Just acquired what I believe is the oldest extant flong (paper-like printing mold used to cast metal plates) of a newspaper comic strip—or any comic strip. This is from 1912. My research has found an earlier illustration (1891, alerted by the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston) and plate (1896, Billy Ireland Museum at the OSU). It’s an early gag comic, just a few years after daily strips start (1903) and Sundays (1896 for sequential stories).
@glennf Have you ever explained how a paper(ish) mold survives contact with molten metal? (If it’s going to be in the book, I’ll wait until my copy arrives.)
@drdrang I have not exactly. Glad you asked—I should! The easy answer is that lead alloy has a very low melting point and hardens almost immediately. Paper has a fairly high burn point. Lead alloy cools very rapidly and hardens almost instantly when poured in the open. In newspaper platemaking equipment, where they poured in 40 lbs of alloy, pulling the lever, flowed lead in very quickly and then a water bath surrounded the outside to speed uniform cooling. So I understand! More research!
@drdrang More data! Lead alloy roughly liquid temperature ranges from 532°F to 620°F! But the contact was fairly quick. It can scorch a little—I have some used flong that is discolored slightly, but I don't think it would burst into flame. Dry flong (1900s onward) was “wood pulp or from a mixture of rag and chemical pulp or repulped waste papers containing these fibers” so possibly higher ignition point?
I should also note that this page was in a stack of 1911 and 1912 full-page molds (flongs/mats) for the San Francisco Bulletin. They are the oldest in my collection and the oldest full-page flongs I’m aware of anywhere, but I am sure there are others that are older that aren’t well surfaced in public and private archives.
@glennf were these made using a photolithographic process, with acid or something reductive eating away the exposed (if a negative) or non-exposed (if a positive) areas on the flong? I’m familiar with the metal plate making process but doing it on something like rubber or paper is wild
@bucknam Very welcome! It is an absurdly complicated process. One of many! I have dug deep to find photos and examples…it's coming together very nicely!
Flongs were made either (prior to this) from paste-laden sheets of tissue paper backed with blotter paper or (from about this point) a macerated wood pulp mixture hardened to a flexible sheet. Both kinds were considered disposable, and being made of paper, neither kind weathered well, either. Mold, mildew, insects, etc.
This acquisition is part of my ongoing research for How Comics Were Made, a book about the history of newspaper comics production and reproduction, from an artist’s pen to the printed page. Crowdfunded in February, you can pre-order a copy—I’m finishing the writing while we rough out chapters and move into final design in the summer. Ships starting October! https://howcomicsweremade.ink/order
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