Full of Inky Goodness

While out and about on a rare day without our adorable spawn, my spousal unit and I stopped in at HAMMERPRESS in the Kansas City Crossroads. You might be aware that old school printing is in resurgence. This is one of those shops that was at the lead and it cranks out unbelievably gorgeous concert posters, cards and stuff. Their selection is rounded out with fountain pens, sketching materials, journals and magazines.

But the best parts are the sounds and smells that go along with active printing presses. Way back when in middle school I had the experience of racking up type on a small scale. The words appearing on this screen are much easier, but perhaps not as gratifying.

The front showroom had plenty of shoppers as Christmas is just a week away. During the First Fridays art walks, the crowd here is always thick. It is nice see an independent, small business thriving. I spotted a 3D tear down rendering of a Soviet Leica knockoff and requested that Santa add it to my stocking. I'm eclectic and difficult to shop for.

Contrary to popular opinion, this blog isn't dead. It has been kind of zombie-like and for that I apologize. Life is good, but busy with work travel and balancing the demands of work and raising teens. My primary outlet remains Google + where I share photos almost daily. The ease of posting directly from my phone or tablet is seductive, indeed.

I am on vacation and will try to catch up on doings in the Typosphere. Regardless of how you stumbled upon this entry, thanks for reading!

Letterpress in Action - Short Documentary

Type Specimen Book - Western Typesetting

I love this cover graphic.  As found on the shelf, the book has no words or graphics on the spine.  It's just pure black.

Gingercat and I stopped by our favorite used bookstore, Prosperos, and found this great Type Specimen Book.  It was published by the Western Typesetting Company.  There is no copyright or other date information and the price lists are missing from the inside cover sleeve.  The one clue to the date is a 6 digit alphanumeric telephone number that would have been phased out in the 1950s.

The address is in what is now the Quality Hill neighborhood in downtown Kansas City.

 A Google search turns up nothing other than the apparent fact that I got a really good deal on this book.  Any information about the book or the manufacturer would be appreciated.

I also own an American Type Founders specimen book from the 1940s.  I actually prefer the layout and organization of the Western book.

The cowboy theme continues throughout the book.  It's pretty fun! I've posted a few samples.  The Script selection is amazing.

I want the Italic Swash type on a typewriter.

One of gingercat's friends was very happy to receive s sample of this typeface.

I am still a little obsessed with the blackletter fonts.

The reliable old Epson 3170 scanner is happy to be on the job.  I rescanned the cover and I can tell you that is is a vast improvement over the combination HP scan/print thing that shall not be named.  The next scans are also from the Epson.

I would be remiss in not showing the typewriter simulation samples from this book.

Thanks for reading.  Until next time, yee, haw, pardner!

Another Killer Robot

This is a member of the Tube Bot army Claire and I put together earlier this year.  Components include:  two types of Jello molds, friction locking devices from unknown electrical parts, pieces of space heater element, various transistor era bits and a genuine vacuum tube which may or may not work.  Two part epoxy is our friend, but building season (the cold, dark months) doesn't allow enough ventilation.

At some point we will go back and add LEDs to make the tube glow.

"R" is for ROBOT Type

The sun was coming into the kitchen just so on Saturday morning.  So I put off the ritual grinding of the beans (much to the chagrin of my wife) long enough to grab the camera and bits to have some fun.  So hard to pass on good light...


The large type came with a random baggie full of mismatched goodness from an antique mall.  My wife was surprised there were enough letters there to make whole words.  Try and ignore the dust bunny residue for the moment.  The robot is a miniature reproduction of the Radar Robot.  The actual Radar Robot deserves his own post at some point in the future.


Radar Robot hadn't had his daily oil fix and was a little grumpy...

The gingercat is not going to be happy about what happened to her nanobugs.


As horrible as this robot rampage seems, there have been far worse in the course of American history:

For you youngsters: that is "Tricky" Dick Nixon in the background.  I remember the summer of Watergate all to well since it preempted cartoons and Godzilla movie reruns.  Oh, notice the lack of type dust bunnies?