visualchemist

A half ton piece of history fell onto my lap the other day. Here he is, “Professor Cook,” a Vandercook Model 4OS. Rusty and missing a part, but totally restorable.

I say it fell onto my lap, and it practically did, during a business lunch with friend and former coworker, Jennifer Hohner of D’Lischka. Jen mentioned that her cousin, Greg, was trying to give away his "Vandersomething." When she asked "I don’t want it, do you?" images of letterpress poster printing started dancing through my head. Without hesitation, I was on the phone with Greg and 4 days later, I was hauling Professor Cook down 405, via Santa Monica to San Diego.

This was a Pasadena Art Center College of Design press that found it’s way into Greg’s Santa Monica garage studio, where it sat unused for 10 years. It had gotten rusty over time, but a little love and elbow grease can easily fix that.

At 1,050lbs, I thought we’d need to hire a mover and rent a forklift to pick him up, but instead, I got a little lesson from my dad about leverage using a few scraps of wood and a car jack. Getting Professor Cook home was a task full of hurdles requiring getting him out of the studio, tackling the rough terrain of Greg’s backyard, meandering him through a narrow gate, getting past the turtle sand box, through the furnished patio, down the long driveway, up the ramp onto the U-Haul trailer, and then making the two hour drive to his temporary home.

A little poking around on the Vanderblog census revealed that there are currently 1,401 presses listed as having survived to this point in time worldwide, and of them, 25 are 4OS models. Worldwide! That just blows my mind. Thanks for the press, Greg and Jen! And thanks Dad and Uncle for helping me haul this thing.

*Dad’s dolly wheel died from the sheer weight of the press. Rest in pieces, old dolly wheel. You did a good job today.

I had sent Lucy’s old squishy rollers to Ramco Rollers to be recovered. I was pretty excited when they finally arrived all nice and new, but when I performed my first ink test, I was a little panicked when I saw that not only did my plates get inked, but my entire Boxcar base did as well. Upon inspection, I noticed the diameter of the rollers were a lot larger than the trucks. I was preparing for a fairly large print run which was due asap, and I needed these rollers fixed, fast!

A quick call to Ramco convinced me to hop in a car and drag my family over to San Dimas, where we met the owners, Adrian and Jayne. Adrian was kind enough to show us around his shop. He even educated me on the process of creating rubber rollers and how he was going to shave mine down to the proper diameter, which he did while we waited. Adrian was even willing to shave down my blue synthetic rollers for Lieutenant Price. You can see the shavings as his machine meticulously grinded down the excess rubber. Soon after, we headed back to San Diego and I was ready to roll.

Remember that rusty old pearl I got for Valentine’s Day? Well look at “Lucy” now. In case you missed the story of how this gem was unearthed, catch up here.

After 25 years of being buried deep in the garage of a Paradise Hills pack rat, this Golding Pearl No. 11 finally got a new pair of shoes. Once we started the process of getting to her, there was no turning back. And when she finally emerged into the light of day, while others would have frowned and turned away, I saw all the potential that she could become. I had to leave town and after two weeks of being away, my dad and uncle managed to strip all the nasty off of her and give Lucy a new coat. Then I had to leave for Seattle, so sadly, I had to part with her again. In the two months I was gone, my dad had managed to outfit her with a new feed/delivery board (with a secret compartment), a cabinet door, and some new wheels. So not only is she polished and new again, but now Lucy is mobile. She and I have a lot of catching up to do. I love Lucy. (I think my dad does, too.)

I had been shopping around for a solid ream cutter for some time now and had narrowed my options down to several different models readily found on eBay. I was so close to making a bid, when I spotted this awesome Challenge Advance 19″ guillotine paper cutter on Craigslist… That was a few months ago… Between a shiny new modern Paper Cutter 3000 or a 300ish lb. cast iron guillotine cutter, nostalgia won. Since I was back in SoCal for three weeks, I made sure to squeeze in time to finally take him home and introduce him to the rest of the studio. He’s old, heavy and rusty, but that’s all superficial. There’s plenty of cutting life left in this old guy. I guess I have a soft spot for heavy antiquated machinery. Welcome to the family, “Zorro.”

ser⋅en⋅dip⋅i⋅ty 1. an aptitude for making desirable discoveries by accident. 2. good fortune; luck 3. the gift of finding valuable or agreeable things not looked for

Serendipity is the only word to describe how this awesome Golding Pearl Model No. 11 (7×11) fell onto my lap. For weeks, I had been casually browsing floor model presses on the internet, in hopes of finding the perfect Chandler & Price OS 8×12. Not one to buy, but more one to admire and aspire to have, one of these days. I didn’t really have the room, nor the immediate means to move one of those massively heavy machines, so I though I was going to wait.

On a random weekend that my own little family and I were down in San Diego, visiting our two families, my husband and mother-in-law both decided to do a little Spring cleaning and toss out some old books. Without hesitation, I offered to take their books to my childhood public library where I frequently donate books for others to enjoy. On my way to the library, I had a sudden urge to stop at an antique store along the way. I had asked the owner, Jim, if he had any wood type laying around. Little did I know, this random stop would change everything.

Jim, unfortunately, did not have any wooden type for me. Instead, he mentioned that the gal several shops down, Jan, had a press for sale. A press? Oh yeah? I thought, Hmmm… I’ll have to check this one out. To my luck, Jan was in her shop. Remember, I had my heart set on a 8×12 C&P. It turned out Jan had a Golding Pearl and had purchased the contents of Christiansen Press some 25+ years back and the equipment had been stored in her brother’s garage ever since.

It hadn’t dawned on me, until this moment, that the Pearl was actually just right for my needs. Small footprint, old style spokes, relatively light weight frame, slightly taller than the C&P, and had a variable speed motor and foot treadle capabilities. I won’t bore you with any more details that only I would care about… The most awesome part of this story (for me anyway) is that this press and this equipment was all stored just down the street from my elementary school. Amazing! It had been sitting there waiting for the one day I would finally come to take it home.

Saying her brother’s garage was full of stuff was an understatement. Not knowing what the day had in store, I brought along my husband, dad and uncle for some extra muscle. Together with Jan and her husband, we began to empty out the contents of that garage. I should have taken photos when we first arrived. It was definitely gnarly in there. Like rescuing a trapped miner, eventually, the Pearl’s leg started showing through halfway deep into the contents of this garage.

She may look all old and rusty now, but just you wait. Don’t judge a press by its 25 year old peeling paint and rusty stains. With a little bit of love and a lot of elbow grease, “Lucy Pearl” will shine again.

Luckily this equipment only needed to be moved about 5 miles down the street. Eventually all this stuff will migrate into my design studio/open community letterpress shop. That’s the ultimate goal, anyway. What a day!

Yay! My vintage Dick Blick Master Printer Sign Press has arrived, traveling by train across the US with the help of Amy S. from Madison, WI. Not only did I acquire my third press for the studio, but I also made a new friend in the process.

I’ve heard horror stories of people shipping antique presses across the country only to open up a box of scrap metal and “Master P” almost made that casualty list. So, exactly what happens when you ship 66.3 lbs. of solid metal across the US? You cross your fingers and hope it makes it in one piece. Not the case here.

Unfortunately, this old man arrived in more pieces than I would have liked. Master P still functions like he should, so I’m still a happy camper and I will have the pleasure of printing up broadsides/large format pieces for years to come.

The poor guy, though. Somewhere across the country, this press took some hard hits. I’d turn the knob and could hear all his crunchy bits, so with the help of my better half, we (or should I say he), Ed, managed to disassemble the press and we assessed the damage: (1) Friction seems to be the only thing holding up the back end cap piece. (2) The gripper finger lever got tweaked and now leans to the left. (3) The part that sustained the most damage was the height adjustment dial.

The dial had been knocked so hard it cracked and sat cockeyed against the face plate, literally hanging by a “thread.” (Hardy har har) The dial, minus the silver knob, will still spin, but only without the banged up face plates installed. Rest in pieces, you cool irreplaceable priceless retro face plates. It was nice knowing you.

Over the holiday, a brand spanking new (old) Monarch Press was unearthed and went up for sale. Anyone that’s been shopping for one knows that a good working tabletop press is hard to find, and even more so when it comes with a larger chase size. I actually wasn’t shopping for another press at the time, but it was a deal I could not pass up and I had to see it with my own eyes. I made arrangements to meet the seller, John, and as I walked up his driveway, I spied her. There she was, beaming in John’s back yard, waiting to be taken home.

My jaw dropped as I assessed the condition of the 9×12 Craftsmen Monarch staring back at me. Sans rollers, this little gem had been hiding for decades with an unused ink disk, original orange paint job, working gripper bars and great rails. She also came with 3 chases and a full case of 36pt Futura Bold lead type. Score!

Along with a little dust and minimal surface rust here and there, the press came with 2 gauge pins in place, as well as both the feed board and delivery board in excellent condition.

We had to temporarily leave some Christmas presents behind to make room for the Monarch. “Madame Butterfly” was a 5 minute drive from my old stomping ground. Could there be a 8×12 old style treadle press hiding somewhere nearby?