Author Archives: Brian Lawler

About Brian Lawler

Brian Lawler is an Emeritus Professor of Graphic Communication at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo and was a Guest Professor at Hochschule München from September, 2021 to September, 2022. He writes about graphic arts processes and technologies for various industry publications, and on his blog, The Blognosticator.

500,608 Readers!

Posted on November 20, 2025 by Brian Lawler

My Blognosticator reader-odometer passed 500,000 today; that’s something to be proud of. Fourteen years ago I began writing The Blognosticator. Since then I have written and illustrated 354 posts, received 680 legitimate comments, and have enjoyed not having to delete … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, People | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

More on the camera stand project

Posted on November 18, 2025 by Brian Lawler

In yesterday’s post I described how I built a camera stand to re-photograph (“digitize”) my film. In order to be more helpful, I thought I would share here my working drawings and my engineering drawings so that others might make … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Color Management, Gadgets, Photography, Photoshop techniques, Printing and Printing Processes, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Building a camera stand on the CNC machine

Posted on November 17, 2025 by Brian Lawler

I have thousands – tens of thousands – of photos on film. These include 35mm negatives and slides, 120 film from my two Hasselblad cameras, and a boat load (a small boat) of 70mm sprocketed Ektachrome film. The 70mm era … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Building things, Gadgets, Photography, Technology | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

The Smyth Model 12 Manual

Posted on October 28, 2025 by Brian Lawler

Greetings to those who are interested in Smyth book sewing machines! UPDATED November 2, 2025! I had been dawdling on the scanning of the Smyth Model 12 instruction and parts manual. I am sorry. Scanning is pretty easy, but retouching … Continue reading →

Posted in Bookbinding, Gadgets, History, Printing and Printing Processes, Restoring antique printing machines | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Landa avoids financial failure

Posted on September 12, 2025 by Brian Lawler

In my last technical analysis of the Landa press, I mentioned that the company had gone to the Central District Court in Tel Aviv to seek bankruptcy protection. Facing about $500 million in debt, they hoped to prevent total failure … Continue reading →

Posted in Business, Graphic Arts people, Printing and Printing Processes, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Thin lines and fine type

Posted on August 29, 2025 by Brian Lawler

This is the fourth in a series of analyses of the output of the Landa S10P press. If you would like to start at the beginning, click here. Whenever a printer gets out a magnifying glass, there are bound to … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Color Management, New technology, Printing and Printing Processes, Software, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Printing high-resolution line art on the S10P

Posted on August 5, 2025 by Brian Lawler

Update: I have been reading about financial troubles at Landa. The company has asked for protection from its creditors in an event similar to Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the U.S. With over $500 million in debt, the company hopes to … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Color Management, History, New technology, Photography, Photoshop techniques, Printing and Printing Processes, Scanning, Technology | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Not printing colors that the press can print

Posted on July 17, 2025 by Brian Lawler

Note: Landa recently announced a new version of their press, the S11P. The most significant difference is speed. Where the presses I have tested print 6,250 two-sided impressions per hour, the new Landa press can print at twice that speed. … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Color Management, Graphic Arts people, New technology, Photography, Photoshop techniques, Printing and Printing Processes, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Exploring the capabilities of the Landa S10P press

Posted on June 30, 2025 by Brian Lawler

I recently finished a year teaching at Cal Poly. I retired from that institution in 2020, and was rehired last year to fill-in for a colleague on leave. The course I taught was Color Management, which I had taught for … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Color Management, Education, Photography, Photoshop techniques, Printing and Printing Processes, Scanning, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Failing to profile a direct-to-garment T shirt press

Posted on June 5, 2025 by Brian Lawler

At Printing United last year I visited the Aeoon Technologies booth, where I met Austin Thom who runs a business in Oregon printing digital images on T shirts with one of these machines. I was dazzled by the quality of … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventures, Art, Color Management, Photoshop techniques, Printing and Printing Processes, Technology | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment