The Artists of Steel
Australian stamp engravings from 1937 to 1973
Australia Post celebrated the heritage of Australian Intaglio Stamp making in ‘The Artists of steel’, at the Post Master Gallery, Melbourne from 17 February to 2 June 2007. The exhibition traces the manufacture of Intaglio stamps produced at the Note Printing Branch between 1937 and 1973. Central to the process are the intricately illustrated engravings which formed the templates for the recessed plates used on the Intaglio Press. Stamp sized, each had to be engraved into soften steel die by hand, at a ratio of 1:1.
Why Intaglio?
Considered difficult for forgers to reproduce, postal authorities grew interested in the process during the mid 1930s, when the Melbourne Note Printing branch replaced all of their Intaglio flat bed presses with faster rotary presses.
The mark of the Australian Intaglio stamp
The stamps, bearing the signature mark of the process, featured raised line drawings of varying heights; with dots, repeated lines and cross hatches used to simulate tone.
‘The process is entirely linear,’ says Curator Richard Breckon. ‘The groves have to be narrow enough to hold the ink.’
Limitations in paper combined with the enormous pressure of the process, meant that stamps were often warped, restricting the process palette to a colour of one. Secondary colours could, however, be introduced through a choice of stock or an alternative print process. Mute, medium to dark inks ensured that highlights were maintained.
The process of the art
Approved designs, originally produced as single-colour tonal artwork, acted as a template for a keyline drawing which saw the continuous tones changed to lines or dots. The keyline art was then photographically reduced and reversed to stamp sized onto the steel die.
Produced in reverse, simple engravings would take two weeks to create, with skilled engravers working as fine as 0.002 of a millimetre.
‘The engravers actually joined the staff as teenagers. They spent three to four years just practising the skills,’ Breckon reveals.
The end of an art form?
The appeal of full multi-colour, photogravure printing saw intaglio stamps phased out in Australia by 1973. The Intaglio process, however, remains a popular choice for currency and stamp production today. And while most countries now produce the engravings digitally, Breckon says that in countries such as Sweden, skilled engravers are still practicing the art.
Filed under: DG magazine 127
