It’s been a long time coming. When that delicate state of inspiration and creativity visits, I have to proceed with care. I need to nurture it while at the same time becoming reacquainted with my press and the craft. Four years is a long time to remember the niceties of typesetting, makeready, registration, inking.
My project for this was exceedingly simple — or so I thought. A simple little two-colour broadside of a traditional nursery rhyme. A very limited edition.
While I do love the tranquil, contemplative nature of setting type, I discovered that I had to refamiliarize myself with the lay of the case. The first few minutes were a hunt-and-peck affair, picking up ‘m’s when I meant to pick up ‘n’s. But I was pleasantly surprised when that mysterious muscle memory took over. Soon, my fingers were retrieving the sorts smoothly, accurately — placing them in the stick notch-side up. The quiet clicks of the type going into the stick is a soothing sound.
As for two-colour registration, I deliberately chose something I knew I could manage. Tight registration has never been my forte, and it has caused me no end of grief in the past. No. Better to start with something that is loose and forgiving. Scattered, little stars, printed blind or in a paler colour to accompany the rhyme. Time enough for tight registration on a future project.
As for make-ready, this was straight-forward enough. However, I suspect that, after ten years, the press rollers are in need of skimming or recovering. They seemed to be glazing over and perhaps a bit uneven; I found I had to adjust roller height on one side of the press to get an even impression.* (Complicating this is the fact that my press is designed at galley-height, which has always discombobulated me when I’m setting the rollers!)
Inking was a challenge. While the larger type face needs a greater quantity of ink for even coverage, the tiny colophon was over-inked. This, combined with the fact that I set the rollers too low, contributed to the unsatisfactory result. In retrospect, I should have cleaned the press and re-checked the roller height — and then re-inked with a smaller quantity to obtain a crisp, clean impression. But I have to confess, I was so entranced with the words of the colophon (a grandchild!) and not the quality of the impression, that the result was a slurred colophon. I’m disappointed in myself that I let standards slip. Still, it was a happy moment to see those words in print – and it did bring me great joy.
(*If any of my readers have experience or expertise on this, I’d be happy to hear from you! In the meantime, I’m scouring my books and manuals.)