Showcard press - do I need a blanket?
I decided to pick up a showcard press that just popped up this week about 10 miles from my house. I believe it was used in a large Sears on the left coast. It has a 22” x 28” bed and appears to be in decent shape. On one end it has an addition of an inking plate, or glass plate for hand inking. The stand it’s on has a foot lever for what I believe is a paper gripper.
It should be fun for my large lino block cuts and wood type. I think it will be quite labor intensive if I want to do job work like band posters.
My question is do I need to find a blanket of sorts to run between the paper and roller? The roller is small about 7 or 8 inckes in diameter.
I will upload a pic later this evening.
I always used an additional piece of something while printing. I often used a heavy piece of card stock or tympan. In terms of band posters, this press is almost ideal for the type of print that hand inking yields. It is not like a Chandler or Vandercook in terms of fine print quality, but they are super fun.
Ya I know its not a proof press, but this should get me through till I can get one. I added a pic so you can see it.
I had a very similar press recently and had great results with no blanket. The key is to make sure all of your material in the form is the same height. Any old wood type that is low can be built up easily with a strip of tape on the bottom surface.
I have big proof press (3 x 6 feet) with no form rollers. All inking is with a brayer. With this press, I use a sheet of rubber roofing membrane between the paper and the cylinder. This ensures a good impression and the rubber is very resilient. It almost never needs replacement.
Craig Malmrose
I recently got a showcard sign press it is about 8x11 has 3 trays of letters and other stuff ..would appreciate any input on how to use it ..does any one know where I can find any literature on its workings and how to opperate it. thank you …
I don’t have any literature, but I do have a tutorial on my flickr site. My press is a magnetic signpress instead of a showcard, but they are very similar.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/boundstaffpress/2697240934/in/photostream/
I don’t like to use a blanket of any kind I think with these presses, it only serves to reduce pressure, and add to the difficulties of making quality prints on these proof presses.
Using a blanket to take away stress from the roller is a good idea. Any heavier sheet of paper - the suggestion about a thin rubber mat - should work well. Depends upon how oftyen you want to change out or dispose of.