Meet the Family #2

IS FOR PALACE SCRIPT

24pt Palace Script to be more precise.

It is in the same condition as all my other metal type; well looked after, but mucky after a long storage. It’s a full fount too, with ligatures and figures, as well as these nifty fractions!

Palace Script is originally from 1923 and appears to be owned by both Monotype, and Stephenson Blake, a Sheffield type foundry who were once a major producer of metal type. Most people will know this as the typeface of choice for invitations and anything that needs to look ‘classy.’  Monotype seem to be responsible for the continuing popularity of this script with their early digital version but there are many versions available on the web to buy or download for free.

Stephenson Blake also produced some very similar copperplate scripts, such as Imperial, Marina & Society Scripts,

I have never been a fan of scripts, especially this one. I have always found it to be a little too fussy for my tastes, and the fact that it is used as a ‘default’ script has stigmatised it for me. Still, there’s no denying that the actual physical cast type looks rather beautiful here.

The ampersand is especially nice though, with an elegant swash descender looping below…

These next images show how kerning with metal type is achieved; by creating overlaps and indents in each block, so that scripts like Palace can be closely and regularly spaced. The image below shows the overhanging part well – if you click on it to enlarge it, you get a better view.

I have also mentioned Stephenson Blake quite a lot in this post, and can identify this fount very easily by the ‘SB&Co.’ on the spacing slugs. This image also shows the indents on the body of the letters and the correspondingly shaped spaces and end pieces at the right and left:

ADDITIONAL

I’ve been digital for so long that I’ve forgotten just how fascinating this stuff is. I have to say, that as a student in the mid 1980′s I didn’t think this was fascinating – just a way for ancient and outdated tutors to exact their perverse revenge upon us for being young! There is so much information that I have forgotten, or didn’t learn in the first place, that all this has become a bit of an issue for me.

Most designers now think of type as purely digital artifacts, things that only exist when the ‘print’  button is employed, or the presses are rolling. Just think about this for a while; it is not so long ago when many, many men were employed to manufacture this stuff, in every standard size from 8pt to 72pt; thousands of tons of metal, precision cast to make beautifully elegant impressions upon paper, were shipped out from dirty, hot and dangerous foundries, to be arranged artfully and expertly by many, many more men (these have always been very masculine trades – unlike printing, where there is a growing history being uncovered of strong and influential female printers – often wives/widows and daughters of established tradesmen), proofed and corrected, and then inked and pressed into paper. And don’t forget the legion of apprentices who had the lovely job of cleaning it all afterwards and returning each piece of type to its compartment in the case - all made redundant and obsolete by phototypesetting and then, digital technology.

Ahh. I am enjoying the recollection of long forgotten facts and experience, but also the feeling of being a novice again. I have often said that “the moment that you stop learning is when someone else will get your job” but I am also enjoying the feeling of being an old empty vessel, newly repaired and filling up again…

Impatience!

I have stripped down the little press, cleaned away years of accumulated gunk and stuff, de-greased and re-greased, made bits move which had long since given up, got rid of a little surface rust and made a baseboard. I’ve also made new a new lay gauge but not quite got that finished yet. I took it into college today and showed it off to my students who were (possibly, just a little) impressed and had a pump at the handle to make the ratchet ‘ding’ on the ink plate. I had set some type up in the little chase too, ready to set up the bed with the adjusting screws…

Ok, I couldn’t wait until the weekend. I had to have a proper go – ink and all – even if I hadn’t got everything as ready as I wanted (there are still a couple of bits still not quite as ‘working’ as I’d like). I figured that a quick test print or two would help me in getting it set up properly, and see if the rollers were in good enough condition to print from.

So I inked up and had a go. Sorry, but I was a bit too inky to photograph the process, but I will next time. I didn’t get any good prints, but I did get some that were really promising!

The rollers seem to be ok for now, and I have got a decent level on the chase. A bit more ink next time too.  All I need to do now is to get my b****y typesetting skills sorted!

I can tell you though, that I have used 36pt Franklin Gothic Bold with 36pt Mercury Light. I can’t imagine what I will do with scripts like this – I have several, along with some copperplate scripts and a bunch of Frakturs… I will definitely have a play with them first!

My New Baby!

When children ask “where do babies come from?” I doubt anyone mentions the gooseberry bush or the stork any more. It’s more likely to be ‘Ebay’ than anything else. That’s where my new baby came from anyway. A super-duper-teeny-weeny Adana High Speed 1 was procured for a silimarly teeny weeny bit of money (my kind of price!) a week or so ago and I went to collect it on Saturday, along with a bunch of type and other sundries that came with it. This is the Ebay photo:

I was one of only two bidders and didn’t think I’d get it for the bid I’d put in, but hey! If you don’t bid, you never know… I probably don’t need this press (but don’t let Mrs. Lestaret know that!) as I hope to be collecting a slightly larger model Adana 5×3 very soon, all in good order with new rollers etc (Thanks again, Christian!) but I couldn’t resist this little green man and didn’t even know if it worked or was complete. I had gauged that even if the press was not serviceable, there would be plenty of bits amongst the extras to make the purchase worthwhile, and I’d have a nifty little press as an ‘objet d’arte’ to sit in the window…

It is pretty mucky, but seems to functioning properly except for a little restriction of movement at the bottom of the pull. I have begun to take it apart for a good clean as I believe that it is just ‘gunked up’  – there is a lot of fine sawdust stuck to the grease – probably from being stored in a workshop over the years. Time will tell. There is a bit of surface rust and tarnishing here and there, which is expected, but this is coming off easily. All the screws, nuts and bolts etc are getting a good soak in WD40 too, whilst all the old, greasy parts are getting a scrub and some fresh lubrication.

There is a good little potted history of the Adana company here  and my web research over the last month or so has informed me that the High Speed 1 is probably the least desirable of the range, with the 5×3 and especially the 8×5 with its larger print area being the most popular. Briar Press, an excellent letterpress community have provided me with quite a lot of information, from copies of original handbooks, to the highly knowledgeable discussion forum.

I’ve started going through all the other stuff too. There are lots of it and it is all tiny. I spent quite a while (more time than I would have liked and and more than I told Mrs. Lestaret!) looking in little round boxes:

As well as little rectangular boxes, and loads of very old matchboxes full of 6pt and 8pt type, in a variety of styles. There are also four small cases of type, largely sorted out but need a good check through. There are a few boxes, tins and trays full of pied type too, some of it old, worn and not cleaned so will have to go. There is much more that is in decent condition or quite new though, and I set to sorting the first tray…

Eventually, five different styles were separated from the first tray, with a lot of 12pt and 8pt spacing, some decorative borders and leader dots. These are all separately bagged up and ready to be reunited with the rest of their clan, if I ever get enough time to sort through everything!

There were a couple of other pieces tucked in amongst the pie. Two hand-made chases with locked up type (6pt), both bearing the name of (I guess) a previous owner. Neither have been cleaned well, and are worn/damaged in places, but make a fascinating bit of history. Both are shown here, with a reversed enlargement of the type beneath:

Well Mr. Spence, I hope to put your little press back to work again soon…

Letterpressed

I got the urge to print last night. So I did. I decided to try another pull of the woodcut block that I got frustrated with last month, and I desperately wanted to have a play with my new metal type.

I have been trying some new materials to use as press blankets; neoprene foam, a stack of muslin, felts and paper. I was hoping for a miracle change in the quality of the prints, but ended up with a good enough improvement. The foam was too soft, and the muslin didn’t have enough ‘give,’ but about six layers of ordinary felt got the best results. About half a dozen decent prints are hanging up to dry as we speak…

I then scrambled through my new collection of metal founts. I aim to share them via the ‘Meet The family’ thread, but needed to print something other than san serif type for a change! Bodoni Black Italic it is then!

36 points of extravagantly exaggerated thicks and thins, all canted at at a jaunty angle, replete with hairline serifs, triangular crossbars, globular ball terminals and delicate details. Beauty and the beast! I used the nipping press again here so everything is a little heavily pressed, but soon, really soon, I will be running TWO Adana presses! There will be more on this after the weekend when I collect the first one from Northampton.

So I set up  a small block of text based on something I read in a Julian Barnes novel and retrieved the postcards I’ve been overprinting, as well as one or two blanks. I’m really interested in how the ink responds to the different surfaces (on inked and plain surfaces) and rattled off a few images to share on the blog…

As I was taking these, I was reminded of the huge wood type prints by Alan Kitching that I saw late last year. 

This is printed on a particularly heavily over-inked wood type print; I love the joint effect of the slightly raised surface of the over inked pale blue letters with the imprint of the darker letters, and how the ink has reacted and gathered into blotches. So what does it say?

Note to self. Check the b****y spelling before you print. I only noticed this on the morning after. Never mind.

Here is the forme just before it was clean and disassembled…

I also printed some of the blocks I got earlier this month. This has printed really well, despite the heavy impression.

This lion with wheatsheaf block was an illicit Ebay bargain:

Mrs. Lestaret: “You are not buying more of them block things off Ebay are you?”
Me: ” No dear, just looking…”

And I might as well end with a full stop.

Until next time.

Meet The Family #1

In preparation for some serious letterpress work, I have recently bought some founts and am beginning to catalogue them before I get to use them. I aim to share them one by one (or two by two if I’m feeling biblical) and hope to show prints as well as photographs as I get set up. Here is the first one…

IS FOR ROCKWELL

24pt Rockwell Bold to be more precise.

 

Upper and lowercase, with punctuation, numerals and a few ligatures. It is in pretty good condition, hardly used, but there are a few uncleaned characters here and there:

Rockwell is often a much maligned (and poorly used) typeface, but has some really elegant and uncharacteristic features, like the curved base tail with its subtle width difference. Rockwell has become a bit of a generic name for many Egyptienne typefaces - the Ford Fiesta of the the typeface world I suppose.

These images show the founts ‘as bought’ and will need a bit of a clean before they get used… Still they are certainly worth what I paid for them!

Wayne’s World!

This is a gift made for a friend (the Wayne of the title of course!) about to embark upon a cultural journey. It is a sketchbook (145x110x17mm, 112 pages)) with a few additional elements to personalise it for him.  As he is visiting Naples and Pompeii to study the inscriptions and cultural history, the endpapers are printed with close-ups of two well known-inscriptions from both cities:

At various points in the book, I have inserted vintages maps and views, of Naples and of course, Vesuvius!

This is the back endpaper showing the other inscription detail.

It has blue and white striped head and tailbands with a blue ribbon marker.

The decoration on the front cover (which is of standard construction covered in blue buckram) has this framed initial W which has been hand embossed on thin brass and weathered with special patina liquid. It has then been scuffed, dented and rubbed before adding the distressed wood frame made from coffee stirrers! Including the frame, this detail measures just 40x30mm.

And what would a post like this be without a close-up?

I met with Wayne today and presented him with it – I think he was pleased and he has promised to use as requested. You never know, he may even let us see some of the drawings he makes… Good luck, and enjoy the experience!

It was good to see Wayne today, along with ace animator Sammy (good luck in the new job!) especially after hearing from another one from that year group earlier this week who has successfully entered into the professional design community; not an easy thing these days. Work hard, be ambitious and remember where you come from you Graphic All-Stars!

Blowing A Valve!

I have just spent the last couple of hours photographing a collection of vintage radio valve boxes. It’s not often you get to say that. These are so lovely, I wanted to share them quickly, so here’s a bit of a teaser. I’ll post more of them next week when I’ve had time to sort and process them.  Enjoy the details of some vintage graphics…

This could have come straight out of Neville Brody’s studio during the early 1990′s!

Aye! Yer don’t get many o’them t’pound these days!

Why Is It?

Why is it that nougat will stick to absolutely everything except itself?

I can’t tell you what I’ve just been up to, but but it involves quite a lot of nougat. Yes, nougat. Pronounced “noo-gar” and not “nugget” so I’m led to believe. I’m making something out of it of course, but I have ended up covered in the stuff and everything’s coming apart!

I was very clean and wore these nifty purple gloves throughout – it was like working for Willy Wonka!

I’ve put it in the freezer for a little while, all wrapped in clingfilm, hoping that it will stay stuck when it thaws… More next week.

On Being a Blockhead

Today, a very kindly soul gave me some old printing blocks. Muchos gracias Pedro. They are pretty dirty and a bit beaten up, but they are kind of cool and make for good images. I may clean up one or two and get some prints off at some point. Actually I will print all of them, but I may only clean a couple, because I like these old blocks to retain as much of their accumulated grime; old printing ephemera shouldn’t look new as it’s part of their charm. The biggest of them (shown above)  is 74x80x24mm and as always, I’ve put in some close-ups. Enjoy.

That is some serious crud in there! I guess its just like bellybutton fluff; no-one know how it gets in there, or where it comes from, but you wake up one day to find enough gunk in there you wonder if some small mammal has been hibernating for the winter. Is there a technical term for this build up of grime? Hmmm. Press bellybutton fluff? Typographic earwax?

Another Christmas message, this time with the addition of some holly and candles and a rogue splash of red paint.

The script is quite elegant, in a cheesy christmas card sort of way, but the lowercase ‘e’ really stands out (sorry, pardon the pun!)

And I didn’t notice the damage to the ‘d’  until I reviewed the photographs.

‘

Another christmas greeting, this time with seasonal typography by Joseph Goebbels!

I can’t help thinking that this was made for a 1970′s heavy metal  album cover…

The last of the christmas greetings. I have run out of things to say about christmas greetings, so take a look at the swirl on the initial capital ‘S’. Very, erm, swirly.

I wonder how many cards these blocks have created during their working lives?

This smaller block (50x50x24mm) depicts a floral wreath with condolence card.

The little message on the card is just over 8mm across!

The detail is really fine – these flowers are around 5mm diameter.

The next block is a decorative ruled header, probably part of a set to make the borders for small press advertising, about 100mm long.

It isn’t particularly interesting, but has some nice qualities in the close-ups and should make a good print pressure tester as I’ll be able to refer to the quality of the lines when setting up.

All the blocks shown so far are alloy plates secured by rivets to blockboard or solid wood, but this one is a solid alloy block, making it significantly heavier than all of the others.

I’m looking forward to using this; it is clean with a deep cut and will give a good crisp print. It is so clean that it may never have been used before.

The last block is also cast, but the body is ribbed to reduce the overall mass. The pattern is only 5mm high with an overall length of about 125mm.

This last image is of a new addition to my type collection – a 10pt ’@’ symbol, sadly lacking in most of the founts I’ve seen on sale recently. I love the detail and now I can print my email address! I am such a geek…

Well, this is probably a very dull post for most of you, but I can be excused as I have a headful of the cold and my brain feels like its floating in snot.

Reading List

 

Incompetence by Rob Grant
The Crimson Petal & The White by Michel Faber

and

Japanese Woodblock Printing by Rebecca Salter
Collecting Printed Ephemera by John Lewis