The individual letters in cold type were each cast in a mold. The typesetter would make lines of type by setting each letter into place... backwards... for printing. (Not a job for a dyslexic!) A place where metal is cast is still called a foundry. One of my friends works in bronze and silver and she has her large bronzes cast at a local foundry so she can not only supervise, but do all the hand clean-up and patina work to finish them. The Mirage casino/hotel in Las Vegas has her mermaids and dolphins in the entry, so being a perfectionist does count. :) Casting involves pouring molten metal into a mold, which can be plaster or something else which will break away. Often the original is sculpted in wax... especially jewelry. A plaster mold will be formed around this, the wax will be melted out, and replaced by hot metal. This is known as the "lost wax process". The process was never lost, only the wax. :) And, for Ernyoka, besides "font" the other words I've used here with multiple meaning include "plaster" (a bandage in England, white gypsum compound here... and someone who is plastered is drunk), "mold" (clay (as in heavy dirt), a matrix in which to shape something, green scummy life-form), "wax" (grow larger or something made originally from honeycomb, and "type" (the defining specimen in botany, phenotype and genotype, he's not my type, and letters pouring out onto this screen... hmmm... looks like courier). All grist for a punster! :) Carolly