Quality work

Arranging die and furniture

 Locking up chase

 Adjusting gauge pins

 Adding packing to platen

 Adding ink to plate

 Spreading ink on plate

 Platen meeting chase bed

 Print on platen

 Printing

 Printing

Prints drying

 Setting type

 Locking up type in chase

 Print in chase with type

 Cutting die

Final Product

Photos from Inkello Letterpress

Click any photo for an enlarged slideshow.

Quality work

I know people who take so much more time and care to do a thing that other people might ask them, ‘Is it worth it?’ The answer that I would give you when you ask what I think begins: ‘It depends on…’ but I won’t finish that sentence here.

It was more than a year ago. I met a woman named Christy. She uses a letterpress that was given to her by an aunt of hers. With that machine and her hands (and of course her mind) she prints things that other people might ask if it is worth it. I watched her with some amazement as she put ink on a metal plate, then she pulled a handle down almost like you would see someone pull down a handle on a slot machine, but chance wasn’t the question being asked there. The mechanism of her press rolled ink over rollers and over a die and then the mechanism continued to move that die onto a piece of paper which then impressed an image with the ink into that piece of paper.

If you looked carefully, you could see the impression. But at a glance it would not be terribly difficult to think that the bit of printing that you later held in your hand from Christy’s letterpress might have been merely made on a nice copy machine. And so you might ask yourself, is this worth it?

I decided one day that it might be. I asked Christy how much money she would have to charge me to print some bookmarks. The answer came out to about eighty cents each. I gave her the text of a short poem I had written. She laid my text out and had a die made. We chose a color of ink that matched some of what I was trying to express. She printed my words on heavy white paper about fifty times using her letterpress, then tearing one edge of each bookmark against a straightedge. In my hand I can now hold a small slip of paper, imprinted, one of a handful left after giving the rest away as very small gifts with a book of my poetry.

Every time I buy a book at the Dusty Bookshelf they give me a very nice bookmark printed in some modern way. It’s attractive and it marks my place. Of the bookmarks that I gave out from Christy’s letterpress, only one person even asked me about the quality. He teaches design at the university and knows something about letterpress printing. So was it worth it?

Christy was barely paid for her time and care, and I may have paid a hundred times more than I needed to pay for a mere bookmark. But the answer depends on who you ask. If you ask me, I would say, yes - a hundred times over … but I still can’t begin to tell you all the reasons here.

Anyone who is paying attention can see that there are people who take time and care to do a thing.

I only know bits of how the processes of letterpress are worth Christy’s time. And I am not really answering the question to say that if you care about quality itself and that the processes involved in making a thing a certain way matter to you, it is enough.

I’m telling you that quality will cut and soothe your soul.

It begins with time and care.

***

The photo series shows a little of what it takes to make a second bookmark. The book that I wrote to goes with that bookmark, is called Little Bird: Small Tales and Poems. Was it worth writing? My answer is a simple 'yes.'

I'm telling you that the pursuit and practice of quality work will cut and soothe your soul.

Bert Haverkate-Ens