Day 5

Inking up the front press

WHAT I LEARNED

• How to print a poster on the front press (Vandercook SP15)
• Watch for leads on the press bed– they match!
• In reference to the order of tightening the lockup bar and tightening quoins..."Shut the door (lockup bar) before you lock it (quoins)."
• Stack printed posters vertically so ink won't offset.
• and the kicker...Dorris Macon was Uncle Dave's son, not his daughter! I've heard of Dorris a few times, but I never realized this was a male name.

VOCABULARY FOR TODAY

• Tympan paper is the cushy wax coated paper that goes around the cylinder
• The frame user to hold all the type together is called the chase
• Type locked into the chase is called the form
• The lockup bar goes at the bottom of the form and secures it into the press
• A quoin is a mechanism, tightened by a quoin key, used to secure type from the side.
• The dead line is a line marked on the press bed after which nothing type high can be set (or it will be damaged by the cylinder.)
• Type high is literally the term for the universal height of letterpress type– .918", that is.

NEW TYPEFACES

• Airport (reminiscent of Futura)
• News Gothic

Quoins, quoin key, lockup bar, etc. on the front press