Letterpress Revisited

gtrev · February 16, 2009, 12:44:12 AM

Okay... I've had some ol' school kooky fun last week! - I've got a pair of designers who really! really! want to do some letterpress printing - their own business cards letterheads etc. We were interested, so it was up to me to chase down someone who still set lead type locally. Had to do a bit of poking around but finally found a lovely old chap who has a working Ludlow machine & piles of racks of different type faces (Brass Mats) for the Ludlow.

I've gotta say it's been a really fun exercise - we've got a Heidelberg Platten that still has all it's rollers & bit's to print - Okay I'll own up... years ago I started in this trade as an Offset/Letterpress printer before moving to prepress when Macs made the first inroads.

I spent quite a few years doing jobbing work on a platten, so i'm kinda taken with revisiting the skill & craft to get the results these designers are after - nice impression on a toothy stock with a little bit of (human feel) in the result - It's interesting I've started appreciating natural kerning & odd leading - oh.... and I'm looking at my large shed at home and wondering if I could fit some old machinery in there? I've fallen in love with the Ludlow

Do I need to start taking pills?

Chelle · February 16, 2009, 04:40:04 AM

I think it sounds cool. I honestly can't tell you exactly what all WE have in our shop, but we still do some of that. Our guy is about 80 years old and he's currently training a guy to take over when he retires.

And I'm pretty sure that we can find you pills, booze or whatever you'd like. Just ask around... :wink:

frailer · February 16, 2009, 04:53:47 AM

Quote from: gtrev on February 16, 2009, 12:44:12 AMDo I need to start taking pills?

No, it's time to inveigle your way into the said "lovely old chap's" will, and get him to leave it to you. :cheesy:

almaink · February 16, 2009, 07:54:47 AM

U need to hook up with Lammy, he's a letterpress collector and operator.

Lammy · January 11, 2013, 11:15:55 AM

Sorry I'm so late to this. . .

Letterpress has seen a major resurgence as an art the past few years, mostly as a hand crafted art form now. So no your not nuts to think of getting into it.

What's interesting is there two new trends in letterpress these days. First is "digital" letterpress and second is deep impression.

Digital letterpress referes to using a computer to create your design which in turn gets turned into a raised plastic plate. The plate is mounted to a base and printed with. In this way you are not limited to what you can do with metal type and cuts.

Deep impression is basically printing while embossing without using a female die. It's always done on expensive mold made cotton stocks that have a lot of "fluff" to them and compress well. To do right you have to print with hard packing so as not to get any "punch" on the back of what your printing. The wedding stationary industry has latched onto this in a BIG way and has even been endorsed by the goddess of hand craft, Martha Stewart.

I Personally have over 48 cases of metal type and some random cuts but still do most of my printing from plastic plates. I have 4 presses and have converted most of my basement into a print shop. I am almost done restoring a 1915 Golding Jobber.

If your interested there's more. . .

www.918printery.com

t-pat · January 11, 2013, 12:43:06 PM

dude... that's ambitious. Apart from my policy of not taking work home with me, I admire the dedication to the craft.

Greg_Firestone · January 11, 2013, 01:36:08 PM

Quote from: Lammy on January 11, 2013, 11:15:55 AMIf your interested there's more. . .

www.918printery.com

Hey Lammy,

If you ever find yourself up near Boston again, just 45 min North of the city is a printing museum:

http://museumofprinting.org

I'm sure you'd appreciate the old presses in there.

Greg

DCurry · January 11, 2013, 01:46:28 PM

Quote from: Chelle on February 16, 2009, 04:40:04 AMOur guy is about 80 years old and he's currently training a guy to take over when he ~~retires~~ dies.

Fixed.

gnubler · January 11, 2013, 01:57:35 PM

LOL. Seeing as she typed that in 2009 he prolly kicked the bucket by now.

Lammy · January 11, 2013, 02:19:29 PM

Quote from: Greg_Firestone on January 11, 2013, 01:36:08 PMHey Lammy,

If you ever find yourself up near Boston again, just 45 min North of the city is a printing museum:

http://museumofprinting.org

I'm sure you'd appreciate the old presses in there.

Greg

In Andover, been there. Neat place and it's gotten a TON better the last couple of years. They have a really good board now and are doing things instead of just sort of existing. I have a good acquaintance with one of the members. John Barrett. He also runs a place in Chicopee that sells smaller presses and all the accouterments.

impodave · January 11, 2013, 02:38:45 PM

Been there also, about 5 years ago. It was somewhat disorganized then, but I think a lot of shops were unloading their old equipment on them back then.

The person on duty was kind enough to take time and show me around ...

Much of the equipment that I learned to operate in high school and college was there. Made me feel a little on the ancient side..... :shocked:

Tracy · January 11, 2013, 04:26:41 PM

Quote from: Lammy on January 11, 2013, 11:15:55 AMSorry I'm so late to this. . .
www.918printery.com

Hey Lammy you got any printed pieces you can post?
I'm very interested

t-pat · January 11, 2013, 04:38:59 PM

I used to own a Miehle V50, but only did diecutting and scoring on it. Terrifying machine - it could easily remove a limb without hesitating or misfeeding. It was really fun to run though, compared to the other presses I had run.

Tracy · January 11, 2013, 05:01:12 PM

why did you get ride of it? prolly was pretty cool

t-pat · January 11, 2013, 05:50:40 PM

Quote from: Tracy on January 11, 2013, 05:01:12 PMwhy did you get ride of it? prolly was pretty cool

I came about owning a print shop because I worked there so long without getting paid when the owner decided to split he said I could have everything in lieu of what he owed me. So I made a go of running a broken down bankrupt little shop with small presses, for a while. The problem was paying rent on 7,000 square feet of prime west loop basement space. It became impossible after the other company we subleased some space to stopped paying rent and decided to move out in the middle of the night and steal a bunch of my stuff, so I sold a lot of the stuff that was left for whatever I could get, and moved into a much smaller space, only keeping the cutter, the folder, and one small press (Toko w/ a T-Head). I then started to make money by NOT printing, brokered most of the work out except the easy 1 and 2 color stuff that would fit on my little press.

Letterpresses are out there for free, just gotta haul the beasts. I know where there are probably 50 Chandler & Price platen presses, just sitting in a room.

News:

Letterpress Revisited