I needed to say I was sorry to someone important, so I was inspired to make these cards. Flexible, relevant cards that I imagine I’ll use a lot. Set in 18pt. Caslon Old Style 337e and 48pt. Excelsior Script Bold.

The challenge here was setting the ruled lines, which I found in a package of thin copper & brass spaces I bought on eBay (bonus!). It took a few do-overs, but I think I “get it” now.

Tags: cards, caslon, excelsior script, Letterpress, sorry

I made these cards for someone very special to me. I printed 50 but only made eight hand-drawn (colored pencil) finished cards. Set in 18pt. Caslon Old Style 337e. Unfortunately I have no accents; it should really read “embellit le desért”.

Little Prince Card (1 of 8)

Little Prince Card (2 of 8)

Tags: cards, caslon, Letterpress, little prince

I recently completed my first full-fledged project on my home letterpress setup.

I made a greeting card with an excerpt from Virgil’s Aeneid. On the inside of the card is a translation of same excerpt, an homage to translator Robert Fagles, who died recently. The text is from book VI of the epic poem, where Aeneas is wandering around the underworld and receiving wisdom from his father, Anchises. The verse I used is spoken by Anchises. I find it an interesting passage as it has a metaphysical, modern feel to it.

I also chose the passage because it reminded me of a friend whose birthday was coming up, so I worked extra hard to get these done and packaged for that birthday party.

Set in 12-on-14pt. Caslon with 48-pt. Excelsior Script Drop Capitals

I also enjoyed setting Latin text because I have “ae” ligatures (and “oe”, though this passage did not require it) in my new Caslon. Setting the drop caps (48-pt. Excelsior Script) required tin snips to make my own unique, custom leading, as the letterforms stick out into the surrounding areas. The front, Latin bit is set ragged right (as it’s in verse form).

The red fleuron (ivy-shaped icon) was the last step of the project and the one part where I went for pretty deep impression. The rest of the piece doesn’t show much impression, though even with my gentleness I managed to break the serifs off of not one but two ‘f’s. Yeep.

Note that the interior, English translation is justified. This is the first time I’ve ever set justified text. I think it worked out all right.

Overview of finished project card.

Tags: aeneid, caslon, printing, virgil

First letterpress home project complete! Success! Here are a couple of teaser photos. More soon.

Tags: cards, caslon, Letterpress, virgil

It came! It came! The poor UPS guy was confused because I received a box that didn’t say “Amazon.com” on it. I’m known around here as a black hole for Amazon products.

He had to wheel this stuff in. The Caslon stuff itself wasn’t too hefty, but the spaces and the leading–well, they are made out of heavy metal, see.

Caslon, upper and lower case, in 12-on-14pt and 18pt

I was a bit worried about finding leading. You need it to set type; it is non-optional. You may be familiar with it in your regular life from word processing or graphics program–the leading metaphor is still alive and kicking. But with letterpress, one has to deal with it concretely. Unfortunately, the gentleman responsible for the vast majority of leading and slugs for the entire country passed away last year. Supplies are tight. I have a friend who used to work for one of the larger letterpress supply companies in the country (if one can call any of them “large”), and he confesses that he “killed the machine” that produced their leading. So I’m glad to have this grip of leading because I’m not sure the next time I’ll be able to find any.

2pt. leading and 6pt. slugs

I also got what looks to be four lifetimes’ worth of 14- and 18-pt. spacing. I was worried there wouldn’t be enough spaces in the Caslon.

Spacing

Tags: caslon, lead, m&h, spaces, type