Thanks to Barry Anderson (seller) and Walter Hicks (mover), my garage has a new resident.
I had my first roll-up two days after she was installed and it was a disaster. I forgot to check the level of the rollers even though they had been adjusted at Barry’s on Nov 20 when he showed me some things. And I chose chromatic type to play with, also a dumb idea.
Having a press of this calibre floats all my insecurities right up to the surface. Sir has already spread the word among his friends that I will “use it until bored” which shows the level of his confidence in me and the persistence of my interests. Because this is not wholly inaccurate, I too wonder if in 10 years I will be off on another tangent, perhaps rebuilding engines, or learning competitive water skiing, or even knitting a 100 mile scarf to lay along highway 395 as a tribute to a beautiful view.
One reason I sold off most of my cameras to pay for this beauty is because I have several faces of chromatic type, most of them 16 line wood, and they cannot be reliably printed on my other presses. I can fit perhaps 4 letters into the chase for the C&P Pilot which is hardly practical. The bed of the Poco 0 is 12x18, not much smaller than the Vandercook, but registration has always been a challenge. The Albion is only 7x10, and the etching press provides type-crushing pressure far too easily. I have actually used this very Vandercook for chromatic type before, with great success, so I know it is possible, provided the user error can be reduced.
No acquisition is an immediate problem solver or savior to issues attributable to the practitioner. And every piece of equipment has a personality and quirks that one has to get to know. One drawback of this machine is the roller cleaning which I greatly dislike. Of course it can be operated with the rollers lifted out of the way and the type inked with a brayer, which is what I will probably do the next time I try this caper.
I will print Zanie and the Rainbow Man on this press as my first book project. The Stellar type is due to arrive from Swamp Press tomorrow. The illustrations are 6/11ths done, so press time probably won’t be until March. I have some other ideas in the meantime, as I always do.