Gamewell Press Blog

Musings on Monotony

A picture of my sweet shop cat Gus to make up for all the meandering to follow.

I'm working on a post about the CD packaging I just finished printing and should have it up soon. Those were quite an adventure, and though they came out well, printing them was just one mishap after another. I certainly hope to print CDs again, but will I ever do it this way, using those plates, that ink, and the same level of ignorance? No, no I will not.

That last point, the level of ignorance not being the same again, is really resonating with me today. I’m finding this to be both a frustrating and sort of attractive thing about my printing experiences recently.

Lately I've been fortunate enough to have lots of projects to print, which is wonderful, don’t get me wrong, but every time I start one, I seem to realize that I’ve never done this sort of thing before, and that since I’m working with a deadline (flexible, yes, but still), there better not be any hiccups. It can be scary. Usually I have at least one moment of serious despair, where I wish that I hadn't taken on this job, where I wish that I'd just stuck to printing my own little cards, and where I'm convinced that this time I won't be able to complete a project at all.

Earlier this year, it was those 2 sets of wedding invitations. First attempting to print the whole chase area on those save the dates, and then later doing that hand-set invitation and every bit of it was a challenge. More recently it's been the CD packaging. I must admit that I really wished for an invitation to print during certain points of the CD printing since I now know all about printing wedding invitations (ha!), but now of course, there's a new challenge. Early next year, it looks like I'll be printing some posters, and that too will be a whole new ballgame, with me making it up as I go along.

So far however, I've been lucky, or my perseverance and growing skill(?) have enabled me to successfully complete each project. Or both. But it feels so rewarding to look at a completed piece and not only does it look good, it looks right - or well printed, and to know that I got through that moment (or 5) where it came close to failure. And that's what is both so awesome and stress-making about this. Rarely in my professional life do I do anything that's outcome is ever in doubt or where my actions could cause serious failure. Don't get me wrong, I chose my career based on the fact that I wanted an enjoyable, mostly stress-free, 9-5 work environment, so that I could go home and do my stuff, and that's what I've got. I like my job but you know, at times it can be...a little monotonous. I’ve been really working on a plan or at least a series of steps to start transitioning Gamewell Press into a money-making operation (not big money – more like buying type from Skyline money), so this has been on my mind lately.

Anyway, it's great (so far) when I get done and am pleased with the finished product, but the nerve-wracking middle isn’t wonderful (though the sense of accomplishment is); nor is the worry that one of these days I’ll have bitten off more than I can chew and will have to let down a client. So is monotony that bad? Today I’d like to just have some run of the mill, easy projects, but would I grow tired down the line of printing the same wedding invitation designs day after day? Right now that seems like a problem I’d love to have, but do people who are doing exactly what they’ve wanted to do have that monotony problem? I’m going to guess that if I had a real printing business, I’d grow tired of the website or store updating and the accounting, and certainly the press cleaning, but not the printing. Is that naive?

So yes, I have a full time non-printing job, and until a few months ago I had another part-time job as well. I live in New York, which means that although I can read or zone out on my daily trek to work, it can be a surprisingly long commute (round trip: 1.5-2 hours, daily) and New York is hard - it's a hard place to live (this used to be an attraction, but now I’m lazy and getting old). But my point is that I don’t have that much time for printing. Doing it after work guarantees a very late night and that no other household duties get done, and I’m fairly useless the next day as well. Printing all weekend means not seeing friends that I rarely see anyway and not going to museums and galleries and all the things that make living in this city worth it. So before this becomes a rant about how New York and I might not want the same things anymore (hello, space and reasonable rents!), I’ll just say that if I’m lucky and very well organized, I get to print twice a week but usually it’s only once a week or so.

Of course, in addition to the actual printing, there’s all the set-up surrounding it. I need to find the time to design some ideas I’ve been sketching out, to set the type and cuts for another couple projects I’ve been thinking about, I really need to get on with learning to use Photoshop and Illustrator better, so that I can actually put my plans into action quicker and more effectively. I need to devote time to blogging and building my website, and I really ought to spend some time taking better-looking pictures of my work. You add all these up and where is the time? There really isn’t any, you know?

So I want to ask you guys, how do you fit it all in? Are you just better at time management & multitasking? Do you perhaps not have another job? Do you not have sleeping issues? Do you require less of that lazy vegging out on the couch time? Or do you, like me, have trouble managing and sometimes feel like you’re sinking under the weight of all these intentions and to-do lists? At times I wonder if I'm really capable of turning this into a semi-successful business-type-thing because some nights, like tonight, I get home and have to abandon my type sorting plans and give in to an all-consuming urge to read a novel. That happens to everyone though, right? Thoughts would be greatly appreciated. As perhaps would a way to shake this winter-approaching, end-of-daylight-savings-time melancholy!

Don't Ask the Barber Whether You Need a Haircut

For the past few months I’ve been getting a fair number of questions or requests for advice from novice printers. While I’ve got to admit it’s kind of flattering, I’m so hesitant to answer since I hardly feel that I’m any sort of expert. However I’m really pleased that people have found the blog useful, so I’ve decided to answer the question I get asked most frequently via email here for all to see. And that is “I want to do letterpress printing. How should I go about that and what press should I buy? Is a 5x8 Kelsey okay?” BUT, I want to double- and triple-stress that this is my opinion, and it’s given from my point of view. Many people will give you different opinions or the same opinion for different reasons, and those people aren’t wrong (I mean, they could be, I suppose. I don’t know), they just aren’t answering a question from my perspective.

So my take on should you buy a press? How about a Kelsey 5x8? Or a bigger one? comes from me, someone who wasn’t sure where I wanted to take this whole printing thing, but I knew I just wanted to print, more, whenever I wanted, to have the time to learn on my own, make mistakes, and become a better printer. I’m also someone with a very small apartment and not much expendable income. So if you want to start churning out material for wholesale or if you’ve got a mansion with a loading dock, you might not want to take my advice. There. Caveat emptor and all that.

Let’s say you recently learned about this thing called letterpress printing and not only is the finished product beautiful, the process sounds like fun too! Okay, I’m just making that up. I have no idea how people get to letterpress printing through the finished product, since I didn’t get there that way, and to be honest, the process to me, sounds nothing like fun. It just is fun. I got to printing through a class on the history of the book and as part of that, did a four-hour workshop where we set type and printed a little poem. I could not get enough of it, and after that class I was bouncing off the walls with giddiness. I went out and signed up for two more longer, in-depth classes. Out of all the people in my book history class, only 2 other people really enjoyed it, and of us three, I’m the only one who actually followed up and did more printing. I believe that isn’t uncommon, and that leads me to my first pretend pearl of wisdom.

Take classes first! I know that it would be cool to make cards or prints at home, but printing is often frustrating, and it’s even more maddening without any prior knowledge. Sometimes I see posts on Briar Press asking what packing is (for example), and I can’t even imagine trying to print without knowing the basics – it would be so mind-boggling. So take classes first and see if you actually like printing before you spend hundreds or thousands on a hunk of metal you end up hating. Also, if you get instruction, you’ll have all these great troubleshooting tips that will really help you later. In the same vein, may I recommend that you purchase one or more reference books on printing? These books offer answers to many of the basic questions I see posted on Briar Press lately. And if you do get a press, the books are invaluable when you get stuck or if you forget how to do something. There’s a whole list of books on my sidebar, but if you’re just going to get one, it should be Cleeton’s General Printing. If you’re a complete and total neophyte, Letterpress Printing by Paul Maravelis gives a good rundown on basic presses and the whole general process.


Since we’re pretending that you are me, you’ll be looking for classes in the New York area. Here are some options, but if you have further questions about them, shoot me an email. If you aren’t in NYC, check Briar Press’ Yellow Pages for local classes or post on Briar Press or the LetPress Listserv asking about classes near you. Who knows, even if there aren’t classes, some nice printer will probably invite you over to see what goes on. There are a fair number of places you can take letterpress classes in the city, but fewer for platens. Most classes use Vandercooks, which is fine – they’re great presses, easier to use (in my opinion) than platens and the basics and terminology of printing are the same.  Peter Kruty Editions offer multi-weekend Vandercook classes. I’ve never been there, but I’ve heard only good things. A nice guy named Dan runs The Arm in Williamsburg, and he has a few Vandercooks and a few Pilots. Lately he has only been offering one-day Vandercook classes, but I know he gives private lessons, which could include the tabletops (for $45 per hour, whereas the Vandy class is $125 for the day). Dan also teaches longer classes through Cooper Union’s continuing education program. Studio on the Square/Intima Press offers a variety of classes. This is where I first printed in that afternoon workshop, but she’s greatly expanded her course offerings since then, and I believe she’s got more presses, but I haven’t been again so I don’t have more details. Finally there’s the Center for Book Arts. They usually offer a Platen Press class a couple times a year and they have a Pilot, a (maybe broken – or maybe they fixed it) 5x8 Kelsey, and 2 8x10 floor model C&Ps. Barbara Henry teaches the regular weekend platen workshop there and the focus is on handset type and maybe more on the Pilot (tabletop) than the floor models. Recently I noticed they were offering a new Platen class that focuses more on the floor models than the tabletop press and printing with polymer. They also offer lots of classes on the Vandercooks. This is where I took Letterpress I and Platen Press.

Once you’ve had a class or two, the next best step is to rent press time at either the Center for Book Arts or The Arm (or somewhere in your area). Both places are about $15 per hour, and you can rent on the Vandercooks or Pilots at both. This is a great way to get further experience printing on your own without having to take on the cost and responsibility of a press and all that entails. I rented time for over a year before I took the press-purchasing plunge. Renting is really nice because there are experienced printers supervising, so you can pick their brains if you run into trouble. Many aspects of printing, like makeready and figuring out why ink is slurring or something, are similar on Vandercooks and platens, and wow is it nice to have someone to consult with at first. Look, I know that if you aren’t in a metropolitan area it can be difficult to take classes or rent time, but I really do think it’s so important to get experience before making such a big purchase. In addition to looking for classes on Briar Press or the LetPress listserv, there’s also the College & University Letterpress Printer’s Association. If you can’t find a class in your area, it might be worth it to take a weekend class in a nearby city or contact a nearby printer and invite yourself over. The Ladies of Letterpress organization or the APA might be another good resource for finding an independent printer near you.

Now suppose you’ve either taken or ignored my advice and you’re ready to buy a press. So do I recommend the 5x8 Kelsey? Well, yeah, I bought one. But I’ve also now sold it and moved up to a Pearl, so obviously it’s more complicated than that. A lot of people think 5x8 Kelseys are crap presses, and while it’s true that they aren’t powerhouses, I think they get a bad rap since many people printing on them aren’t um, super-experienced. I have a soft spot for Kelseys. They are at times more finicky and difficult to use, but I believe I’m a much better printer because of that. I think I did some nice stuff on it, but yes, there are size and power restraints. So it depends on what you want to do with it and really on what’s available. To me, the process is the fun part and becoming a better printer is my main goal, so I thought it was a great way to learn and ease into printing. If you are mainly concerned with fast results, it’s not the press for you, but I don’t know that a larger tabletop would be either. I do hope that makes sense and that I don’t sound judgey or anything.

Of course, 5x8 Kelseys (and even 6x10s) are a hell of a lot cheaper than Pilots, so that might make the decision for you. I personally would never have been able to afford a Pilot, and I liked the fact since Kelseys are cheaper, I didn’t feel so nervous about investing so much in a hobby. That brings to mind another major caveat. Letterpress printing is surprisingly expensive to set up because you need a lot more equipment than just a press. As for press limits, I’m not sure what to say. I think that a 5x8 will keep you satisfied for at least a year or two, but after that, you may want to move up – I did. But many people remain satisfied with their 5x8s for years (have you seen what the woman on the blog "Stitch, Rip, Repeat" has been doing with hers?). I think it depends what you want to do with it and how much impression you want. Obviously a really deep impression is easier on a bigger press (if you’re still printing a small area). I always got a nice impression on my press – you could see it and feel it but it wasn’t crushingly deep like some of the work you see. Of course, I wasn’t trying for that, so whatever. The final thing to keep in mind is that all platen presses have size restrictions in the printable area. It’s going to be difficult to print much more than half of the area of the chase.

Now I’m not convinced that there’s a marked difference between 6x10 presses, but C&P Pilots are generally considered the best and consequently go for $1500-$3000. That seems a little insane to me, but I guess the market bears what it bears. Sigwalts are often considered to be just as good as Pilots and don’t have paper size limitations like Pilots, yet you never really hear about them. While they’re harder to find, I believe they’re also cheaper. There are a lot of brands like that. So I think research and an open mind are important and perhaps it’s best to get a feel for the market before buying the first thing that comes along. Conventional wisdom also states that it’s probably best to get a press with a side arm (if bigger than 5x8), but again, it’s relative. My 6x10 Kelsey has the lever in the middle, and I think it’s a good press.

Okay, purchasing: now much of this is covered on David Rose's Letterpress Intro and other places, but I’m trying to be comprehensive here. You can purchase on Ebay, but there are few deals there and you can’t be sure what you’re getting. I don’t care how experienced a printer; it’s hard to tell from little Ebay pictures whether or not something’s missing or broken. I suppose the same is true of the ads on Briar Press, but it seems more like a regulated community, and of course you could post an ad yourself on Briar Press. There are also a few printing equipment dealers who sell presses. John Barrett of Letterpress Things in Chicopee, MA is the closest to Brooklyn. It’s a three-hour drive but well worth it. He sells lots of presses to beginners and also has most of the other supplies needed to start; by actually going you know exactly what you’re getting. In the general NY area there’s also Alan Runfeldt of the Excelsior Press.  Along with selling used presses, he partners with someone to sell restored presses, which are almost as-new and beautiful but not cheap. Dave Churchman in Indianapolis and Don Black in Toronto are other dealers, and I believe they’re willing to ship (John Barrett is not). Check the Briar Press Yellow Pages for other sources for equipment (such as printing museums).

Again, it’s extremely useful to watch the market for a while before you buy so you have some idea what presses are commonly going for and in what condition with what accessories. Prices for presses can vary wildly, so looking at past listings is important. Not only should you have some idea of your press budget, but you need to factor in how much restoration or repair work you’re willing to do along with how much more you might pay to be able to skip all that. Also, don’t forget to add in the cost of new rollers or trucks (if necessary) along with any other parts you might have to replace and the money you’ll need to spend on furniture, leading, ink, press wash, type or plate base, etc. Here’s a good list of basic equipment and here's another good intro.

Wow, that was long, but I think I just emptied the entire contents of my brain. Maybe it was helpful? Well either way, that's my take on things and now it’s on your head. Questions? Objections? Additions? Please post in the comments.

Bye Bye Love

Wow, it's been an embarrassingly long time since my last post, but this has been an incredibly busy summer. I just got back from the Northwest where I met up with my parents, visited my Grandparents for the first time in 3 years, saw my Aunt & Uncle for the first time in 8 years, saw my cousin for the first time in 17 years (she was 6! now she's 23! that's kind of weird), and met her boyfriend's extended family. Yeah. We're not the closest family ever, mainly out of laziness, I think, since they're all great people. None of us are very good about calling or emailing or updating blogs on a regular basis.

Please note the "Lead is not Dead" shirt. I'm all letterpress, all the time.

We also spent a couple days at Glacier National Park in Montana, which is a beautiful, amazing place. You should all go and soon because they're now predicting that the glaciers will be melted by 2030 if we continue at our current rate of environmental destruction. And while thinking about how awful that is, I also spent an inordinate amount of time trying to figure out an alternate name for the park once the glaciers are gone. Because apparently I don't have enough of my own crap to worry about.

Even though it was August, there was snow in patches on the mountains and gorgeous wildflowers everywhere else. I took a bunch of pictures of flowers and hope to turn at least a couple of them into plates for cards or stationary. To do that I'm going to use this super-awesome and fancy and high-tech, of-the-minute tool that some of you may have heard of called Live Trace. Yeah, that's right, I've upgraded from Adobe CS to Adobe CS3 and from a 4-year-old pre-Intel iBook to a older, pre-Intel, but still better Powerbook. I'm still behind the times but way less so, and I've got Dreamweaver so I can finish my website and Live Trace in Illustrator so I can trace! in a fancy manner!

In other letterpress news, I finally got around to selling my 5x8 Kelsey, along with a bunch of excess basic start-up stuff that I'd somehow managed to accumulate, start-up lessons, and a type cabinet with 13 cases of type. Nice type too. I'll admit to considering holding onto almost all that type, but that was type cabinet number three and it had been wedged in between my kitchen table and my TV since May. I did keep some excess typecases that didn't fit into the cabinet and am now the proud owner of 14pt & 18pt Typo Roman Shaded and one 12pt & three 6pt versions of Copperplate Gothic.  I'm rather in love with Copperplate Gothic right now.

Anyway, the cabinet was between the table and the TV, and the 5x8 Kelsey had been sitting on the side table by my couch since March. We're talking about a very small room here people, and I was getting close to losing my mind. Gus, my shop cat, thought that it was super-fun to jump onto the kitchen table (where he's not allowed), clamber onto the type cabinet (which had 5+ galley trays of set type on top of it), and attempt to tightrope walk on the TV, so that didn't help either.

  Gus denies everything. You can see the type cabinet & kitchen table in the background

As you can imagine, I was sorely tempted to keep everything at first, especially the Kelsey, but after those cramped months I was so pleased to have the space back that there was very little sentimental sadness in selling my very first press. Okay there was some; when I think about all we accomplished together and how beautiful that little Kelsey is, I get a bit misty. However I'm thrilled to report that there is no letterpress equipment in my living room/kitchen for the first time since January 2008. NONE! Okay fine, that's not actually true. There are two typecases sitting on a kitchen chair, but those are totally temporary. My living room is basically a living room again. The letterpress stuff has been relegated to the hallway where it belongs. And the bedroom. And the bathroom.

I got got got got no time

It's funny how things go sometimes. I just got that beautiful Pearl (well it's been a month now), and all I wanted to do was play around with it, but that's not how it worked out. Instead, all sorts of great but busy-making things have been happening, like planning a children's book, and having to suddenly seriously think about what my prices are/would be after receiving multiple random quote requests. I'm not a planner, but I'm trying to become better. I also declared myself the sole proprietor of Gamewell Press by filing a "doing business as" form. Did you know that until I filed that form Gamewell Press was an illegal alias and every time I mentioned my press, Gamewell Press, I was committing fraud? I'm pretty sure that for me at least, it's a crime on par with having a beer on the stoop or jaywalking, but the legalese on the website that explains everything made it sound like I was Al Capone. So that was kind of cool and I walked around for a few days alternately whispering "Gamewell Press" out of the side of my mouth and elbowing Glendon in the ribs to "keep it quiet, ya hear?" or referring to it as the press that dare not speak its name.

The main activity that's been sucking away all of my time and preventing me from blogging is a web design class I'm taking. The class runs for three hours twice a week (after work) for four weeks, and the last class is tomorrow. It's been really great, and I'm well on my way to building a website, but it's been a lot of work in a short period. Also after spending so much time looking at other websites and messing with Dreamweaver, the last thing I want to do is go back to the computer and blog. I'll be back fairly soon, but I wanted to give a reason for my absence and post a sneak peak of my website to be.

Say Hello to My (Not So) Little Friend

Yes, that's right, I've pretty much officially lost my mind. I got a Pearl! Specifically a Pearl Improved #11. Now I know what you're thinking, and I know this because EVERY SINGLE PERSON I know has said the same thing the last few days. Yes, that does mean I have three presses right now. Yes, I do have a 200 square foot apartment. No, I did not get rid of the couch. I got rid of a dresser. Yes, that's right, it's in my bedroom.

Yeah, I'm a bit defensive, but seriously I've said this thirty times. And I know it's not ideal and of course I didn't plan to have three presses at once, but you can't always plan these things. I never actually meant to get the 6x10 Kelsey, but it kind of fell in my lap - you can't turn that down! I've been kind of lax in selling the 5x8 Kelsey because I've been using its roller springs on my 6x10 until the new ones come in, and also, it's my first press and it's pretty. I've been passively looking for a Pearl for a while and this one was in New York City. How often does that happen?

I'm probably also a little touchy because this purchase has kind of scared the shit out of me. This is a big press (relatively) and a big change for me (and I really loved that dresser). I do think it's the next logical step in my growth as a printer and I've pretty much decided that I would like to make some money off this someday. It would be nice to be a part-time librarian and part-time printer (of course, this is talking long term). But it's a step I've been wary of taking. To that end, I've been keeping my eyes open for Pearls and other small treadle presses, but I never placed an ad seeking one or otherwise actively looked. I've had a few leads and near misses, and each time it didn't work out, I was a tiny bit relieved. But I've also been wrestling with my jealousy over newbie questions on Briar Press from new Pearl owners. I'll read the questions and part of me will think, "Pick up a copy of General Printing for god's sake! Take a class before operating 500 pounds of machinery, dear god! You don't deserve a Pearl, sob, sniffle. Oh, why can't I have a Pearl? Sob." And then I would slap myself for being so catty and remind myself that I could always start actively looking for a Pearl.

Sorry, but I did not take pictures of the move because I had this superstitious idea that if I brought my camera something would go very very wrong. Thankfully everything went fine. I know a wonderful guy, Jony, who owns a moving company, JP Carrier, Inc., and he gave me a good deal on his muscle and expertise, truck with a lift gate, hand truck, fancy straps/ropes, etc. On the seller's end, Glendon and the seller helped Jony, and back in Brooklyn, I recruited my friend Ben and my neighbor David. Since my upper body strength is a joke, my role was mainly carrying typecases that came with the press and wringing my hands. We decided not to remove the press from the base mostly on John Barrett's advice, and the fact that this is a smaller press, relatively.

What we did was pretty basic. We removed the flywheel, feedboards and ink disk and tied the platen closed. Then we strapped the press onto a hand truck (with me moaning that the press is extremely top heavy! Extremely! Top-heavy!) and Glendon and the seller helped Jony (who might be the strongest person ever) tilt the hand truck back. The seller's building has a ramp, so he just wheeled it (with Glendon spotting him) down to the street and onto the lift gate. Jony and Glendon held it while it was lifted up and into the truck. We packed blankets all around it and secured it to bars running along the truck with those special movers straps that have those adjustable winch-like things. After that, the press was actually resting on its back legs which seriously freaked me out, but everyone thought it would be fine. And it was though it still freaks me out to think about it. Then we drove from Morningside Heights to Clinton Hill and I cursed this pothole ridden city and composed angry letters to transportation officials in my head. Seriously, New York City streets are awful. We did so much bouncing around that I was SURE that the press couldn't have made it unscathed. By the time we pulled up at my house, I was literally positive and trying to resign myself to it being broken in some way, but it was just fine. We put the press back on the hand truck and took it down the lift gate off the truck and then we were faced with the five steps up to my apartment building's front door. Of course when I say "we," I mostly mean Jony and Glendon. Each of the four guys took a corner and I held the doors and they pulled/pushed the press on the hand truck up the stairs, though the hall and into my apartment. Then we had to wiggle it down the hall to my bedroom and maneuver it onto its new wood base (don't worry - we examined the beams, etc. under the floor). So that's how it happened and it went swimmingly. I would not want to move a bigger press than that though, and I'm pretty sure I won't ever have to since the apartment is at maximum capacity.

Apparently that old adage about when it rains, it pours is true. I bought the Pearl two weeks ago, and then we went to Louisville for that wedding, and while we were there, I saw an ad for a Pearl in Louisville, KY on Briar Press. I totally could have rented a UHaul and taken it home. Kind of funny. And to top things off, Elisabeth made the nicest offer ever of one of her Pearls that she's de-accessioning. So maybe now when people comment on my three presses, I should just say that I'm proud of myself for not having five.

So I haven't yet printed with the Pearl since it had some issues I needed to take care of and it came with some other stuff that I'm trying to organize to sell with the 5x8 Kelsey (which dear god, I need to get out of my tiny house!). And we went to Louisville (which is really nice - you should go) and I finally quit my second (part-time) job, and basically I've been doing that stupid thing I sometimes do where I want everything to be perfect. But when I do print, you peoples will be the first to know - and care.

PEARL!