Tag Archives: Dancing Rainbow Press

First Print on the Provisional Press

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Saturday I made the first print on the Provisional Press that I bought in kit form and assembled last month. I made at least 14 good prints of a linocut of the finial on the Bronstrup iron press at the Conestoga Press using waterbase metallic gold block printing ink. Initially I planned to build one of these great presses from the free plans that can be downloaded. The plans are for cutting with a CNC machine, but I planned to use traditional woodworking methods. After hearing the creator talk about it at a virtual Chesapeake Chapter of the American Printing History Association meeting I decided to just order the kit. They are normally out of stock but you just have to get on the email list to be notified when they will have a limited number available each month. I had no problem ordering one a minute after the appointed time in March.

First print made on the Provisional Press. Linocut of finial on top of Bronstrup iron press.

AAPA February Picks

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Most of my picks can be read by clicking on this photo to enlarge it. Poetic Voices you see only the cover of the small booklet, of course, though it was the cover that caught my eye..

I was honored to be asked to provide the February Picks for the American Amateur Press Association which distributes members’ printing and writing efforts each month in a “Bundle”. You can see my article and other AAPA stuff here.

Craftsmen Imperial 5″ x 8″

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Bought with everything needed to get started. That’s what the previous owner had in mind, but life got in the way, so I wound up with this little press. It came complete with a home-made boxcar which would allow me to more easily print from photopolymer and although I’m a fan of metal type it’s nice to have the option. At this writing I haven’t tried that yet, but it’s nice to have the option.

Dancing Rainbow Press 6.0

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Some time in the early to mid 1970’s I got a Kelsey 5×8 straight from the factory. The Dancing Rainbow Press was born, unfortunately getting its name from a terrible poem I had written that had its own cartoon character as well. It was located in a small unfinished room behind the bathroom at my apartment in Reamstown. It moved back home to my parent’s house in Mount Airy (2.0) when I did. There my wife to be and I printed our wedding invitations and moved it with us (3.0) to our first house on Walnut Street in Ephrata.

When we moved to Old Mill Road (4.0) it was set up in the basement. Our son, Ben is shown printing on it above. Use of it, however, languished and the press and most everything else was sold a decade or two later. Though I hadn’t printed for so long I soon missed having a press and as a replacement started volunteering at the print shop at the Historical Society and at the Ephrata Cloister. Some years passed and while volunteering at the Cloister I met a guy who said he had some printing equipment to sell. I had already bought a couple small presses for use at the historical society, but wound up sharing a large acquisition that outfitted a new shop at my training center in the old Recreation Center building on Cloister Avenue (5.0) in Ephrata.

Me printing on the 1850’s Bronstrup at the Conestoga Press.

Due mostly to the COVID19 pandemic the center was closed and I moved the shop (6.0) into an undisclosed location in a small rental space in Ephrata. The Dancing Rainbow shines albeit underground again as pictured at the top of this article.

Sigwalt Nonpareil No. 23

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I bought this for a steal thinking it was a Golding, but paid a fair price or better for a Sigwalt. Since the manufacturer intended the parallel I can be forgiven. They were direct copies of the Golding Official #2. I was in search of an 1800’s tabletop press and may have gotten it just slightly. I got the look for sure with the decorative painting still intact on parts of the press. These were first made at the end of that century in 1899 and well into the 1900’s, but best I can find the round bases like mine came first and were replaced fairly quickly with square bases. Since they don’t have serial numbers there’s no way to better date mine. It prints pretty well and is great for demonstrating when drawing attention to our time period at the Conestoga Press.

Demonstrating letterpress with my Sigwalt outside the Print Shop at the Ephrata Cloister.

Kelsey 3 x 5

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When I began printing in the early 1970’s I bought a 5×8 Excelsior, new from the Kelsey Company in Meriden, Connecticut. After a decade or more of no use I sold the press and most of the supplies. Now as my collection has been rebooted it was only natural to add one though the price has climbed significantly since I sold my larger one and I settled for an older, smaller, repaired one. I bought it from a sale at the Museum of Printing in Haverhill, Massachusetts. The idea was to use it to demonstrate on the road at events for Conestoga Press.