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February 1, 2007
soiduts telracs
by gl. at 11:59 pm
first letterpress prints! alas, it was not as complete of a success as i would have hoped.
first i had to sort throught the typecase of the type i chose to resort everything into its appropriate cubby and discover what letters are missing. it looks like the largest quad i have is an em quad. not many coppers/brasses, either.
composition is easy and fun. the part i was dreading is, in fact, the part i like least: arranging and locking the form. the furniture is like playing evil tetris and it takes me two or three times as long to it as it would probably take anyone else. once i sorted it into similar sizes that helped a bit: i need a beter way of storing/sorting the furniture & reglets other than a jumbled box.
so finally, my first print:
what's wrong here? :) reversing the letters is such a classic mistake it was really funny.
let's rearrange the letters, shall we?
ah, that's better. sven got one of the mirrors i use for the blind-contour drawing exercises so i can always check the orientation, though i suspect i'll get better at this over time.
but this is the best print i could get out of dozens of tries. much more of them were like that second one, and even this one is lacking in clarity and detail. one of the big problems is that awesome star cut in the middle, i think. it's actually a cut nailed to a block of wood, not a solid chunk of lead like the others. so i think it's just the sliiigggghhhtest bit too tall. this means the letters to either side of the star aren't getting enough ink or impression, i think. even planing didn't help. this frustrated me so much i ended up adding enough underlays to the back that the chase finally fell out of the chase bed. i hope i can sand the wooden block down a bit. in the meantime, i'll try using the word "star" next time instead of a cut, but how can i resist this star?
i wasn't sure how cleaning would go, but i am pleased to discover the ink and the press is easily cleaned with liberal use of a weak simple green solution and judicious use of citrisolve, both of which i consider only mildly toxic at worst. (i use the simple green for cleaning gocco screens and the citrisolve for transfer prints.) the question of cleanup had been worrying me because i really wanted to avoid a pile of kerosene-soaked rags. with safety boy on my side, i didn't want to have to install another fume extractor. ;) sven's already already worried about the toxicity of lead type. also, i bought some lava soap which works great for taking the ink off my hands.
further review:
how do i know if it's the rollers? when will i know i need to replace them?
i was surprised to discover how easily the ink bled through to the other side. i thought this was reasonably good paper, but the star and some of the letters can frequently be seen on the reverse. is there something i should know about the paper & ink combo for letterpress? that was one of my least favorite issues w/ calligraphy.
i have no idea how old this letterpress is. it's an adorable kelsey excelsior 3x5 tabletop press, and a note i found in chas' things indicated it may have been made around 1945. how do i find out?
posted by gl. | February 1, 2007 11:59 PM | comments (7) | categories: printing
Comments
well done or at least a good first try.
I would suggest taking out the star and relocking up your form with a temp spacer. Then pull an impression and see how the type looks.
Type will eventually wear out or get smashed and maybe you have a couple worn out letters there, but printing without the (maybe too high) star cut will let you know.
Are you using proper letterperss ink? As long as the rollers pick up the ink, spread it evenly on the plate and transfer it to the type your rollers should be ok. If they get hard and brittle are pitted, then you might have a problem. Before you replace them try wiping them down with some rubber rejuvenator (available at a printing supply shop since offset printers will use this as well.) Maybe you can borrow some from a friendly printer because I think they only sell gallon cans and that would be a lifetime supply for you. Anyway try that before replacing the rollers.
Lead type is not dangerous to handle. It's not pure lead for one thing which makes it more stable I think. There is some Manganese, tin and sometims a bit of copper mixed in to keep it harder than pure lead. Just wash your hands after printing you will be fine. Get the idea out of your head that it is dangerous because it is not. Just don't swallow any type forms :-) you should be just fine.
Posted by: mark F. at February 2, 2007 8:38 AM
thanks, mark!
i'll take the star out, but i hadn't thought of just putting some extra spaces in its place.
i'm using the ink that i got with the press: it looks like the original ink in an old-fashioned metal tube. it's pretty thick and i just used a dab. it still has remarkably good consitency: how will i know when to replace it?
the rollers aren't hard & brittle, but they are pitted. still, it looks like they're coating the ink table evenly. thanks for the tip on the rubber rejuvenator!
Posted by: gl. at February 2, 2007 10:46 AM
GL,
Glad to be of some help
I am not super familiar with the press you are running but in general you can tell by sound when you need more ink. There will be a crisp hissing sound as the rollers roll over the ink plate. It will change as the ink runs out. That may take some time to get the hang of. It will be easier to just look at the print and see how it looks.
Too much ink will smear or build up around the edges of the type on a heavy impression.
too little ink will not fill in the letter with a deep rich color.
I am most familiar with ink from a can. A little thinner consistancy than shoe polish. Apply with a putty knife (ink knife). I guess they probably sell it in tubes too, a lot easier. A little ink should go pretty far with a small form like that. A little dab will do Ya!
As far as taking the star out, that would be one way to print a multi color job and keep your same registration.
Make up two forms that are the same size. Each form contains the type for that color. Then you can swap out the form for the second color and not have to mess with the registration or adjusting the furniture. Of course you can use up a lot of spacing material if the second form only has one line of type or one cut.
fun fun
mf
Posted by: Mark F. at February 3, 2007 1:32 PM
"As far as taking the star out, that would be one way to print a multi color job and keep your same registration."
wow! i love this trick! registration gives me hives. :)
Posted by: gl. at February 4, 2007 12:41 AM
Simply, wonderful. Great work, gl. Great info, Mark.
Posted by: shelley Noble at February 4, 2007 1:20 AM
Hi,
I stumbled onto your blog and all your problems I have also been dealing with this year as I try to get the hang of letterpress printing. One thing I discovered that made a dramatic difference was to use dampened paper. I wet pieces of a kind of tan card like paper similar to what comes inside mens' shirts. (davey board maybe only not too thick) I learned the trick from my Japanese woodblock printmaking teacher. You layer the paper between the dampened pieces of that stuff whose name escapes me. You can dampen the Davey board(?) with those lovely wide soft Japanes brushes and the water gets instantly absorbed so that the printing paper only gets damp. It will just feel cool to your cheek. Put a weight on the stack for a little while--leave for at least 10 minutes. I use a Sigwalt press which supposedly has more pressure than the Kelsey but I had the same results you show until I dampened the paper.
Lynn
Posted by: Lynn at March 29, 2007 5:48 PM
wow, lynn! thanks for stopping by! this suggestion sounds very similar to how one wets paper for monoprints. i'm looking forward to trying it!
Posted by: gl. at March 29, 2007 11:17 PM