hmmm. I’m not sure the exact size. the Quoins I have are about 1.5 inches. so small. I have a Golding Pearl #11. As far as composing sticks. didn’t realize there are different sizes. I guess not very large one since I only have about a 9″ width.
I would be looking to get 1 or 2 Quoins.
I’m new at printing as well and my first run (Golding Pearl #11) was a bit frustrating as I too could not get my ink even, had bleed and uneven impressions, etc. After much messing with the packing and rollers, I realized I had most likely over inked my platen. So I took a piece of plain paper, laid it on the platen and ran the rollers over it. Then peeled the paper off. It seemed to lift just enough of the extra ink off and I quickly got to a good proof. So when I did my second run of the the job, I applied less ink and my first impression was almost perfect. So inking is definitely something good to master-saves a lot of frustration!
