Let’s get started.
We started moving presses to our new location today! Here are a few pics of day #1.
Very exciting to get things started but still a lot to do over the next few weeks.
Many thanks to Bill from Machinery Movers of San Diego, he’s the only guy I’ll let lift my presses.
Also a BIG thanks to my buddy Kurt Braun. There are lots of friends that will help you move a sofa or a fridge, but when you’re moving close to 18,000lbs of vintage machinery you need a back up guy you can count on to know what he’s doing and have your back…that’s Kurt.
To Marc Pastore, one of the first guys I ever worked a Kluge with over 30+ years ago, who convinced me to go a head and paint the floor ( I admit it does look good!) And of course my dad Jim Butler who saved the day today by running out and getting me a new 100 amp 3 phase breaker for my electrician tomorrow. Plus my bro’s Pablo and Andrew P who helped me move over 100 drawers of lead type and stay sane with all the painting I’ve been doing to get things ready for the machines.
There will be many more thanks you’s and pics coming but I’m tired, a little sore, and I need to meet my electrician in the morning for a long day of pulling wire.
Here’s a rough list of what went on the trucks today:
Intertype lead typesetting machine with 50 magazines of typefaces.
12″x18″ Inking Kluge
14″x20″ Meihle V50
8″x12″ Old Style C&P
Hammond Glider lead saw
8′ printers stone holding 80 drawers of type
25 drawer Hamilton type cab
Vintage oak typecase with 40 drawers
2 – 100 space galley cabinets
Moving on and moving up!
Hard at work
The rumors are true, I am currently under way to move Quality Letterpress to a new, larger location.
This first pic is of my awesome niece Clara painting and my dad Jim getting things prepped.
We’ll still be in the same area, right off Mission Gorge Rd and Highway 8 in Mission Valley, and not only will it be a larger space, but we’ll even be adding a few new machines. New on the floor will be another 12″x18″ Kluge ink press for larger format posters and imprinting/die cutting. The big news is that we’ll also be adding a C4 Intertype lead typesetting machine with over 50 different type fonts to choose from.
That means if you want to add a paragraph of text to a poster, or if you’d like to do a poetry book or simply add a line of text, we won’t need to make a special plate we just set it in lead type…old school baby!
Lots to do still, more paint going up today (actually down, I’m painting the concrete floor!) and then I’ll get George my master electrician in and start moving machines and type cases plus everything else. I’m estimating close to 30,000 pounds of equipment and supplies!
Another bonus of moving to the larger space will be the opportunity to set up an area just for classes that will include my 2 tabletop presses, the old style C&P, as well as having my type and image collection close at hand.
I’d like to thank a few people that have been instrumental in helping my design the look and layout of the shop in these initial stages. Marc Hedges of Encompus, Valentine Viannay silkscreen goddess, my dad Jim Butler and my entire family and my entire group of friends.
Keep checking back for new pics and updates.
There have been lots of changes for me these days and I am really looking forward to moving on and moving up!
Classes are back in session!
Hey Everybody,
Due to popular demand I’ve scheduled more classes. Sorry it’s taken so long but things have been really busy and I had a few road trips in March. I’m going to try and keep them going more consistently for everyone in the future.
I have a road trip in May (going to Alabama to play with the Beach Boys!) and another week out in June, but I’m going to try and update this page and keep the classes going.
So pop me an email and sign up now!
Tim
Caveat Emptor!
With the resurgence of interest in letterpress a lot of people are looking to buy small, tabletop presses to use for personal projects. I think it’s great that designers are getting their hands dirty and learning how fun and inspiring a small press can be.
But you need to know what you’re buying and who you’re buying it from!
I’ve recently had 2 different clients come to me with presses that they purchased that were not in working order. While I don’t like to slag anybody, I cannot in good conscience let it slide. There is a guy on the East Coast with a company called Excelsior Press. I would highly suggest that if you’re looking to buy a press that you may want to find someone else to work with.
The high amount of interest has driven the cost of the presses quite high and it pains me to think of ‘newbies’ been taken advantage of. Do your research, take a class, talk to someone who owns a press.
Here is a great resource for those of you interested in getting started. keep in mind that some of the users on the site are at the same level as you and some are ‘old timers’ like myself. People are willing to help you out. I know you may want to jump in with both feet but take your time…a press is an investment!
http://www.briarpress.org/
Letterpress should be a fun creative time and it kills me to have to tell a client that the press they have won’t work and it will take a new part and more money to get fixed.
Caveat Emptor!
AIGA Y-16 Conference
After a very busy month of keeping the presses rolling, heading out on the road with Sha Na Na and keeping the dogs happy, I was really excited to participate in this years Y Conference for the San Diego Chapter of the AIGA.
It was a packed house at my ‘Thinkshop” and the group was really great. We covered a little bit of everything, paper selection, when to use foil and general information on how cool letterpress can be. Being able to give designers a little demo and giving them the pressmans perspective was pretty cool and hopefully they left with a new understanding of all things letterpress.
I’d like to give special thanks to Justin Skeesuck from seenandnoted.com for turning me on to the event. He was the reason I was there.
Also a shout out to Mark Robillard from the San Diego Chapter of the AIGA. After telling me I could get there at 7:30 am and I showed up at 9:15 to start my presentation at 10 (hey , I’m a musician, we don’t really do ‘mornings’ ha ha) he had a killer parking space for me and really kept things running smooth.
And last but not least, Marc Hedges from encompus.com. He got up early (easier when you have a beautiful little girl!) helped me move the press and tools for the demo, and helped keep me from rambling too much. I can get a little passionate about letterpress.
Thanks again to all and keep checking the site for updates, there is some really cool stuff in the works.
I can’t go into much yet, but believe me, you are going to flip when you see what we’re working on!
Back to the presses….
Tim
About time I put up another post!
Hi All,
Things have been crazy busy here in the shop so it’s been tough to get another post up, but I have squeezed out a few minutes for a quick update!
Yes, it’s true…I did just finish hand feeding 10,000 books on the old C&P! Got up to 1000 an hour and my arms felt like I swam the English Channel, but you got to get it done! I actually started out using the foot treadle but after about 700 forms it felt like I had run 100 miles up hill…so I put on the ol’ thinking cap and took a motor, belt and speed drive of my old Kluge and re-wired it onto the C&P and put it under power to get ‘er done!
I know a lot of you are lining up for classes and I promise to get some going soon. But as most of you know that I run the shop by myself so when the work hits hard I get quite busy and it’s tough to schedule classes.
But I will have a new class schedule up soon!!!
Some cool things on the horizon as well…
I’ll be participating in this years Y Conference. I’ll be doing a ‘Thinkshop’ on all things letterpress, print, foil, embossing. How to design for the medium and sharing stories of the craft, I’ll even be bringing in a small tabletop press so everyone can get a feel for it.
y-conference.com
Some really cool product coming soon as well.
Things have been moving out of the store pretty well….shipping to Ireland, Australia and all points in between!
On another note….
Some of you may know this and some of you may not be aware but I am also a musician.
I’ve been playing for as long as I’ve been printing and have had quite a bit if success doing it as well.
I’ve toured the States as well as Europe as a support act for the ‘Stray Cats’ farewell tour of Europe in ’08 and also play locally with my band ‘The Rockin’ Aces every Thursday night at Tio Leo’s in Bay Park (8pm no cover!)…you never know who will show up to sit in so it’s always a blast.
I’m also a member of Sha Na Na…yes the Sha Na Na of Woodstock (the original) and also the movie Grease as well as a long running T.V. show in the 70′s.
shanana.com
Here is a pic of me and Marvin Hamlisch. Over New Years Eve Sha Na Na did 3 shows with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and he was the conductor. He’s a great guy, super funny and easy going…kind of surreal as I was onstage playing ‘La Bamba’ with him standing next to me hitting a cowbell!
So there you go…a quick update
I’ll keep you posted….
Tim
Another year passes….
Well, it’s that time of year again, out with the old, in with the new! It’s also my time to reflect back on things.
It’s been a good year here at the shop (all things considered). I’ve had lots of fun with my friends and made some new ones along the way, and it’s been a pleasure working with so many talented people on so many wonderful projects. Wedding Invitation, business cards, packaging, you name it and I’m pretty sure I printed it! I want to take this opportunity to name a few people that have help me along the way… they have inspired Quality Letterpress to take new directions, opened doors for new relationships, and have been there when it really mattered! Just a few of the many…
Brett at Anders Creative, Rosemary at Rosemary Rae Designs, the encompus crew, Sean Kelly at Set and Drift, Zack at Sezio and of course Sunset Press (Greg, Riki, Chrissy, Jerry and Tron). Can’t forget Colleen at BPI and Nancy at Neyenesch Printers as well.
These people are not only talented designers and industry representatives, but they have always been supportive of the shop and have helped spread the word about the work I do here at Quality Letterpress. I’m proud to call them my friends.
I’m looking forward to continuing my collaboration straight into the New Year! We’ve got lots of cool things on the horizon…
I’m excited to continue teaching the letterpress classes. People really dig coming in and catching the letterpress bug. It’s always cool seeing someone’s excitement as they look through all the old type and images I have on hand, getting their hands dirty, and printing the final design on quality paper…really, it’s very cool!
Ron Miriello at Miriello Graphico is talking with me about a project or two coming up early in the new year. Ron came in for a tour of the shop recently and it seems he already has the letterpress bug! Here’s a cool post on his blog about his experience. I’m really excited to work with Ron, his passion for design and the process is contagious!
In March 2011 I’ll be doing a ‘Thinkshop” at the YConference here in San Diego. It’s always inspiring to work with a room full of designers and spread the letterpress fever.
So here’s a hearty fair-well to 2010 and very Happy New Year salute to 2011! I look forward to meeting new people, being challenged by new projects, and keeping the presses rolling! Please come on by and say hi… hang out… take a class… and be creative!!
Keep Rockin!
Tim
One Lucky Five Year Old..!
I first met little Fiona shortly after her birth when her daddy, my good friend Marc Hedges at encompus, brought her into the shop to design and print her birth announcement. So when he needed an invite for her 5th birthday, all I could say was…yes!
We used all handset/wood type and ornaments. The smaller type is 30pt. Stymie Bold Condensed and I’m still trying to track down the typeface that was used as the underprint. I do know that the overprint typeface is Renaissance No. 1 and was made by the Wm. Page Type Co. in 1879!
Fiona got to pull type and pick the colors herself…PMS 189 Pink and PMS 227 Purple. While Marc and I weren’t to sure how that would work, we did as instructed and, of course, Fiona was right and it looks great.
2010 LA Printer’s Fair… Good Times!
We just finished up with the 2nd Annual Printers Fair at the International Printing Museum and I must say we had a great time! We met a lot of great people and even though it was a hot day, we came away with a bunch of new friends as well as a lot of new interest in the shop.
Many thanks to Rachelle Chuang who somehow managed to put everything together, and Mark Barbour (Director of the museum) for hosting such a nice event. We’ll have some photo’s up soon.
We’ll also have all of our new products up in the webstore soon and I’ll keep scheduling classes for all who are interested so keep checking in!
活字印刷 (katsu jin satsu) is “letterpress printing” in Japanese….
I got a really nice email from a good friend of mine today, Brandon Lavigne. He’s studying Japanese Kanji over in Japan these days.
Brandon, along with Brett at Anders Creative, was responsible for the great look of the Quality Letterpress website.
When we first met, all I had was a basic splash page with not much content to speak of at all. Funny thing was, he was scheduled to head off to Japan in a matter of weeks. So with a few meetings and a lot of hard work (mostly on Brandon and Brett’s part, I do better with old printing presses rather than computers) the site turned out great. The nice thing is that he did such a great job in setting it up so that I could administrate it myself..taking care of blogs and putting up pictures along with just being able to keep everyone posted at the happenings here at the shop, I couldn’t be happier!
So thanks Brandon, I’ll have to look through my box of old Japanese characters to see if I can spell it out on a card, enjoy the Sushi!
