Letterpress type on Bookmarks -- Page 1

A brief Tutorial about Letterpress Type and the use to Make Bookmarks

Revised 9/10/2019 Copyright © 2019 by Bob Stelmack,All Rights Reserved

Desert Leathercraft LLC Leather Big Book¹ Cover TutorialsLetterpress Type on Bookmarks

¹The “Big Book” is a registered trademark of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.²Alcoholics Anonymous is a registered trademark of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.³A.A. is a registered trademark of Alcoholics Anonymous World Services, Inc.

Letterpress type contains lead known to the State of California to cause cancer, and birth defects or other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling.

WARNING

Page1 WARNING 2 Making Bookmarks by the

Dozens2 Casing the leather3 Using a “Chase”3 Using “Quions”3 The Weaver Mighty

Wonder Press4 Don’t Ask5 Where to Find Type High

Elements5 Chase Torex Screws

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Making Bookmarks by the DozensA local Alcoholic Anonymous group is having a weekend study of the basic text of the book “Alcoholics Anony-mous” generally known as the “Big Book”. Hence the title of the weekend study: “Three Rivers BigBook Weekend” (“BigBook” is their spelling). I made some bookmarks

to give as gifts from the organizers for the speakers of the September 2019 event and they were so well received that they ordered some to retroactively send to the 2018 event speakers.

They we cut from some of the 2/3 ounce Tandy vegetable tanned leather sides I picked up at the Pendleton Leather Show last year. They were not pristine sides, but had a little character, much like the members and speakers at-tending the book study ;-)

Casing the leatherCasing the leather was quick and simple, just moved under the running water in the sink briefly and they were ready immediately. Bill Churchill used to call it “quick casing”. I find it works the best for embossing text on leather.

I had previously prepared the lettering for the 2019 book-marks, so just a little change for the year and the annual indication was needed. When I made the 2019 bookmarks,

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I embossed the text separately from the circle/triangle, so this time I wanted to speed up the process and do it all in one step.

Using a “Chase”I have two hardwood 3/4” thick maple frames that I constructed by gluing and screwing with construction Torex headed self tapping screws. The initial hole was drilled undersized and the wood glue and screw completed the frame. Since the frame is only 3/4” (0.75”) and metal printing type is 0.918” high, only the type gets embossed into the leather. The the con-struction of the frame is similar to the metal “chase” that printers use using movable type setting, like the old newspapers in the 1800’s.

Using “Quions”These chases are strong enough to allow expandable “quoins” (pronounced “coins”) to exert enough pres-sure to hold the type in place and with a fiddling, bits and pieces, were used to position and hold the brass circles and the brass underline elements that made up the circle/triangle in place. The brass pieces were also 0.918 inches high.

The Weaver Mighty Wonder PressAll that was left was to place the chase in a piece of hardboard, lay the cased leather over the text and circle/triangle, place a piece of matte board over the the leather and put the whole mess under my 4-ton

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Weaver Mighty Wonder press. The matte board allows for deeper impressions on thinner leather

Since the press area was less that the entire text area, I pressed it twice--once to the right and then the left.

I find that you can “over center” the press which holds the pressure until you release it which makes for even a deeper impression.

Don’t Ask(You might be wondering why the is some very rough sand paper “zip-tied” to the handle. That to remind me to keep my hands away from that area as I move the handle all the way back to remove the case. It

only took one finger crushed between the handle and that silver adjustment disk at the top of the “Might Wonder” to come up with this idea.)

The matte board is removed and the leather turned over. Voilà, an embossed bookmark.

After they dry on the desert sun, then dyed with and antique dye, and finished with an acrylic matte spray finish to keep from leaving dye marks in the book.

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Where to Find Type High ElementsThe 0.918” type high measurement is key to make the chase work. That standard for print-ing can be difficult. For example, Jeff Mosby, owner of Grey Ghost Graphics- Myrtle Beach, SC 843-236-2457, makes two types of stamps out of delrin. The type I order are are laser cut into black Delrin (acetal) blanks for stamping impressions. Much more cost effective than steel stamps.

http://www.greyghostgraphics.com/stamps.html

But, they come on a blank that is thicker that 0.918”, so I have a local machine shop mill the back side of the stamp so the overall thickness is 0.918”. That allows me to mix letterpress type with other images in one chase. That way I don’t have to use two chases and try to register the positions for the final product.

There are a wealth of letterpress ornamenta-tions that you can find on eBay. Just search eBay for: letterpress ornaments

Other searches for: letterpress metal type, or letterpress wood type, or letterpress type, letterpress brass

Some brass or copper ornaments may require a wooden backing to bring their height to 0.918”.

Example search:

h t tps : / /www.ebay.com/sch / i .h tml?_from=R40&_trksid=p2380057.m570.l1313.TR2.TRC1.A0.H0.Xletterpress+ornaments.TRS0&_nkw=letterpress+ornaments&_sacat=0

You can also get various lines (solid, dotted, or dashed to underline or decorate the text.

Chase Torex ScrewsTo make the wooded chase handle the extreme pressure of the quions these screws , with built in washers are the best:

https://www.amazon.com/Screw-Products-Inc-CCTX-516350100-Construction/dp/B00329QZ46

Bob StelmackRichland, WA