Letterpress Type Question

[dkbutcher]

After being thoroughly unimpressed with the font selections for letter/number stamping I stumbled on a post or two here that talk about using metal letterpress type to do the job. After poking around the Intergoogle a bit I can honestly say I'm completely convinced!

I do have a few questions about it before I pull the pin on a set. Are there general guidelines for what font characteristics work better or worse? Is bold bad or good? Thin bad or good? What is the smallest size font that is workable with leather? Are there particular fonts that look better in leather than others?

My guess is that 18 pt is probably as small as you would want to go and my plan is to start with 24 (for custom bracelets) then 30, 36, etc, etc, up to maybe 72 eventually. For each size I would probably want a generic and non-flashy font and a more elegant cursive/script type font. I know it will take me many years to accumulate all of that but for now I would like to know what would be best for my first purchase of 24 pt.

Thanks in advance,

Dave

[electrathon]

You can print amazingly small. I have done a few things that are down in newspaper print size. Most of what you ill find will not be fancy fonts, but old fashioned blocky looking font. DO NOT hit the type, it is lead and can easily distort, Use a book press or a hot press tool (they work great) to do the imprinting. Once you start looking you will find lots of available type. Most of it is sold a lead scrap. I have more font than anyone could ever hope t use, much was gotten as bulk purchases because the person wanted it out of their shop.

Aaron

[dkbutcher]

Thanks for the info, it looks like I'm good to go. I was planning to use my Harbor Freight arbor press. :-)

Dave

[Geneva]

It depends on what you are planning to emboss with your new fonts and press. You will not be able to use the lead type with the press you are thinking about from Harbor Freight. The only thing this type used was ink stuck on paper not leather with 6 or 7 ton behind it. A heat transfer press would work best for this type of printing not a press from Harbor Freight. Good luck.

[electrathon]

You will do fine with the arbor press as long as you are only planning on small items. You will not be able to do a page of printing, but a name or sort sentence will print no problem. It does not take a lot of pressure to push in a few letters.

You will need a plate both above and below the leather/type.

[Ferg]

Yep,

It works without heat. Take your time, experiment and don't get taken in by fancy fonts. They look great on paper not so good on leather.

If you have a heat press you can transfer colors to the leather. Such as: Single color for each line of type. Hot transfer foil is available. Good foil is expensive and you may have to hunt for small amounts since using it with leather consumes very little if only a line/title or such.

Another note: You will get better impressions in the leather if you case the piece first. Hot transfer is best used on Chrome tanned leather.

ferg

[stelmackr]

....You will not be able to use the lead type with the press you are thinking about from Harbor Freight. The only thing this type used was ink stuck on paper not leather with 6 or 7 ton behind it. ...

In my experience, I've used a bookpress, that produces about 2-5 ton of pressure. I used an old physics formula for the calculations

As Aaron said, look for letterpress type and eBay or Craigs List is a good place to look. When looking for the letterpress type use Search Words: - printers type, letterpress type, metal type, metal fonts, hot stamping fonts, hot stamping letters, metal letters. I also use the point size that I am looking for to narrow my search. Here is some information to help you get the right size of type:

Points are a measurement of the Block Height which the letter is on. So the letter printing is smaller than the block height. When these were manufactured at the foundry they were cataloged at the block height.

The below conversions are the block height:

• 12 pt is approx 1/8 inch
  
• 18 pt is approx 1/4 inch
  
• 24 pt is approx 5/16
  
• 36 pt is approx 1/2 inch
  
• 48 pt is approx 5/8 inch
  
• 60 pt is approx 13/16
  
• 72 pt is approx 1 inch
  
• 84 pt is approx 1 3/16 inch
  

You can also also purchase brand new type at: M&H Foundry ( http://www.arionpres...ndh/catalog.htm ) Take a look at their catalog to see the range of font type and sizes.

Here is the back of a book cover with a large amount of 18pt Times font that was impressed on leather using a bookpress.

For some description of using letterpress type on leather try this:

www.pslac.org/download_area/Typography%20in%20Leather%20Article.pdf

Hope this helps.

[dkbutcher]

Sounds like I'm good to go. I was planning on using it for names, 2-4 word phrases, the occasional address or phone number (I have a friend that wants me to make an ID necklace for her horses that she can put on them when a storm comes and they might get out). I've ordered a set off of eBay and will be waiting for it to arrive early next week.

Thanks for the photo Bob. I hadn't been planning on doing much text (beyond what I stated earlier) but after seeing that photo I'm very impressed and might have to build myself a book press some day in the future. I like it!

Thanks again for all of the help and advice,

Dave

P.S. The pdf document isn't at that link location any more. I've seen you post it before but still haven't managed to download a copy

[stelmackr]

Sorry, about the broken link. I no longer support that website. Here is different link for the article:

http://aaleatherbigb...her Article.pdf

If this fails to work--let me know.

I used to be the editor of the RawHide Gazzette, but retired after doing it for 15 years. It was great fun and I learned a lot from the people who submitted articles to PSLAC (Puget Sound Leather Artisans Coop) http://www.pslac.org All are welcome to submitted articles for publications--no money, no prizes, just the satisfaction of helping others learn the craft of leather.

Hope this helps.

Bob Stelmack

[dkbutcher]

Worked perfect and after a quick glance at the article a thanks to you! I appreciate it and hope to work my way into more typography.

Thanks a bunch,

Dave

[Bob Blea]

Thank you Bob, for posting this article. It makes me want to find some type and try doing this.

Bob

[dkbutcher]

Well... I've been fonted and here is my pressing. I did each of these by hand just pushing the type into the cased leather. I wanted to do each separate so that I could jumble the letters. I bought a set of Stymie bold 24 pt and Stymie bold 18 pt. I can definitely tell that I will want some larger sizes so I'll be looking around for more. This is just post stamped and still wet. It'll be interesting to see how it looks after I put some dye on it and some finishing.

All in all I like it!

Dave

Edited October 20, 2013 by dkbutcher

[stelmackr]

Correction to Typography on Leather article:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1qgV6aH_FkHa5lBX_kNceroW2elQju_XW/view

[Northmount]

Here is the PDF Tutorial - Typography in Leather.pdf