I am still working through the 1881 advertisements from the Warren Sentinel, preparing each image for the laser cutter. Each piece is built at 4 inches square at 600 dpi (2400×2400, about 5.7 megapixels), and there is a surprising amount of hands-on restoration involved. I often have to decide what to preserve from the original ad, focusing on the artwork itself while keeping just enough text to provide product context. In some cases, elements simply do not translate well or make good use of the space, so I adjust the layout of each piece as needed.
Along the way, I have been sending small thumbnails to a mentor for feedback and sharing progress through the collection. With each subset, new ideas emerge about what could be done with these blocks beyond 4×4-inch prints, but for now the priority is simply getting the prints finished.
The images below show progress so far across three photos. The first features the original Ayer’s pieces and eight additional ads sent with the second sample. The other sets each have 16 ads.
Original ads from issues of the Warren Sentinel in 1881, courtesy of the VirginiaChronicle.com
Ayers Cathartic Pills; Buck & Bro’s Cash Store; Hippopotamus; Ayer’s Sarsaparilla; Jungle Scene; Circus wagon; Hippopotami; Ayer’s Hair Vigor; Award; Wheat Fertilizers; Collins’ Plasters; Ayer’s Cherry Pectoral
Coffee; Anchor Brand Wheat Fertilizer; David Landreth & Sons; State Conservative Democratic Ticket; Kidnegen; Cuticura; Flagg’s Instant Pain Relief; Dr. T. Wolfe, Dentist; Know Thyself; Thermaline; Excelsior Cook Stoves; Front Royal Tin & Stove Works; Fashionable Furniture; Rosewood and Walnut Coffins; Iron Bitters
Railroad Schedule; Kidney Wort; Organina; Madame Griswold’s Corsets; Fake Mustache; Hall’s Hair Renewer; Buckingham’s Dye for the Whiskers; Imitation Gold Watches; Old Gypsy Madge’s Fortune Teller and the Witches Key to Lucky Dreams; The Mystery of Love Making Solved; The American Popular Dictionary; St. Jacobs Oil; Bickford & Hoffman Drill; Tolu; Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary
In the most recent batch, I experimented with adding a small amount of red ink to see if it would help the prints come to life. If I move forward with that idea, those areas will need to be cut separately so they can be inked independently. It adds a little complexity. This approach probably makes the most sense if the blocks are used together as a poster rather than individually. When a single print ad stands alone, the red primarily serves as a focal point; without surrounding ads competing for attention, that focal point becomes less necessary.
These 4×4-inch prints are much larger than the test run I did in September, so each block takes longer on the laser cutter. Any white space must be removed from the block that presses against the paper, and the more white space there is, the longer the cutting process takes. One idea is to remove the white space from the block rather than etch it away. With this strategy, more material may be available for other blocks made on the same material, but I will spend more time aligning the piece on the 4×4 paper when printing.
I have one concern: I think people would be more interested in looking at the prints than purchasing them. It’s hard to determine which ad will be ideal for people to identify with or feel something. They are old ads, mostly covering prescriptions that would not pass muster on a shelf today for ailments that have been renamed or, more accurately, identified.
While going through the papers, I noticed a few things that piqued my interest. The ad for Dr. T. Wolfe Dentistry used an old-English Gothic/German typeface on the first advertisement. All advertisements afterwards used a regular typeface. I hadn’t seen this typeface used in this paper before, so it was unusual at first.
At this point, I have about 16 blocks left, which I may be able to finish tomorrow. For today, though, I am officially done with graphic design.
