Gamewell Press Blog

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.

Pedal to the Metal

So I’ve been messing around with the Pearl the last couple weeks, cleaning parts of it, testing various things, setting the platen, but I hadn’t actually printed anything besides tests until Sunday. The press just felt a little weird and I was hesitant to get started until figuring out why. There seemed to be drag and pull in excess of what I’d expected, and I couldn’t make up my mind whether it was just me and my over-concern for the press or whether something might actually be wrong. Sometimes I feel like I might be too wary of breaking a press – they are, after all, way older than I am (the youngest of my three is the Pearl at 86 years).  Obviously, printing presses are somewhat fragile and you don’t want to over-pack them or bang them around, but I suspect I was too wary at first in exploring the capabilities of the 5x8 Kelsey or that now I might not treadle the Pearl anywhere near as fast as I probably could, just because I’m afraid of an imaginary clonking or unlikely break.

Right, so I was having this press problem, and I couldn’t decide if it was real or not. I’ve been practicing treadling and feeding a lot. I know that sounds silly, but I wasn’t having the easiest time treadling AND feeding sheets into the press, taking them out, examining them, and feeding the next. I was never a video game player or a drummer and my body gets confused when I try to use my leg, both hands and my brain all at once. Of course, now I’m sort of wondering how I walk and drink coffee every day! One thing I’m going to need to change to improve the feeding is paper size – I can’t pre-cut business cards and then expect to perfectly feed those tiny pieces of paper into the gauge pins in a treadle and a half – oh no.

Anyway, I’ve been practicing. Because it’s been hard to get a good, consistent rhythm going. I did pretty well when the rollers weren’t on, but the press got harder to treadle with the rollers because it slowed down significantly when the rollers ran over the ink disk. When I added ink, treadling became almost impossible while the rollers were on the ink disk. I really wasn’t sure whether it was a roller-setting problem or whether I just wasn’t treadling hard enough since I am, well, cautious and not strong would be a kind way to put it, but we could also go with pathetic, scaredy weakling. So I embarked on a series of tests.

Just by the by, I have a new favorite book, and I've added it in the sidebar as well. It's Platen Press Operation by George J. Mills, and though I've owned it for a while, I never really looked at it until maybe March, when I got the 6x10 Kelsey. I bought it about a year and a half ago because there was one copy for sale at Letterpress Things and I'd recently noticed that NA Graphics had run out of copies, meaning it was once again out of print. Although NA Graphics plans to reprint it, the librarian in me knows how long that can take (and see, it’s already been over a year) so I snatched it off the table. John Barrett said that I really didn't need it since only had the 5x8 Kelsey, but I like to be prepared. So I took it home and added to my rapidly expanding printing book collection and there it sat. My main letterpress reference book has been Cleeton's General Printing, and it's a great book, but sometimes the instructions are a little unclear to me, and since it's a textbook, the author assumes that my teacher will check my work (I wish!). Anyway, before I got the Pearl or even the 6x10 Kelsey, I was ogling small floor model presses, and I thought I might do well to open up Platen Press Operation and do a little preparatory research into what bigger presses entail. The book certainly covers all that, but I was pleasantly surprised to realize that there's also lots of great information for any printer in there. Mills has a more conversational style than Cleeton and some of his methods and explanations resonate better with me.

I also learned a super-handy trick for checking your roller tension. Mills has you cut three strips of paper; two should be about 2 inches wide and one should be one inch wide. I don't think it matters much how long they are. Sandwich the thinner piece in between the two larger ones with its top sticking out a bit and put a chase with type locked up in the press. Hold the paper stack over the type and roll the rollers until a roller is sitting over the paper and type. Then pull out the middle piece of paper. If it slips out without any tension, the springs are too loose, but if you really have to yank it, they're too tight. Much like Goldilocks, you want it to be just right. After noticing the drag on the rollers from the ink disk, I ttried this when I set the Pearl’s platen and the rollers seemed to pass the Goldilocks test. If anything, they seemed maybe a teensy bit too loose, so I decided I must be mistaken about the roller tension. I also checked the roller height, which also seemed right on target, so I decided the problem must lay elsewhere (perhaps with my lack of muscle?). 

The action of the rollers still didn't improve, but a couple days later I locked up one of my business card plates and noticed that when the rollers ran over the plate, they made this weird plinking noise – it was actually kind of musical sounding, but it didn't seem good. Although the plate was inking well enough, closer examination made me think that the rollers were too tight on the plate and pressing too hard. I’m pretty sure the only reason the plate was inking well was that as usual, I hadn’t put enough ink on the press.

At this point the conclusion that there was too much something with the roller somethings was kind of inescapable, and let me tell you that this put fear into my heart since I had so much trouble with the roller hooks and springs when I was setting up the 6x10 Kelsey. I actually never posted about that because I wanted to tell you the whole story, including how I fixed it finally. But every day I thought I was closer to finding a solution and something else would go wrong, and suddenly there was almost too much to blog about (and since I'm not normally concise, can you imagine?). Anyway, based on my prior roller adjustment experience, I was loathe to believe that I might have to do all that again, so I kept trying to come up with other conclusions, such as I just sucked at treadling. Of course, it’s treadling; it ain’t hard, so I got a second opinion and Glendon too agreed that something was wrong.

There’s a little pin that controls the tension of the rollers, and we decided to try to readjust that first. The pin fits in between the roller spring coils and clicks into the roller arm, so you can pull out the pin with pliers and reposition from say, in-between the last two coils of the roller spring, to in-between the second to last and third to last coils, thereby creating a shorter spring. Shorter springs equal less tension, and a longer spring equals more tension. So we repositioned it by one coil and it seemed to help a little bit, but not much. As we’re messing about with the roller contraption, all this dried ink and dirt was showering down onto the floor and it was kind of difficult to reposition the pin and hooks due to all the gunk. So we decided to just take apart the whole assembly and clean it. There was so much caked on crud that actually took a while to get it dissembled. We took it all apart, wiped the hooks down with oil, sprayed WD-40 on the springs and holes, scraped off the crap and rubbed it down well.

Lord what a difference! Everything now runs so smoothly, like butter! We didn’t have to fix anything else. It was neat. And easy. Now I’m a treadling queen (although I could still use some feeding tips if you’ve got ‘em). Mills' paper test didn't lie, the roller tension was correct, but the hooks and springs were so dirty that they couldn't move in the saddle as much as they needed. Now while I'm running the press, the springs and hooks are constantly moving - even if incrementaly. Part of the reason I'm relating this story is that I kept overlooking something really obvious while troubleshooting this problem, and it's something I want to keep in mind in the future. Basically, I was experiencing problems on the ink disk (mostly), but all of my tests (roller height gauge, paper strips) took place around the bed of the press. Obviously the rollers were working well around the bed, but running into trouble at the top of their cycle. Now I don't know of any tests I could have done up around the ink disk, but that disconnect seems like part of the reason I couldn't diagnose the problem more quickly.

It’s funny that cleaning was the solution since I was just recently blathering on about how you don’t need to take apart and clean every press and the old presses have a “patina” from age, and blah, blah, blah. Sometimes cleaning is good. I still wouldn’t ever do much more that oil and wipe down a press that didn’t have major rust, but that’s just me. I know some people enjoy the restoration work, and that’s great for them and their beautiful presses. Me, I’m lazy and I like the whole printing part WAY more than the restoration part.

Ich liebe der Buchdruck

This week I saw my friend Sheelagh for the first time in a while. I've been working through some stuff and have been sort of withdrawn and anti-social although I've begun to emerge again. But my point is that she gave me a belated birthday present, and it is probably the coolest book ever. It's called The Printer's Terms, first published in 1949 by Rudolf Hostettler, Hermann Strehler, publishers in Switzerland.

Basically it has all these printing and bookbinding terms and pictures and gives translations in English, French and German! I'm such a dork, but I think it's fantastic!

I took German in high school and college and loved it - I was even a German major for a very short while and spent a few months, a few different times in Germany over a decade ago. Then nothing for ages, until last fall when I started taking lessons again and conversing with a fluent friend over lunch a couple times a month. I was so surprised how quickly much of it came back and how much I still loved the language. The major stumbling block was actually printing terms - but no more! You know, in language classes they always want you to discuss your hobbies, but letterpress terms are not exactly included in the standard lists, alongside sewing and painting and reading. My teachers and friends didn't know the words either since it isn't exactly everyday conversation, what with the rise of offset and digital.

The book is broken up into different sections such as composition, presswork, paper, and bookbinding and is full of diagrams and comparisons between the American, British, and various European ways of doing things like type high or point sizes. I'm in love!