This press is our latest acquisition. It actually came from what are now the premises of KwartzLab, the former home of Pandora Press. This machine is a Thompson-British Automatic Platen Press, weighing in at about 1525kg (3360lbs). It fills the…
Author: kpmartin
Our workhorse printing press
The press we do most of our work with is a Chandler and Price 7×11 Old Style. This is a hand-fed treadle-driven letterpress. When we got the press it was set up for motor drive, had an ink fountain, but…
Our smallest printing press
Our smallest printing press is a Kelsey Excelsior 5×8 Model U tabletop press. When we got it it was suffering from fire and water damage. Most of the paint was worn off, there was rust all over, and the rubber…
…and Calligraphy too!
A few weeks ago Lily’s kindergarten class held a muffin sale, but she was home sick the day they were supposed to make the sign for their muffins. So I pulled out a fountain pen and a sheet of hand-made…
Papermaking presses
We have two presses which are used in papermaking to press excess water out of the sheets and also to make the sheets thinner and denser. The one we use regularly is actually a power hydraulic 30-ton arbor press assembled…
An evening at KwartzLab
One local group that I am associated with is called KwartzLab. This is the local “maker group” in the Kitchener-Waterloo area. Essentially it is a group of members who rent premises and keep tools and equipment there for use by…
Missing WordPress account notification e-mails
I’ve spent several days now trying to get notification e-mails to go out when a new blog user is created. Finally got it working. I’m posting this in the hopes that anyone with the same problem will be able to…
A Sampler of our Marbling
Someone asked me about our marbling on handmade paper so rather than try to describe patterns and colours in an e-mail or by phone I though I should just take a photo of all the marbling we have on handmade…
Monotype Pump Enhancements
My Monotype Composition Caster is a British-made one, with a serial number indicating fairly late manufacture (1960’s) so it should in theory be fitted will all the latest bells and whistles. But for some reason it is missing the pump…
Lily’s first sheet of paper
Back in November 2009, when Lily was only about 2½ years old, we attended the Branson Banana Bash organized by Mimi Aumann. It was a chilly few days in the Ozarks in November, where we tried various methods for pulping…
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