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New, old-school print shop opening up in Eastern Market.
Link to Video
From WXYZ.com:
DETROIT [[WXYZ) - A new letterpress store is opening in Eastern Market.
The non-profit organization is a letterpress storefront for the public in Detroit. When construction is complete, 1345 Division Street will be transformed into a space where you can watch the entire printing process from start to finish.
Will it be located next to the horse and buggy factory or the abacus authority?
I operated a letterpress in my youth.
There's a lot of history behind that craft. By today's safety standards there was a startling risk of getting your hand crushed between the platen and chase when operating at high speeds. A skilled operator quickly hit the throwoff arm with his elbow to avoid wasting even a single disoriented sheet of paper—but even that wouldn't have saved your hand.
There's a whole lexicon of arcane terms associated with the craft. You'd toss worn lead type to be remolded anew into the "hellbox." The kid running around performing all the unskilled labor like sweeping and lugging heavy hellboxes away was called a "printer's devil." The compositor's stick, quoins, register pins, sealing wax, ligatures, furniture, em spaces, en spaces were all parts of a very esoteric tradition. The "stone" was the table seating an ultraflat slab of cold granite where block and mallet would level all type to a uniform depth for uniform impression into the paper. The stone was the printer's altar, the final chance to get everything square before—the run.
The smells were of linseed oil in the ink and gasoline [[explosive!) to clean the ink from the press and type. The sound was the repetitive clanking of the ratchet twisting the ink disk on top for a smooth mix.
Jjaba was a printer too. :) Come home, Jjaba!
Here's a video: Short Letterpress Documentary.
That will be really neat! I believe there is a letter press print shop in the Streets of Old Detroit at the Historical Museum. You can buy things printed on it. If I recall correctly, this press somehow was at the Detroit Children's School [[Old Salesian) when my son went there. The gentleman who ran it is still running it at the museum.
Ah, the joys of sorting through cold type that has been "pied."
Letterpress has its appeal for some purposes, like posters or invites, but the rest is penance for iPads.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Detroitnerd
Glad to see this history preserved. EM is becoming quite the destination.