Today's "Linotype Machine in the news" appears to be a repost from a year or so ago entitled: Machine that 'revolutionised' printing brought back to life. It's a short article and video of what looks like a very nicely refurbished Model 8 located at the Armarie Room at Nelson's Founders Park in New Zealand. The machine is a real smooth runner, but the plunger is not in place in this video, so who knows if it's a real good caster. Most likely our man Colin was put on the spot by the video crew and decided that he didn't want things to get too exciting so pulled the plunger as a precautionary measure. Just my theory, because I've been there, done that. Anyway, this is a nice glimpse at a what appears to be a well cared for machine. Published on a website called "Stuff." Article written by Katy Jones.
Coaxing machines out of hibernation at the C.C. Stern Type Foundry
Now that they are well acclimated to the new space, we're coaxing the machines back to life. We're quite pleased with the VFDs (used for 3 phase conversion). So far so good. We chose the WEG-CFW300 VFD, which seems to be a no-frills unit with a relatively user friendly display.
C.C. Stern Type Foundry 2023 Volunteer Picnic
Thanks to volunteers, thanks to you, thanks to we, thanks to all of us. The "us" being the immediate and wider printing and type casting community, wordsmiths and bibliophiles. We are grateful for you and your everyday heroic actions that go towards supporting our community. Your time, your energy, your experience and in some cases your hard earned cash - all contributed towards efforts that seem impossible and impractical. Like for instance, building, maintaining and operating a type foundry. Yup. It's the kind of thing that doesn't quite pencil out on paper, but the meaningful and memorable things in life often aren't easily explained. It's something to be grateful for. Pics above are from the C.C. Stern Type Foundry volunteer appreciation picnic. Type was cast, prints were made, poems were recited, projects were shared.
Raymond Carver Writing Festival Posters
No-Nonsense heavy-ink printing for the Raymond Carver Writing Festival. This poster incorporates some fresh type that happens to be some of the first type cast at the C.C. Stern Type Foundry's new location in Clatskanie.
A worker at a bookshop where one of these prints was posted commented that it looked like an old poster promoting a boxing match. Yes! I like it. Somehow this seems fitting for Carver's work.
The C.C. Stern Type Foundry is a co-sponsor of the Raymond Carver Writing Festival. Some of us foundry members will host “Parking Lot Poetry” in the Safeway parking lot alongside Highway 30 in Clatskanie at noon on Friday, May 19th. "Parking Lot Poetry" commemorates an impromptu poetry reading that Raymond Carver and his wife Tess Gallagher held at that same location back in 1984 during a visit back to his birthplace of Clatskanie.
The C.C. Stern Type Foundry crew will also be at the reception with a tiny press ready to help *you* print a writing festival keepsake created from type cast at the foundry. We hope to see you there.
Flat Foot in The Ashes
Flatfoot in the Ashes print and fiddle tune. This is a quick video to provide some context for those of you who have received this small-run print composed with handset metal type and Linotype ornamentation.
C.C. Stern Type Foundry Newsletter April 30th, 202
Rebecca and Connie put together a brief newsletter and quietly sent it out into the world last weekend while we were at the American Typecasting Fellowship Conference in Maine. Here it is. The images above and below were taken moments ago of the C.C. Stern Type Foundry on this rainy May 4th 2023 evening. We’ve got work to do, but things are coming together nicely.
New 2023 C.C. Stern Type Foundry Guild Cards
Printed entirely (almost) from type and ornamentation cast on the C.C. Stern Type Foundry equipment (The "almost" refers to the two arrows. Those are likely a product of American Type Founders, and were re-discovered hiding in plain sight on a galley labelled "arrows" appropriately enough).
Have you renewed your support to the C.C. Stern Type Foundry at the Printer's Devil level or above? If yes, you'll receive your very own limited edition guild card like the one pictured above.
Completing the new guild cards made a good excuse for me to bust out that beautiful Remington portable typewriter. I love that thing. I loaned my original Remington portable to a friend... oh, lets see.... I think it was almost 30 years ago. Yup. Now I recall that it was around 1994. A good year, that 1994. I'm getting side tracked on a side track. Back to the loan of the typewriter: my friend is a film maker, and he needed a good typewriter for the sound foley for his film project at the time. I don't recall the name of the film he was working on, or if the sound of my typewriter made it to the silver screen or not. Regardless, the typewriter is in good hands, so I didn't prioritize reclaiming the little machine before I pulled up stakes and left Dayton, Ohio. I foolishly forgot about the typewriter - until I didn't - many years later. At that point I kept my eyes out for the same model. I finally tracked one down about a year ago. This one was meticulously cared for by its owner who lived in Corvallis, Oregon. It was the same model and year as the one that I longed for over the last couple decades. It was pretty magical putting those familiar keys back under my fingers. I'll be happy to let you use the typewriter, but I may be a little more careful about lending it out for too long.
Soundtrack for the moment
It's Friday, November 25th.
Soundtrack for the moment is Melvin Wine's "Hannah at the Springhouse." That tune always gets me. Mean and gritty but haunting and hopeful. Sounds like a misty cold morning with a hot drink and warm fire waiting on the other side of the mist. The tune has been quite elusive for me, over the years I've attempted to play it on the fiddle, but it has always been out of my league. This evening I had a bit of break through. I had the bow working in a way that flowed a bit, and sounded a little closer to Melvin's playing.
Pictured above is the "fiddleink" Linotype model 31 machine located at its former digs on North Interstate Avenue in Portland. A keyboard close up, showing the famous Etaion Shrdlu arrangement.
Soundtrack for the moment 11-14-22
It's Monday, November 14th.
Soundtrack for the moment:
Charles Mingus Quintet - Haitian Fight Song
Defiant. Rolling. Thumping and blowing.
Mingus: "Making the simple complicated is commonplace; making the complicated simple, awesomely simple, that's creativity."
Pictured above is the "fiddleink" Linotype model 31 machine located at its former digs on North Interstate Avenue in Portland.
Foghorn Stringband: Satan's Jeweled Crown
Here's another song from recently found DVDs which contain a couple Foghorn Stringband gigs in Ireland from back in 2006. Documented by Bill Whelan (Rough Deal String Band, OXO boys). Thanks Bill! This is first generation Foghorn Stringband; at the time the line up was: Stephen "Sammy" Lind - Fiddle, Caleb Klauder - Mandolin, The Reverend P.T. Grover, Jr. - Banjo, Kevin Sandri - Guitar, and myself on string bass.
At some point we decided it was okay to play nonsecular songs even though we didn't think we were, err, the most appropriate ambassadors of religious music.
Foghorn Stringband
Live at the Séamus Ennis Cultural Centre
Naul, Co. Dublin, Ireland
May 7th, 2006
Video by Bill Whelan
Fiddleink brand makeready
I’ll hook ya up. It’s good stuff. Let’s go!
On-Line Launch of the C.C. Stern Type Foundry Poets Laureate Broadside series this evening!
As the dust has been settling from the recent C.C. Stern Type Foundry move to its new pole barn home in Clatskanie, my colleagues at the foundry have also been busy coordinating the release of a broadside that is the first in a series highlighting Pacific Northwest Poets Laureate. This first broadside features a poem by Samuel Green (Poet Laureate of Washington State 2007-2009), written in honor of the life of our friend, mentor, master craftsman and the organization's name sake: Chris Stern. Join us on-line for the launch of this broadside and of the series this Thursday, September 22, 2022 at 7:00 PM to 8:00 PM. Details for the event are here. The event is free, but an RSVP is required. I hope to see you there live on the internets.
Musing: Lizard not Salamander
Today I discovered that lizards live in this part of the world. In the cold rainy Pacific Northwest. Approximately 45 minutes from where the film "Goonies" was shot. If that helps you get a picture of how very un-lizard this environment is, or at least one would think so. But, sure enough. Lizards. Not Salamanders. How did I learn this? Our resident lizard told me. I'm at the new location of the print shop, also the new location of the C.C. Stern Type Foundry. Or rather, soon to be. Construction is under way. It's a place we're calling "Type Hive" in part because two owners of the property are beekeepers, and in part because it is a "hive" of print activity. But now, it's quiet. And this lizard tells me that we disrupted its house during our construction. Which was a strange thing, because the lizard and I don't speak the same language, but I knew. We are making a path from the new Type Foundry building to the Print building. That's where the lizard was living. Under some bricks which were recently moved. Of course we didn't know that before we moved the bricks. After the lizard confronted me, I realized that its home was quite nice. Those bricks held whatever southern sun warmth was available in this otherwise cold and wet environment. The lizard is a Northern Alligator Lizard. Life span up to 10 years. Imagine that. The brick move happened about 5 days ago. The lizard had "words" with me today. It didn't leave the area where its original house was. I'm hoping that this means the lizard will find its new digs acceptable. I re-built a brick house for it, near the original home but out of the way of the direct path of the new Type Foundry building. I made sure that the new structure is south facing, and added multiple entrances and pathways to the new home. It's a decent place. Or seems to be. I hope the lizard moves in.
Resident Northern Alligator Lizard near the new C.C. Stern Type Foundry Building
"Continue Us" Now available for purchase.
During a hike at Eagle Creek well over ten years ago, and well before Eagle Creek caught on fire (but that's another story), my good buddy Marko Whens and I discussed opportunities for collaborating on a print project. At that point, Marko had amassed a collection of his interactive poems, and I had just amassed another chunk of cast iron in the form of a Linotype machine. The machine needed work, and I needed work to move beyond my fledgling knowledge of Linotype machine operation. A deal was struck. After the work day was complete at Stumptown Printers, I would sift through matrices and molds, and use Marko's poems as material to test the machine and my knowledge. Slowly type was set, the machine was repaired and I gained some Linotype chops. But, job work took over and the type was stashed on galleys to gather dust for many years. In late 2018, and once we faced the reality that the increasing cost of rent for the shop was no longer tenable, I rediscovered those galleys and prioritized casting the remainder of the type before the machine would be placed in deep storage. Typecasting was complete, but the shop move took over, and once again the type sat - this time in boxes until our temporary garage shop was finished. The book was finally completed in late 2019. Marko had planned to hold an event in the Spring of 2020 to launch to book release. But, a pandemic happened. So, I'm excited to let you know, that after many years, that book release finally happened on April 2, 2022 at Passages Bookshop. The book is also now available for purchase here on this site. For more details on the book, go here.
C.C. Stern Type Foundry End of Year Newsletter
If you’re not already subscribed, here’s a link to the C.C. Stern Type Foundry’s latest newsletter. Yup, this link will take you to the newsletter.
C.C. Stern Type Foundry "The Point" 2021 newsletter is in the mail
The 2021 issue of the C.C. Stern Type Foundry Newsletter "The Point" is in the mail. See previous posts here and here) We're pleased with the quality of the type, the metal is consistent, face is clean and weight is solid. We did have an issue with the casting of the exclamation point (this is a "note to self" to check it out when I'm back at the Foundry) it did not print cleanly - I suspect that there is some flashing stuck in the matrix. Luckily we had cast plenty of sorts, and were able to use the best (!) to achieve a satisfactory exclamation.
If you are not on the C.C. Stern Type Foundry mailing list and you would like to receive a copy of "The Point" 2021 newsletter cast and printed with metal type, visit the website and sign up for the mailing list and/or donate (The C.C. Stern Type Foundry is an Oregon 501(c)3 non-profit organization) some funds towards postage. I believe there are about 30 prints remaining after this current mailing.
C.C. Stern Type Foundry "The Point" newsletter progress
Type has been cast, Linotype border material also cast (see previous blog) and ink is going down on the C.C. Stern Type Foundry “The Point” newsletter as I type this. We should have them in the mail by the end of the week. Would you like one? Visit the C.C. Stern Type Foundry Donation page and donate some funds towards postage (or however much your generous-type-foundry-supporting-heart desires ) and we’ll get you a copy hot off the presses.
Typetober
The machines were humming at the C.C. Stern Type Foundry today. Connie, Joe, and Rebecca were working on the comp caster and had success in casting type for our upcoming issue of The Point. Jeff and I filled a Linotype galley with decorative border rule (also for The Point) and type to be used for bookplates. It has been a gorgeous day out here in the Pacific Northwest, made better with the gathering of the type casting crew and happy machines.
Linotype wave rule 6pt 134B Fiddleink print 007
Mixing verticals and horizontals. Wave border 6pt 134B cast with 8pt mold. 9 pieces trimmed to 6 picas makes a perfect square and creates an opportunity for some overprinting shenanigans. I was surprised at the results of the overprint - I hadn't expected the pattern to look like this, but I'm not going to argue with the magic of print and Linotype wave border rule.
Making Waves
Fresh silver. Cast from two matrix slides, wave rule 6pt 134B and regular rule 407. This casting was the result of an afternoon of making adjustments to the Linotype Model 31 at the C.C. Stern Foundry this past weekend. The machine is now in adjustment, and these beauties are ready for ink.
