I now know what a Quoin is used for.

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Scotty Dog

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Also now know what a Pica ,Quads and Spaces, Slugs , Composing stick,Leads and other pieces parts that one uses while doing Letter Pressing.

I m taking a crash course on Letterpress using really old stuff at Dartmouth College.
Tonight was my first night,,,FAST PACED!
We (6 students) are making Cards.
I must say,"It aint all that simple"
I had a wicked time setting my first words cuz all the type is upside down and backwards in the case.Was very hard for me to "see" them.

Anywhoo, I have one more night next week to set up, proof and final print the whole card I'm making for me MOM.
This will be about as old fashioned a card as one could get.

Heres a pic of the proof press I used for a test run on one side of the card.
I want to get picks of me-self next week while setting and printing the card.
I think MOM will really appreciated it.

proofpress.jpg
 
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The urge to learn this must have been very pressing. I hope you aren't hard-pressed to become an expert. But when you do, we'll alert the press.

Press on!
 
Please post a photo of the final project. It should be awesome.
 
I worked for Carolina Marking Devices back in the early 70's and they made rubber stamps, mechanical stamps (old grocery store price markers), those Notary embossers and some other misc. stuff. I still have some of the perma stamps we made that still work. Ink that is baked in a mold and used in place of a rubber stamp...yadda yadda. The interesting thing was that, the guys that made the ink and rubber molds, used backward upside down lettering plates that were put into position and used to press the softened mold product that the stamps were baked in. I thought the whole process was pretty interesting at the time.

My job was to cut the wooden pieces that the handles were mounted in and then the rubber stamp was glued in place. Many of those that had return addresses on them, "CANCEL", "REJECT", "APPROVED", and quite a few others.

The last time I saw a printing press with backwards lettering used, was at the Magic Attic in Myrtle Beach SC. They used this press (which used wooden letters mostly) to print the event posters. All of which were the bands scheduled to perform there in the weeks ahead. The guys in my band thought I was kinda "out to lunch" (at the time) for saving the ones of us. Funny, they all wish now that they had one of the 12 different ones in my collection.

poster 3.jpg
 
Just as aside, some word-processors and especially page layout programs refer to line spacing as 'leading' (pronounced ledding). It comes from the thin strips of lead that were placed between lines of (physical) text characters to keep them spaced apart. When you wanted double-spacing you used 2 lines of lead. Other times you could use a custom lead size.

Letterpresses are pretty cool but even something like a card can take quite a while to set up.


Tony
 
The urge to learn this must have been very pressing. I hope you aren't hard-pressed to become an expert. But when you do, we'll alert the press.

Press on!
About 15 years pressing. First saw this equipment way back before I worked for the college.I was working ( pipewelder /steamfitter) at the college for a contractor back then.
 
I worked for Carolina Marking Devices back in the early 70's and they made rubber stamps, mechanical stamps (old grocery store price markers), those Notary embossers and some other misc. stuff. I still have some of the perma stamps we made that still work. Ink that is baked in a mold and used in place of a rubber stamp...yadda yadda. The interesting thing was that, the guys that made the ink and rubber molds, used backward upside down lettering plates that were put into position and used to press the softened mold product that the stamps were baked in. I thought the whole process was pretty interesting at the time.

My job was to cut the wooden pieces that the handles were mounted in and then the rubber stamp was glued in place. Many of those that had return addresses on them, "CANCEL", "REJECT", "APPROVED", and quite a few others.

The last time I saw a printing press with backwards lettering used, was at the Magic Attic in Myrtle Beach SC. They used this press (which used wooden letters mostly) to print the event posters. All of which were the bands scheduled to perform there in the weeks ahead. The guys in my band thought I was kinda "out to lunch" (at the time) for saving the ones of us. Funny, they all wish now that they had one of the 12 different ones in my collection.

View attachment 305025
Cool thing, I found out there are times during the day and week the rooms are open for me and others to use at will. They also run a "poster" making class. And theres a lot of other types of printing equipment in about 4-5 rooms. Lots of stuff to learn if one so choices.
I'm psyched about it all !!!!
Cant believe I waited 15 years to try it out. Amazing how things play out in life.
 
I thimk what youre doing is awesome.
and I learned something: I thought a Quoin was just the fancy brick/block work on corners of buildings.
 
hope you never experience printer's pie!!! learned the hard way in graphics arts class in HS...
 
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