, the shape of the plate can be altered so that the inked areas are confined to the image developed in the matrix. The term was coined by Barbara Tetenbaum in 1989. Joe Wilfer is said to have coined the term stratography.

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