Oral History Interviews

Today, my oral history interviews at UCLA Library’s Center for Oral History Research were completed. That was kind of fun to do. Maybe I had too much fun! The complete transcript of the interviews will be available in their collection.

Bieler Press Roller Height Setting Gauge

I had always admired the long handled roller height setting gauges used on production platen presses and when a friend of mine offered to make a dead on accurate gauge for me at Jet Propulsion Laboratories, what could I say but yes.

They had made a bed plate for me a while before and it was dead on (I think they thought it was going to Mars or something). Well, he tested the other gauges I had, historic and present, and said that they were not, um, in anyway .918 (he was a bit of a stickler) so off we went, hand-polished to .91800+/-. Somehow we ended up with about four or five dozen of these before he got sick and tired of the hand-polishing thing. I kept a few and we sold the rest.

At any rate, I like to call it my magic gauge. Everything seems just so right when I use it. And that is just so, so reassuring on press. Specifications on it are: Gauge is 15-3/8 inches long. Shaft is 5/16 of an inch in diameter. Mirror-polished head is precisely ground to .91800+/-. Head is beveled and measures 3/4 of an inch wide. Weight is 7-1/4 ounces. Knurled tail. Made of 303 high-grade stainless steel. Highly resistant to corrosion. Non magnetic.

Forthcoming Otis College of Art & Design and APHA (So Cal) event

I will be giving a demonstration and lecture titled The Photopolymer Plate Process & Refined Typography on the Letterpress Printed Page for the American Printing History Association, May 4th at Goldsmith Campus, Otis Laboratory Press, Otis College of Art and Design.

Go to announcement.

A letterpress printed keepsake will be given to attendees.

Master Printer Workshop with Gerald Lange

Offered is a special advanced one-day workshop with me(!) at the Irvine Fine Arts Center.

From the announcement: This course is designed to expose participants to Gerald Lange's years of knowledge on the operation and maintenance of the Vandercook printing press. Explore the finer points of composition, typographic design, and presswork. Special attention will be paid to proper make-ready, press adjustments, ink and inking, preparation of printing surfaces, press editioning, and more [and I should add, the improbable stories will flow].
Saturday, November 17, 2012
9:30 a.m.–4:30 p.m.
Course #116234
$159
Register today at irvinequickreg.org or call us at 949.724.6880
IRVINE FINE ARTS CENTER
14321 Yale Ave Irvine, CA 92604
IrvineFineArts.org | 949-724-6880

Bieler tee-shirts

I have it on good authority that JJ Abrams (Bad Robot) was seen wearing one of our tee-shirts!!!.

Printing Letterpress for Over a Quarter of a Century Exhibition

MEN OVER 25: CALIFORNIA EDITION
Printing Letterpress for Over a Quarter of a Century

Exhibition at Denison Library in Celebration of the 70th Anniversary of the Founding of the Scripps College Press.

Scripps College, Claremont, California. October 24 to December 4, 2012

Includes The Bieler Press!!!

New Deadline for submitting files to Tamburello

Our photopolymer plate clients should note that a new deadline for submitting e-files to Tamburello Productions, is 3 pm, for early morning delivery the next business day. Please also note that all film negatives submitted to us by USPS need to arrive by 10:30 am for same day processing.

Letterpress Roundtable III

I participated in Boxcar Press's The Letterpress Roundtable, Part III: Shop Tool Star. I like this little thing they have going.

For more tips on tools and ad hoc solutions, go to our Tips and Tricks page.

The Vandercook 100

Heather Mitchell's anthology of Vandercook Printers, The Vandercook 100, is recently released by JustVandy. It is available from Amazon. Extraordinarily fine production. I'm one of those lucky 100.

Richard Bigus fonts

Back in March of 2010, The Bieler Press produced a broadside showing a specimen of the metal foundry typeface Claudius Fraktur. It also introduced (as the colophon) the first showing and letterpress printing of a digital font, BigSpur, designed by Richard Bigus, the highly respected fine press printer/publisher (Labyrinth Editions). It has the best built-in kerning I have ever had the pleasure of setting with. Recent news is that his second typeface, BigSans, has been accepted by Monotype Imaging for distribution later this year on their Fonts.com site.

Richard is currently working on a new typeface, OldStyle Roman, a Jensen, and we will be printing some letterpress specimens of this in the near future. It is possible that these and other material could evolve into the publication of a small pamphlet showing the proof states and revisions of the font. Stay tuned.