Hard to find!

 The block of metal is a machined .918 reference to zero the device

 You can measure well into the block. A standard micrometer can only deal with edges

At lasting impressions we are still building our equipment list and supplies like type and paper. We use Van Son inks and slowly we are building the supplies as well. Occasionally I pick up a nice piece of equipment on eBay. But a warning - just go for Buy Now offers. Auctions are not true auctions on eBay - people use software to “snipe’ your bid in the last 5 seconds so that you can’t respond. Be warned! Nevertheless I always look at EBay for nice pieces of equipment. I did get this beauty recently.
 Type high gauges were prevalent in industry because they gave us the ability to have a rugged accurate micrometer in the press room. We use them because they can measure into the centre of a block (say), or various sheets of paper. Very handy, and much more useful than a simple micrometer or the newer electronic version, which can only measure in from edges. Letterpress works with the magic .918 (type high). Rollers are set to this height as are the platen packing surfaces. This device gives a a easy to use way of measuring that doesn’t depend on batteries. I have to leave my veneer gauge in the sun and let it warm up before using it to measure - but is it really?
 These don’t come up for sale very often but if your interest is in Letterpress try and get one. Another good example of German post war engineering I’d say. They generally turned up in any shop that had Swedish or German presses and they were the basis of quality control. You can measure paper thickness, measure blocks, type, etc, and underlay to get a level, perfect, set up.

Thanks John !

 

A few oiling points on this side!

An amazing booklet has been forwarded on by my friend John Lamp who is very able supporter of printing despite having a shocking back, not helped by my constant collecting of presses and bits and pieces over the years. He thought it would be interesting, but didn't realise that I had worked on these presses back in the 60's and early 70's. Luckily for John he relocated to Geelong and so he isn't rostered onto the moving team for the Ludlow moving! And these giants have been scrapped, although I was offered one if I could move it!

This is the biggest sheet fed Letterpress machine that I worked on. Starting out as a young probationary apprentice loading paper and oiling and watching each sheet delivered for 'spaces up' or running out of ink etc. Years later I worked one and then in 1984 Jo and I visited the printery on our honeymoon and saw the same press on its last week of its life. The last of 5 it was to be broken up. The Meihle Perfector was the mainstay of the government Printing Office in NSW (the largest in the southern hemisphere), and they ran night and day for four decades. There was also a 'Meihle Two Colour' - Similar but different! Two beds, two inking units and two cylinders. The sheet reversed for backup on the second cylinder but unfortunately because the backup was done wet it was not good on coated stocks and often looked slurry on any paper. The presses didn't register all that well either. They were great for printing Hansard, Bills and Acts for Parliament and were revered for their reliability. I couldn't handle the noise and it made me dream of being a hippy!! Notice the lack of a automatic feeder. We had them, but apparently these were chosen buyer the buyer. Ours had stream feeders with comb wheels. They had a speed of 1500 sheets per hour (3000 iph effective).

The four cylinders you can see here were the buffers. These helped the type beds reverse and had buffer cups fit into them as the bed went to and fro. Well, these cups were leather and I had to crawl under (with Neats Foot oil), once a week and wipe them. I was supposed to sing or whistle so that no-one inadvertently started up while I was under the machine. Instant mince! I sang "Yellow Submarine". Scary, and the oil stank. The rollers and runners supported the type beds. This is the base frame.

  This is number one cylinder end open for makeready, but also not showing a feeder. Makeready could take 3.5 hours and a washup was at least an hour. Hence there was a constant war between printers (the union), and management, who to cut costs used cheap greasy non drying inks and you guessed it, the quality dropped because the second side slurred because of greasy inks. The end result was mediocre work that as typical of most public sector bookwork. Most of these printers, under pressure, just added more 'weight' and ran with too much impression. I didnt like this end of the press room much, too many old printers for a young bloke like me and too locked into their ways. Most were alcoholics and incredibly noisy. They were like this from a constant machine noise and had a complicated sign language, to signal, around the press. They lead a boring and predictable life and I resisted being shifted into this area.

  These are the form rollers and number one cylinder exposed for make-ready. The rollers could be removed by one man but it was easier with two. When these presses went, the press hall was filled with MAN Roland's but not for long. By the 1980's privatisation overtook this great Australian printing office and they were all scrapped. These presses were Quad Demy but often ran Quad Cap paper size. They just might be the largest sheet fed Letterpress machines the world  has seen. The Government Printing Office was the first press in Australia being set up in 1803.

The ADANA 6x4 Press

A Nice Picture of a good press. Its a 1936 advert for a 6x4 press that launched many a young printer. Or so I am advised by many UK origin folks who visit our market stall and also the British Printing Society of which I am a proud member.

 Lasting impressions picked one up in a  second hand shop in 1986 for $40.00. We used it for years and made it work but couldn't quite work out why it had such primitive inking rollers. Years later when I replaced them I realised that the resourceful previous owner had slipped on some dairy milking hose over the roller stocks. I always wondered about the seam in the roller but somehow we made a lot of cash with this press.  Somehow!

Also, the weirdest Phallic design handle! We now use a 8x5 Adana and its vastly different. Notice how this ad features some sort of stirrup for foot operation.

This is the smallest press I have worked on if we discount the Japanese 'Baren'.

In the Pressroom

When I talk to younger printers starting out in Letterpress I'm surprised by the way they work. They seem to use computer tools as they were taught in university and then use letterpress as a delivery process. Often files are output as CYMK from Illustrator or Indesign/Quark and then the image is "locked in" using process inks and a platen or cylinder press to realise the image on paper using Photo plates.
 I have used Photopolymer and its not all that easy, as I'd be the first to admit. Photopolymer has a very shallow etch, so the lock up has to be perfect and the rollers set to the lightest possible setting. If not then non-image areas get inked and will often print. Its very frustrating and ultimately a fun day of press work descends into lots of cursing and frustration as the printer tries to get a plate to work.

This put me off using the material and sent me in the direction of using more traditional materials. Photopolymer is not all that sharp either. Nothing like new crisp type from M&H foundry or Dale GuiId with their amazing foundry types. Using woodcuts and Linocuts too gives a nice low tech picture which carries a beautiful rich layer of ink on 100 year old presses. they seem to enjoy these materials! It always pays to remember the age when these presses came into existence and work with them. Same goes for deep impression. Too heavy an impression is very wearing of the plate, press and type especially so I avoid punishing the materials. Simple materials puts it all on the creators. those who cut the blocks, set the type and mix the inks. The 'art' is in assemblage and making choices.

With my work, colour is one of the last steps. The right mood is important. I try to match the content of the block with a colour. Sometimes we will print a block in a range of colours - some cool, some warm, to convey different moods. On a platen press you can change colour in minutes. I do own a pantone colour guide (the industry standard) but usually I just flick through it to  get an idea of possibilities. We use just a basic range of rubber based non skinning inks and use opaque white and transparent inks. Incidently mix from very light. Mix by sight and intuition. Start light and very gradually add a darkening colour. Tap a small amount out on paper to check. If you go too dark, "can it" and use it for something else. Start again.

Real Master Printers

Recently we had the joy of handling some 19th century japanese prints. A friend had been gifted them as a bequest.

   These prints are made off carved wooden blocks, with a "Baren" (a pad of bamboo Leaves). Ink is made from soot (black) and various pigment sources, often vegetable. It is amazing to see and to hold closely such beautiful prints. They are printed on handmade paper and these ones obviously had been in albums and suchlike as the mounts were still attached lightly in the top corners.  They are printed in register from successive blocks of colour and were made in hundreds. Often very good copies were made and printers did forge each others work too as famous prints garnered better prices. These guys could really print!

  Our job was to encapsulate them in acid free archival mounts that effectively sealed them from hazards in the future. A good friend who practices these skills taught us how this is done. Core-flute backing board, Mylar, and museum quality materials are used throughout the process. The prints were then stored in a purpose made box. I have a feeling that these sort opportunities happen only once in a lifetime!

Making Cards

Lasting Impressions is a Private Press. This means that we primarily print for the pleasure only seek to trade in order to buy in supplies to keep the studio ticking over. 

Making cards is one way in which in which trade can be mixed with pleasure. Joanne conceives and cuts most of the blocks out of lino. Subject matter is usually based on local wildlife and are usually not message cards. People are buying these cards and framing them, and why not! They are hand printed and archival and have a great feel to them. You can pay a little more though and buy the same image signed, and on a good paper especially for framing.

 Sometimes I make cards based on type. These pull on our growing and excellent type collection and are the usual message based cards. They give me a chance to play with the colour of the 30's and using printers ornaments is a great way to build a distinctive design. Ones that can't be replicated on computer. Ornaments were invisible to me when I was in "the trade" of the 60's. The fad had past by and for me the designs I worked with were usually zinc blocks of plain colours - Gill Sans and Times Roman. It was all very Bauhaus.
  Dale Guild Foundry in New York make these wonderful sets of ornaments and they can be arranged in an infinite way. I spend a lot of time looking at print materials from early 2oth century to the 60's. I look for simple innovative printing and ink colours that come from mixing on the press using mixing tints. Mostly pre-photography and this helps widen my skills base.

  We aim to keep all these skills in use and the studio when we finish (when is that!), will be a unique collection of fine letterpress with the best equipment and tools in daily use by artist/printers. The small amount of product we make goes along way to keep us functioning. Selling at our local market and a couple of retail outlets. The markets are a great way of meeting people who enjoy our work and often we also meet those who are or were printers. Sometimes they have the odd treasure to donate like type or small pieces of equipment.

Howards finished restoration

Readers of this blog will remember a rough but useable platen that Howard has been working on. It all came to fruition and was used at steam museum weekend recently. We set some type for a bookmark design and every attendee could go home with a fine memento. It still needs a pair of friskets and a bit of fine tuning but generally it printed very well. Howard was given a complete Ludlow type caster by an interested visitor. Ludlows are a very useful casting machine used for producing single lines of type from 'fonts' of matrices held in libraries by the user. Widely used all over the world they were a very useful machine in small printeries as it gave the printer great flexibility and cheap good typesetting.