Now that I have the font display matrices in boxes, I have an assortment of sorts matrices to sort out and store. In addition to the sorts I also had a few cardboard boxes of unfiled small caps, odd sizes,…
Month: June 2015
Father’s day at the Hamilton Mini Maker Faire
Last Sunday (the 21st, that is) we spent the afternoon in Hamilton at the Mini Maker Faire, hosted by the Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology. The site is a former Victorian-era steam-powered plant for pumping municipal water from Lake…
In case you’re wondering why I don’t answer some of your comments…
I just noticed that, once I approve someone for comments, I receive absolutely no notification of any new comments they place. So if you’ve been commenting on posts here and wondering about my silence, it’s because I didn’t realize there…
But then there’s the sorts matrices…
I have my display font matrices in proper boxes now, but I still have mats for symbols, arrows, braces and brackets, ornaments, borders, etc. to sort out and inventory. Most of these were in the loose tray at top left.…
Display matrices all in boxes (finally)
I finally have all my Monotype display matrices, at least the ones I plan on keeping in the long run, in uniform storage boxes. Altogether I have 82 faces in 82 boxes, each box containing between 1 and 5 sizes.…
Tagged with: Sky Shipley
How Not to Make Matrix Blanks
The Lanston Monotype display matrices are essentially rectangles of brass (or aluminum) approximately 1⅛×¾×0.094″ with two corners cut off at an angle. It would seem that the best material to start with would be 1/8×¾″ brass strip, and the first…
Tagged with: Jim Rimmer
Tramming the Mill
In order to get a good finish when milling the top surface of a part, as I will be doing to prepare matrix blanks, it is necessary that the axis of the mill spindle be perpendicular to the surface of…
An Interem Solution to the Pneumatic Valves Problems
This week I’ve been occupied with (finally) putting away all the display mats I bought last year at the Anderson and Skyline matrix auctions. They have been cluttering up the shop since last summer with their variety of packaging. I…
Tagged with: Jim Rimmer
Converting the Outline to a Pantograph Template
In the process of cutting a matrix for the 18-point @ I made up to go with Swing Bold, I need to make a template to run the pantograph tracer against. The edge of the template has to be high…
Matrix Making: Handling Ink Gain
Letterpress printing has a property called “ink gain” where the inked area left on the printed sheet is a tiny bit larger than the type used to do the printing. Because of this, when designing type (which includes designing the…
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