A New Use for Your Type

We need an ionic image for the cause, Pete.

A poster with Ben Franklin weeping perhaps, whilst holding a crappy letterpress bracelet made from the bones of Bodini.

The historical value that is lost by crafters drilling holes in perfectly good type is shameful. It’s a good reason to not allow pied type to stay pied very long. A standing font has value even if it never sees any ink.

Like this one

Thanks Mike

I will carry that poster whenever and wherever I can!

The advert seems to omit any warning that the bracelet contains lead.

Some very nice ornamented C19 display sorts among the bracelet components.

Honestly, I have two cases of wood type orphans & god only knows how much pi’d lead type. Don’t we all? I don’t see a crime here.
This seller also sells very nice letterpress type (mostly wooden) and equipment, & IMO, is a pleasure to deal with.
A little perspective, folks…

I understand pi’d type issues, I can also understand wood type orphans. I think they would still serve a printing purpose? I know several printers that use more orphans in their printing applications than full sets.

So if you have orphan type that could still serve a purpose, why destroy them?

Maybe if your IMO friend would be upfront and HONEST about what they are selling and why, people like myself wouldn’t have such a bad taste towards their idiotic art displays. I have personally spoke with them, they refuse any explanation and completely lied about knowing anything about the product they sell. When all you sell is one type of product, I think you should have a little bit of knowledge to offer.
These people search for Your Tools of this Trade. Then dismantle them. If you’re ok with it. That’s your opinion.

I am not ok with it and never will be and I will advocate to anyone who will listen to this growing problem.

Repurpose means to reuse items that no longer have a purpose. These people are putting the trade In the grave much more quickly than innovation technology.

If they want to sell them in A-Z applications, I have no problem with that. At least a printer can have the ability to save the item.
What they are doing is drilling holes in the type, gluing them together with total disregard of their actual purpose for profit. HENCE - DESTROYING THE TOOL!

My guess is, these people FAILED as Art Designers, Printers and have extorted LETTERPRESS TOOLS for their own gain and profit because they can not support themselves with other traditional Arts Designs. To me they have NO art ability.

Letterpress is all about ART, its a CRAFT, it is the number one reason why we have BOOKS. One letter, One Symbol, One Border, One Ornament is an ART DISPLAY.

What do people see when they look at a SHOVEL? Nothing, However, a TRUE ART DESIGNER will turn that SHOVEL into a work of art.

So forgive me for not having any compassion for type breakers, tool breakers and failed artist that have no regard for a STARVING TRADE.

Last thought, Everyone is easy to deal with when they are earning money off of others lively hoods.

Wow.

So this makes me think and ask…….
We currently have a few sizes of sorts listed in Ebay.
We have done this in the past as well.
We have done this so that people could possibly complete fonts that have missing letters or would find useful for letterpress printing projects.
Should we not sell these so that jewelry makers cannot buy them?

I do not agree with breaking up a full set of type to sell individually or make jewelry out of it. But personally we constantly sit on large amounts of orphan type both lead and wood. What would you suggest we do with it? Scrap yard or trash ?

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emthree, that’s it, no other response? Seriously? Do you love this trade or not?

People, I am not advocating this discussion because I like to read what I wrote. I love this trade. I was a Marine, a Printer, And I love being a Printer above and beyond being a alive. Printing raised my family, bought my house, put my 3 sons through college and secured my future endeavors. So I care about this dying trade. Today I am a collector of Letterpress and I will do anything to prevent any harm from coming to the trade.

I have never sold out and I never will. I do sell certain duplicate items but I don’t sell much of anything, simply because I keep it or DONATE it.

My wife is a school teacher, specializing in Children’s Art. She has put together A-Z boxes, A-Z collages and sold them. With BAD TYPE, UNUSABLE TYPE, JUNK, TRASH, FIRE WOOD. I have a 55 gallon barrel in my shop I use for my wife’s throw always. When I deem a piece unusable, it goes in the bucket and my wife picks though it for her ridiculous boxes, against my wishes. But its trash to me, so I don’t care what she does with it.

Now, if a MORON Artist wants to buy UNUSABLE TYPE for their ridiculous displays, so be it. I don’t care. Its junk.

mnmom64 - if you sell your stuff, that’s your call. My point is, don’t look for, search for, offer finders fees for OUR TOOLS TO DESTROY them. Follow?
I completely understand, when we sell something, we are looking for reimbursement. We can not police what is done with the items once it has left the shop.

If you PRINTERS have extra stuff you don’t need they’re are plenty of dealers that are interested in your stuff. To name a few, Andrew Churchman out of IA, Don Black in Canada, John Barrett in MA. I deal with Andrew frequently and I am good friends with John B. They are honest dealers. So before making jewelry or necklaces or even coffee tables of your stuff, give them a shout. At least they will try to put the GOOD TOOLS back into the hands of a printer,

Again, I will advocate my warranted disbelief in regards to PURPOSELY DISMANTLING OF YOUR TOOLS, to anyone who will listen and hopefully follow suit

As an aside, the ‘pollution’ poster was iconic back in the day. The image features the actor Iron Eyes Cody who played the roll of American Indians in movies and on TV for decades.

When he passed it was revealed that he was not an American Indian at all but an Italian immigrant who grew up in New York City!!!!!!!!! What a fraud.

Rick

Iron Eyes Cody (Espera Oscar de Corti) was born in Louisiana. His parents were immigrants from Sicily.

Michael

now this is heartbreaking

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Letterpress-Collage-/162410112016?hash=item25...

he does also sell presses and tools though.

This is the issue I am trying to get across. I see in that particular ad, good usable items. Destroyed, never to be used again.

As I stated, and I’m sure most would agree, Letterpress Tools are ART! A simple ornament sitting on a shelf is a work of ART. This stuff sells itself. There is no thought process, no creativity ( other than the persons who design it 100 years ago) just simple ART.

I am convinced this is why struggling Art Designers use LETTERPRESS TOOLS to promote their displays. It sells.
The tools need no advertising, no work, just display it and you’re in the money.

I would like to see these same people do something with a Shovel, a Tire, a Broom, a Dog Collar. Put that in their studios for sale and I bet you it sits there until they go out of business.

The only thing we can do to help slow this eminent process down is VOICE your OPINIONS to their ART. Notify them, make them uneasy, it may not stop them but it may make them think twice about destroying perfectly good tools of YOUR TRADE. Shell these people with emails of disgust. Follow them via Internet. Nothing wrong with VOICING YOUR OPINION of DISGUST.

If you don’t like it don’t do it. people are free to make a living as long as they don’t break any laws. Should I feel bad for turning an R into a P? Many of my offset clients have various forms of letterpress art in their offices as a link to their past, stained and varnished type case etc. Is this okay?
I get where you are coming from but I would not be harassing people that are trying to make a living.
relax

You’re absolutely right.

My apologies to whom I have offended!

I was in my garage a few nights ago, carving away at 100 year old type cases with a router. As I was doing this, a brief feeling of grief fluttered through my being. There I was, selfish ol’ me, carelessly destroying an antique!

But then I got to thinking, where did this antique come from? Well, I bought it. In fact, I bought it along with a whole stack of typecases and two cabinets to hold them, but 8 of them didn’t fit into the cabinet very well. This was one of those 8. They were about to go into the garbage, but the seller was one of those “cash or trash” kind of guys, and what I really wanted were the 20 linotype magazines full of mats that just happened to be included in the sale.

So, here I was, feeling guilty about “wrecking” an antique. But I wasn’t wrecking it, I was making useable to me. It was destined for a dumpster, so was it really an “antique”? It’s a bit of a “if a tree falls in the forest” question, but in this context it’s valid. Even if it didn’t end up in a dumpster, it very well could have ended up in the hands of a graphic designer, who would have hung it on their wall to give their business a (false?) sense of heraldry. But I’m the one that attacked it with a router, so perhaps I’m the one at fault here.

Our stuff only has value as tools when it is being used as tools. A pied collection of some obscure wood type with no ‘e’s or ‘t’s has value as a tool, sure. But put it in an antique shop a hundred miles from the nearest letterpress printer, with a $200 price tag, and that value as a tool rapidly decreased. That money would be much better spent buying some new stuff from Virgin Wood Type. It’s not my place to dictate to the seller how to sell their wares. I can either put my money where my mouth is, or walk away. Those are the only constructive options available to me.

What a lot of tripe petspo1 is talking. Firstly, its not new, even when an apprentice, decades ago, we were allowed to use old, worn type for “jewellery”. Then when matrices from Linotypes and Intertypes wore out we made cufflinks from them. It was the badge of OUR TRADE! Secondly, how dare petspo1 think that he or she has any divine or conceited right to impress upon any one the thoughts and wants that he/she desires. Thirdly, I come from a very long line of letterpress printers out of England, and we/I know what it is like to love a trade. Fourthly, I worked hard and made many sacrifices to own my assets, and when the time comes to sell, If I don’t get the respectable price I ask from those who exude all this preciousness, then I’ll presume that they aren’t really worth all that Petspo1 thinks they are, and I’ll scrap them. Fifthly, I’ve been a devoted real tradesman since my 17th birthday, and I claim the letterpress printing trade as my own. Sixthly, and thankfully not relevant to me, I can get thousands more in money value selling individually than selling anything complete to keep, protect and feed my family! So, then has petspo1 spent a life-time in the trade, or are they here today, gone tomorrow. At the end of this year I’ll be closing down and selling all but the most personal Items. Will petspo1 be prepared to pay my asking price then, to save the letterpress world? www.willamer.com.au

What is it about Briar Press that attracts grumpy old men with a bone to pick with the world?

Too Funny.

You’re right Keelan, I guess its the arrogant stubbornness we build up over time.

If I had Warren Buffet’s money, I would save the Letterpress World.

Petspo1, my “wow” comment reflected my response to your narrow view of the possibilities for things letterpress once they are no longer useable for their originally intended purpose.
Not every remaining piece of lead or wooden type separated from its set and otherwise of limited (if any) use in a letterpress function is required to be saved for the letterpress shrine. Who are we to judge other artists or craftspeople who use this to create other art forms? There is a rich history of great art that is made from the remnants of things salvaged.
I do not condone dismantling full fonts or disfiguring otherwise useful letterpress supplies. I believe we agree that is a crime. While I share your passion for letterpress and preserving the tools and supplies of the trade/craft, I part with you in villifilying people who take letterpress miscellany and use it to create their own art/craft.

Petspo1, my “wow” comment reflected my response to your narrow view of the possibilities for things letterpress once they are no longer useable for their originally intended purpose.
Not every remaining piece of lead or wooden type separated from its set and otherwise of limited (if any) use in a letterpress function is required to be saved for the letterpress shrine. Who are we to judge other artists or craftspeople who use this to create other art forms? There is a rich history of great art that is made from the remnants of things salvaged.
I do not condone dismantling full fonts or disfiguring otherwise useful letterpress supplies. I believe we agree that is a crime. While I share your passion for letterpress and preserving the tools and supplies of the trade/craft, I part with you in villifilying people who take letterpress miscellany and use it to create their own art/craft.

Thank You. You are agreeing with my point.

Yes, I am a bit shallow and narrow minded when I see people disfigure and dismantle good type.

I don’t care what people do with their stuff. If it can be saved, passed on, donated, great. I know there are circumstances that prevent this path.

The people I am frustrated with are those who do nothing but search for failing shops, estate sales, only looking for LETTERPRESS equipment to make Mirrors, Christmas Ornaments, Key Chains etc. They do this because Letterpress Sells itself. It is an easy sale.

They don’t sift through the findings to separate the NON USABLE ITEMS. They use ALL the items regardless of good or bad. That’s where my frustration is.

One of the little sayings I have tacked to the wall in my shop says “I don’t have a short temper, I have simply developed a low tolerance for bullshit.”

Rick

I like that. I hope you don’t mind if I use that saying?

Thanks Rick

“This person (s), found a clever way to sell YOUR TYPE, YOUR TOOLS, YOUR LIVELY HOOD. Take food off your table. Worse yet, KILL THE TRADE!”

First of all…. it’s not “our” type, or “our” tools, or “our” livelihood. It belongs to the person selling it, not you, not me, not the “letterpress community at large”. We live in a free market society. We have NO right to complain about what someone else does with property that they legally own. To claim otherwise is trying to assert a right that you do not have, legally or morally. It’s not your type.

“…..Another terrible use of Letterpress type….”

You know, through the years I’ve seen tons of type melted down into fishing weights, sold to scrap metals dealers, and otherwise discarded….. because no one in the letterpress community cared enough to spend their money to save it.

If you think that all of the old metal type should be saved, then it is up to you to do something about it. Either buy it up yourself, or get with other like-minded individuals and do something. Simply ranting about it on a small forum such as Briar Press isn’t going to accomplish much

If you said “Let’s all get together, pool our resources, and save this old type from being destroyed.” and followed through with actions…. that might indicate you are really serious about the issue, others might follow, and you might actually accomplish something. Otherwise, it’s just empty complaining

If you are talking livelihood then the best thing to do is have lots keep it, use it and hope everyone sells/destroys theirs.
Supply and demand