For beating some papermaking fibres, a Hollander beater is essential. One of the brands preferred by hand papermakers is the Valley Beater, originally made by Valley Iron Works, but still available new from Voith-Sulzer (last time I checked). They are…
Category: Things we do
Monotype pump head disassembled
As part of my project to add a pump latch to my Monotype Composition Caster to allow casting of larger type, I decided to take apart the pump head so all the parts could be cleaned properly of decades of…
The big monster printing press
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…
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…
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…
About that Wayzgoose poster
The poster image I attached to the announcement about the Wayzgoose in Grimsby was from a pdf file e-mailed to us with no additional information. I found the poster kind of strange, frankly. However, I have now seen the actual…
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