tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post8143992107718752197..comments2024-01-06T08:38:28.019+00:00Comments on Blaugustine's Other Blog: PRESSING MATTERSUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger13125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-90393557224356097972014-10-11T12:59:03.319+01:002014-10-11T12:59:03.319+01:00Adam, unfortunately machines and other misbehaving...Adam, unfortunately machines and other misbehaving inanimate objects don't respond to sulks. They just don't give a damn. So some of us are reluctant obliged to resort to DIY.<br /><br /><br />Hattie, siestas are good. Especially in the morning, when everyone else is up and about with the early worms.Natalie d'Arbeloffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07757081405040926647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-53776955671724008532014-10-11T02:46:31.434+01:002014-10-11T02:46:31.434+01:00I'm a siesta person. (; I'm a siesta person. (;Hattiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13297404386730167834noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-43691283532911381722014-10-11T01:19:09.913+01:002014-10-11T01:19:09.913+01:00what a pickle but I admire and am happy about the ...what a pickle but I admire and am happy about the way you got it fixed!<br /><br />I'm sure I would have downed tools and gone off in a sulk.<br /><br />Best wishes, AdamAdamnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-80939555961311637892014-10-06T20:04:25.902+01:002014-10-06T20:04:25.902+01:00Bruce, bravo to SWMBO and all of us DIY women! In ...Bruce, bravo to SWMBO and all of us DIY women! In fact, contrary to received opinion, women who like DIY are usually better at it than most men, at least in my experience. The fragile little lady who doesn't know how to hold a hammer may be a mythical creature or, if she still exists, is a relic.Natalie d'Arbeloffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07757081405040926647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-90280167811664614792014-10-06T19:26:19.252+01:002014-10-06T19:26:19.252+01:00Hattie, so you're a night person too? There...Hattie, so you're a night person too? There's something about the quiet darkness which makes one feel cozy and free from the demands and duties of daytime...isn't there?<br /><br />The lilies are majestic indeed. No artist can claim to have created anything more beautiful, in my opinion.Natalie d'Arbeloffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07757081405040926647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-63756686387081983682014-10-06T19:15:16.657+01:002014-10-06T19:15:16.657+01:00Ellena, I eat toast and tea and fruit for breakfas...Ellena, I eat toast and tea and fruit for breakfast - not particularly energy-giving. <br />Maybe my night-time bouts of activity are due to a lifetime habit of night-owlishness. I've tried to become a morning person but haven't succeeded yet. Natalie d'Arbeloffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07757081405040926647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-25164304821842298212014-10-06T19:07:48.646+01:002014-10-06T19:07:48.646+01:00Robbie, as ever generous with your commentary and ...Robbie, as ever generous with your commentary and my thanks for that. No sentimentality involved in keeping my old press: it's a quality machine for its purpose, made by Kimber/Hunter-Penrose, best manufacturers from way back, never bettered. As you discovered, nothing much changes in this simmple machine. I could have gears put on(but don't need them). The more recent models which allow for the roller to be raised up & down are generally lightweight and not as reliable as mine. Bref: the wood runners work perfectly for my purpose and with the formica gone, there's no risk of the solid steel bed ever bending. Only reason for the formica was to provide a surface to mark plate positions on and it served well until now. I can use paper or cardboard for the same thing and only applied Fablon to make the steel bed neater. The roughness left by the formica residue doesn't matter and won't affect the printing at all. But you're right about formica, it ain't good stuff and is unrecyclable - I don't know where to throw away the broken sheet remaining. The composite wood you mention is MDF; but it's not necessary to cover the steel bed at all. <br />You wrote:<br />".. cannot understand how you have compensated (permanently) for the reduction in height between the roller and the new bed level."<br />There's no reduction. The roller sits on the press bed and on whatever else one puts there; the formica didn't come with the press, it was an addition which I, and other printmakers, commonly used for convenience. The gap made by the wooden runners is exactly filled by the thickness of blocks to be printed.<br />Whew! Now I've overstepped my word limit.Natalie d'Arbeloffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07757081405040926647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-81124795472434449722014-10-06T18:16:54.263+01:002014-10-06T18:16:54.263+01:00Natalie, you are one of those women (like my SWMBO...Natalie, you are one of those women (like my SWMBO) who tackle problems that certain men (like me) would never attempt. And win! Congratulations to you and your incredible skills. And art.Catalysthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03804837416104556928noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-91036915248899968292014-10-06T17:45:12.765+01:002014-10-06T17:45:12.765+01:00Funny how the wee hours of the morning can be so p...Funny how the wee hours of the morning can be so productive. But I like the beautiful lillies too. They toil not,neither do they spin.Hattiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02621439195920479957noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-42984108786104443052014-10-06T17:16:14.976+01:002014-10-06T17:16:14.976+01:00Is it a breakfast of oats that feeds your energy a...Is it a breakfast of oats that feeds your energy and determination? Bravo on you.Ellenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14965850008354379369noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-81135909351412356202014-10-06T15:35:47.851+01:002014-10-06T15:35:47.851+01:00Sounds like a case of misplaced sentimentality. Ha...Sounds like a case of misplaced sentimentality. Have you hung on to this device too long? Probably not, because a quick glance at so-called modern etching presses reveals that this is an area of technology where nothing much changes.<br /><br />There are one or two risible details in this press available online<br /><br />Dave Gunning, Ironbridge:<br />Little Thumper, bed size 12 x 30 in.<br />"Chunky, fun to use. Easily goes from intaglio to reliefs. A good looker for any workshop/studio."<br />£850.<br /><br />In any case it isn't the ironwork that's failed, but the Formica. I'm surprised you opted for this product since its main application is for hard-working decorative surfaces with comparatively light point pressures (eg. from a kitchen knife).<br /><br />But Formica has another failing. At some point in its development the sheets were found to be "more brittle than potato chips, hence easily damaged. Breaking off even a small corner rendered the sheet unusable (and not repairable or recyclable)". Subsequently the product chemistry was changed for greater durability. I have no idea whether the sheet you used came before or after this.<br /><br />Fablon seems like a very temporary solution since, if I've read you correctly, it has been laid over an uneven surface. Mind you I can understand why you found it hard to remove the backing residue. The treatment you have meted out to the Formica over thirty years could be regarded as an extension of the manufacturing process which involves enormous pressures.<br /><br />I also cannot understand how you have compensated (permanently) for the reduction in height between the roller and the new bed level.<br /><br />I would have thought a much more suitable bed cover would be one of the composite wood substitutes because of their consistency and dimensional accuracy. Most of them are identified by acronyms and the most popular is readily available in DIY stores. The initials escape me for the moment.<br /><br />Perhaps you could assess this comment in terms of my word credit balance. It is, as I promised, concise but that is not the same as being short.Roderick Robinsonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16828395545197001637noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-33749043074383897712014-10-06T10:41:39.523+01:002014-10-06T10:41:39.523+01:00Tom,I'm proud of my stubborn, if unreasonable ...Tom,I'm proud of my stubborn, if unreasonable efforts to avert the tragedy. Sometimes the middle of the night...or rather the small hours of the morning...is the right time to undertake tasks that daylight would deem impossible.Natalie d'Arbeloffhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07757081405040926647noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24746593.post-50062354921516840252014-10-06T08:58:44.234+01:002014-10-06T08:58:44.234+01:00I became so caught up in the unfolding tragedy of ...I became so caught up in the unfolding tragedy of the press that I forgot to read the happy ending until about the third re-read. Having read most carefully to the very end, Ifind myself in admiration of your diy skills and stickability to the task in hand, even if it is at ungodly hours of the night. Take care Natalie! Tomhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09028121782477111901noreply@blogger.com