New Blog for 2012
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January 17, 2012 I suppose the most important news as 2012 begins is Fiona Otway's Documentary Film, Kiss The Paper
- a 20 minute documentary showing operations in a small one-man
letterpress shop with selected commentary about the past, present and
future of Letterpress Printing. we are very proud to have been involved
in this project and hope that viewers really enjoy it.Kiss the Paper now has it's own Facebook Page - and is showing this week "near" the Sundance Film Festival. Sundance cut back on their number of documentaries this year, but KTP was accepted at the Slam Dance Film Festival, which competes with Sundance at the same time and location. Fiona visited the shop this weekend with a bunch of the new DVDs - fancy ones with a cover photo and titles printed on them. They look very professional. We spent a very chilly day in the shop designing the layout of the sleeves, setting the text in wood and metal type, and then printed a bunch on the Windmill. So now, KTP now also has a proper DVD and DVD Sleeve - and, as you can see in the photo above, we are also in the midst of another run of new posters for the Film. BTW - We are very proud of Fiona's work. Slamdance accepted only 70 shorts for viewing this year - out of nearly 5,000 submissions. An KTP was one of them. I guess some - besides us - thinks it's worth seeing...... Jan 21  Saw something interesting on tv just now. A new series of Dodge Ram Truck
commercials show a metal type form locked up in a chase - and for a moment even
shows what appears to be the flywheel of an early (curved spokes) platen
press - right there on tv - on a Dodge Ram commercial! You can all see it - and a really bad example of how not to lock up a form - and how not to put away loose type and spaces.. But don't worry about that. This is a tv commercial - and the producer knew that letterpress was cool - and that's good enough for me... see it at http://www.ramtrucks.com/en/guts_and_glory/ Heck, they even named the series of ads "LETTERPRESS" It's right there as the alt tag for the "play video" button.... top February 7 - A 10-minute video about Letterpress and Paper in Los Angeles, California: Dave Hughes found a new video about Letterpress - and embedded it into his web site. But here's a link to the Vimeo source (which plays in full-screen mode) of INK & PAPER by Ben Proudfoot. Ink & Paper features Gary Wollen's 80-year old specialty paper house - McManus & Morgan - and a fifty-year-old Hot Metal Letterpress Shop Aardvark Letterpress. A video worth seeing, although we must admit it does paint a  February 12 - Fiona Otway stopped by on here way between cities this afternoon. She came to visit the cold print shop, and say hi, but also to pick up a supply of the new Kiss The Paper Posters that were printed on the press behind her. Kiss The Paper continues on the film festival circuit after a recent showing at the Slamdance Film Festival in Utah. CDs exist, but are not yet available for sale. As soon as they are, we will let you know. Fiona's other recent work - the award-winning To Hell and Back - a 90-minute documentary about Afghan War Veterans dealing with PTSD - has recently become available on DVD or via Netflicks. Fiona edited 100 hours' worth of video footage down to 90 minutes of award winning documentary. In our case, she edited a few days' shooting in the print shop down to 20 minutes of hopefully interesting viewing.  February 16 - Had a rush printing job today - wedding invitations - wouldn'tchaknow... But I shot a short video as I finished the run on the Vandercook. Then I posted it on YouTube and sent the link to my client to show her that the envelopes were done.... (Dontcha just love modern technology....) ;) Finishing The Envelopes on Youtube February 18 Kiss The Paper views at The Big Sky Film Festival in Missoula, Montana February ? Tony & Lynn from the Holcome-Jimson Museum in Lambertville came by this weekend. They brought a press that they thought was a Kelsey, because it said "Meriden, Conn" on the side. Actually, it was a Cook's Enterprise, patented 1875 - and was made by Bill Kelsey's nearest competitor - makers of the famous Cook's Victor - which Kelsey sold as his own after buying out the company. This press was discovered without an ink disk, so Tony is making his own. Quite an undertaking, but with the support of the museum's machine shop, we expect success. February ? Melissa Livingston came by again - this time to drop off her 6x10 Kelsey Victor for repair. She had some questions about the treadle-powered 10x15 C&P Early Series which has become her main press these days. We also had some fun trimming a lot of odd-length furniture she brought with her. February 24 Fiona Otway's letterpress documentary, Kiss The Paper now has its own FAN PAGE - with new photos from the print shop. And, Fiona has posted a really short video clip of us printing the DVD sleeves on the Heidelberg Windmill last month. top March 4  Joe & Andrea Lanich - local letterpress friends and co-stars of Kiss The Paper came by to say good bye. Joe & Andrea first came to the shop back in January of 2010
- "to see what this letterpress stuff was all about"... And then, they
found some presses and began printing. Now they have dived in deep into
their letterpress operation - the Laughing Owl Press
is now a full-time effort for them both. They've left their day jobs,
sold their house in NJ and have moved back to their homeland in the
woods and hills of rural northwestern PA - home of the annual
LeekFest, for which they've been printing the posters since they've
become letterpress printers. Joe & Andrea, btw, are the young couple featured as students in (& co-stars of) Fiona Otway's documentary Kiss The Paper. March 15 - Mid-month update Well, it's finally warmed up in the shop. No more need for those pesky propane heaters - except at night. Daylight, sunshine, longer days and fun days in the print shop. Roller casting is going well, and are restocking inventory on the popular 5x8 Kelsey rollers. We'll be doing 3x5s and some custom orders next. But as much as we enjoy making everything we need, we'll still be sending out larger rollers out to Ramco for recovering. We're also preparing to invest some $300 in new tools and special attachments for our little metal lathe - to make fabricating roller trucks more precise and efficient. After that, we'll be restocking furniture fonts and gauge pins and we just got word that the order of Richlite we've been waiting for should arrive by the end of the week. Once it's milled by the machinist, we will be able to resume production of our popular Excelsior Chase-Base and begin filling orders for those patient folks who have been waiting for so long. So. That's the mid-month update from the Excelsior Press. I'll add some photos as soon as I find a minute to crop and re-size the ones we have to show you. Sunday, March 25  Chris Seitz is back again, putting in more time helping with the restoration of the Vandercook Model 4 which,
when completed, will be printing at the Long Beach Island Art Center in
NJ. This is the press that folks had been hounding me about for years.
But Chris is the one who finally convinced me to sell it. But first,
it's got to be restored to like new condition - and boy, is that a
project! Once completed, this press will look and print like it first
did when it was made back in the early 1950s. March 29 - A most welcome surprise visit from Excelsior Press Alumni, David Powell!
Seen here in front of the Heidelberg Windmill he learned to run
back around 1979. David had come to the Excelsior Press just out of high
school and became the Master of our 12x18 C&P, which he named "Big
Ben". While at The EP, David learned letterpress job printing from
hand-setting foundry type to hand-feeding presses & running the
Heidelberg Windmill. He also became fully competent in all the
techniques of offset work as well - darkroom process camera work (with
real film in those days...), platemaking and running the offset press as
well. After he moved on to the next step in his printing career - while
working as an engraver - he came back to the shop and mounted a metal
name plate that he had engraved with "Big Ben" on his favorite
press. It remains there to this day. David's brother Mark (now a doctor with a community practice nearby in PA) had worked at EP while attending a local college prior to medical school. Knowing how much Mark had contributed to the success of the EP made it easy to bring on his younger brother David onto the team when he applied, where he quickly proved himself as a reliable and competent addition to the staff. David, Mark and their friend Russ Letiecq are the three "guys from Cranford" that came all the way out to the edge of Union County to join the Excelsior Press and who were all vital parts of the shop's success during its heyday in Berkeley Heights from 1975-1985. After many years learning and working in the graphics arts trades, David now works with Dominion Sample, a company specializing in custom-made samples and swatch books of all types - for paper, inks, paints, etc. Welcome back, David. It's good to see you at the Heidelberg again. April 15  Tax
time, and it sure can get complicated - and depressing. Gotta love that
Schedule C, though - where old printers get to list - and deduct - all
the expenses of running their old print shops.The good news is that our tax liability is low. The bad news is that we spent $10k more than we earned in 2011. Gotta get those bills sent out and stop buying so many old presses and cabinets that we don't really need! April 20 Our daughter Tina sent me this photo - of a poster she saw at school today... So now they're calling me a "visiting artist" - sure sounds better than "an old man with a print shop".... ;) She didn't realize that her old man was becoming famous - "big fish in a small sea" sort of famous, but still it was nice for her to be able to see this poster at her school... And I'm sure it will be a fun day at Val Sivili's new Book Arts class at Raritan Valley Community College.. April 24  Tony
came by today to show us the results of his efforts. His (Cook) Victor
Enterprise 3x5 showed up at the Holcombe-Jimson Museum in Lambertville,
NJ with no ink disk. Since Tony is resourceful, he took it upon himself
to fabricate a wooden pattern which fit, worked and in all ways served
as an ink disk. However, that was not enough, so he found a block of
aluminum and prevailed upon the museum's own machinist to duplicate the
wooden pattern (with some improvements) from a solid block of aluminum.
We don't know how many hours went into this project, but we certainly
must say that unless you have a lot of time and have the equipment, we
don't recommend that you try this at home. It's a monumental task -
but Tony and his friends were indeed up to it. Congratulations for a
job well done. April 24  Deborah Holcomb
(no relation to the museum) came by with the 5x8 Kelsey she had picked
up at a garage sale. We began to disassemble and restore it as a joint
project - "come to the shop and I will help you restore your press"....But first, she wanted to pull a proof of her first wood block carving, so we did - on the little Showcard/Vandercook table top proof press. This Showcard Press, btw, is one that was built for Showcard by Vandercook. It is essentially a Vandercook Model 99 press with a fancier handle, a set of grippers to hold the stock in place, and "Showcard" labels on the main cylinder. However, a deeper investigation - along with cross-referencing its serial numbers with Fritz Klinke at NA Graphics - shows us that this is indeed a Vandercook... April 25 "Visiting Artist" (aka "old man with a print shop") at RVCC today. It was great. I hope some of the students can send me photos of the day - I was a bit too busy to take pictures. But we had fun! First, we watched Fiona Otways' documentary Kiss The Paper (which was filmed at The Excelsior Press), then I answered some questions as I demonstrated printing on the Showcard Press as well as the Golding Official. I didn't bring any printed cards with me, so I told the students that if they wanted my card, they'd have to print it themselves - which they did. Each student had a chance to print some cards on the Golding. One of the students really flattered me by asking me to sign - and date - the back of my card. I guess this is a day that we all will remember. I just wish I had gotten some photos of the students at work on the presses.... Meanwhile, Kaylee had taken an interest in the hand type and the Showcard press, so she mixed up some ink from the base colors I brought with me, set her name in 24 point Cheltenham, added in a few dingbat slugs from the Ludlow, and began printing her own cards. She wouldn't stop! As other students were happily printing one or two cards on the Golding, Kaylee just kept printing cards for herself on the Showcard.... All in all, I'd say it was a great day - and I have already agreed to visit next semester's Book Arts class and do it again.... May 1 Is it really May - already!? Where has the time gone!? Anyway. good news for those folks waiting so patiently for the new Chase Base. Mr. Brown at the machine shop has told me to expect a call today to come and pick up the 10+ base slabs he has milled to size for me. A few more hours' finishing work in our shop, and I'll have a stock of Pilot bases ready to ship - along with a few of the new 9x13 Kelsey bases and quite a few of the smaller 5x8 & 6x10 bases - plus perhaps some new ones of different sizes for other presses. Next step will be to order more large slabs of the material and begin the long process over again. Perhaps now that we have the source of supply, and a machinist ready to finish the top and bottom surfaces perfectly, we can satisfy more inquiries. Making the well-known and well-like wooden bases one at a time in the shop was fun, but now so many folks want them, that I needed some help. I wanted to change to a more stable material than wood - so now we're buying the hard, stable phenolic material in bulk and having a perfect surface milled at the machine shop. The we will bring them back to the shop to do the final trimming and fitting as before - on presses in our own collection. Watch for a photo here of the new Chase-Base - just as soon as we have one to show.... |
