Cutting sticks are often sold by the same folks who sharpen blades. Have you asked them?My cutter would also take a 1.25″ square cutting stick–but a friend did what Arie is suggesting, and made a kind of “holder” out of 1.25″ wood, and you can fill it in with .5 or .75″ plastic sticks.If your blade sharpening folks don’t offer sticks, I get mine…[Read more]

Ashley,I highly recommend calling/visiting John Barrett at Letterpress Things. He’s the go-to dealer in New England, and if he doesn’t have a 10×15 ready to go, he’ll likely know where you could find one!Good luck!

Alaina,Amber of Flywheel Press in California offers Windmill Workshops (and there’s one this October!). Everyone RAVES about them! https://www.facebook.com/flywheelpressKelly

Have you tried taping them to the tympan? It would be crazy slow going, but it would keep your register. Say, use a few squares of something like this (http://www.staples.com/Scotch-Restickable-Strips-1-inch-x-3-Clear-6-Pack/product_857700) on the tympan–making sure that they’re not under an area that’s being printed, and also that the area would…[Read more]

Gary,It sounds like you have all the makings in place to be a small, custom shop that focuses on your strengths–LETTERPRESS FOR THE PEOPLE!I loved your sneak peeks on instagram, of the young couple printing part of their invitations–that is one thing that you can certainly do differently than the other local printers.My local strategy was this:…[Read more]

Gary,I too am running a small letterpress shop in a not-so-saturated area…and I’ve had much better luck focusing my efforts on LOCAL business, local craft fairs, etc. The bulk of my custom work is filtered though local graphic designers, who are more than happy to have “bespoke” wholesale printer. And I’ve built a wholesale/retail line, which I…[Read more]

Firstly, your bed plate shouldn’t matter to anything, as long as it’s level and brings your type/plates up to type high.Vandercook recommends no more than .03 over the undercut–so you’d want you paper and tympan/packing thickness to total .43. I find that with Lettra (because it’s so soft), you want a bit more than that–closer to .50.(I’m not…[Read more]

I absolutely do not put my logo on custom work. Clients pay me for their design, printing, etc and it should represent the best work I can do–but for them. I always include a business card (or two) in the box so if they’re happy with my work they can share my contact info easily.The one exception is sending out samples–then I do label my work.

Just replied to your email, Lise!

Hi Liz,Yes! I can ship to the UK for an additional cost. Let me know what you’re interested in, and I can get you an accurate shipping quote.Best,Kelly

Elana,It’s a good habit to have the MSDS (Materials Safety Data Sheet) on file for all of your inks and solvents. Van Son Rubber Base is one of the lowest-toxicity inks you will find. (see #11 on the sheet)Again, from my own experience, my little one is robustly healthy, and has been meeting all of her developmental milestones at or ahead of…[Read more]

Hi Elana,Congratulations! I just went through this myself–I now have a six month old baby girl.I had my lead levels tested at 18 weeks, and was on the low side of normal…and I set type fairly regularly, though not every day, but I work around it 60+ hours/week. My doctors didn’t seem that concerned, either.That said, they were a bit more…[Read more]

Cool–the only suggestion I have is to try running text parallel to the rollers. I was taught that this will eliminate the “end-of-line” inking variation, because then the line of type itself holds the rollers up. If the rollers are only hitting one letter at a time, then they put much more ink/pressure than you want on the sparse areas of your…[Read more]

Allie, a few more details should help narrow down your trouble.(1) What press are you working on? (You might be exceeding the impression strength of the press.)(2) Is the impression that’s heavier, or is there more ink at the ends of the lines? (Check this by taking an impression with no ink on the press.)(3) Are you running the lines of type…[Read more]

I’ve used the code several times with no problem. You definitely have to order from letterpresspaper.com.You’ve seen where to enter it right? It’s a link at the bottom of the shopping cart pop-up window.Hope that helps!Kelly

What’s the project? What’s the budget? Cotton or tree-fiber?There are a lot of other-than-white papers out there: Stonehenge, BFK, and French come to mind easily.

Maggie,In your second pic, it looks like your right side gripper is in front of your base–make sure that it’s totally out of the way, or your press won’t close properly (and it would look like improper inking, even though it’s an impression issue).And I wholeheartedly second Camille–go down and get friendly with your local mom-and-pop hardware…[Read more]

Both the Poco and C&P Proof Presses are hand inked, with no option for paper registration. (You may be able to rig something for the Poco, but it would not be included with the press).The C&P platen presses would require a large amount of dedicated floor space (and a sturdy floor at that!), and are wide enough that they would cause some challenges…[Read more]

Are you talking about the “spacer” bar at the head of the bed?  The one that prevents you from smashing your form with the grippers? If so, I’m not sure what that’s called. The bar at the end of the bed (that makes a fourth “side” of the bed) is a lockup bar if it’s spring loaded, or a deadbar if it’s one that’s dropped in place (and doesn’t e…[Read more]