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.

A new Adirondack chair for 2023

Posted on March 4, 2023 by Brian Lawler

In the summer of 2014 I built a couple of Adirondack chairs for our back deck. I wrote about it here. These were made of oak, painted with primer, then assembled and painted again to make them as weatherproof as … Continue reading →

Posted in Building things, Woodworking | Tagged Blognosticator, Brian Lawler, CNC cutting, furniture, woodworking | Leave a comment

Dancing in the laser light fantastic

Posted on February 16, 2023 by Brian Lawler

This is part 2 of my article about building a fixed positioning laser on the CNC machine. To read the first part, click here. I had decided to make the final fixed laser with a bracket made of aluminum. In … Continue reading →

Posted in Gadgets, New technology, Technology | Tagged Avid CNC, Blognosticator, Brian Lawler, CNC laser positioning, fixed laser for CNC, laser positioning tool, San Luis Obispo, The Blognosticator | Leave a comment

Affixing a laser to the CNC machine

Posted on February 15, 2023 by Brian Lawler

My friend Bryn and I own a CNC router. We have had it for years, and it has undergone a couple of upgrades. It started life as a CNC Machine with a DeWalt router motor mounted on it, providing adequate, … Continue reading →

Posted in Gadgets, Restoring antique printing machines, Technology | Tagged Avid CNC, Blognosticator, Brian Lawler, CNC machine, fixed laser pointer, positioning laser, spindle motor laser, The Blognosticator | Leave a comment

Gliding into a saw restoration

Posted on February 2, 2023 by Brian Lawler

This is Part 2 of my story about restoring an antique Hammond Glider “TrimOsaw” for the Shakespeare Press Museum at Cal Poly. To read the first part, click here. I got to the point of removing the aluminum nameplate from … Continue reading →

Posted in Graphic Arts people, History, Printing and Printing Processes, Restoring antique printing machines, Technology | Tagged Blognosticator, Brian Lawler, Cal Poly, Restoring antique printing machines, Shakespeare Press Museum | Leave a comment

Restoring that ol’ saw – a Hammond Glider

Posted on February 1, 2023 by Brian Lawler

Now that the Smyth machine is working, I decided to take on a new project. Last fall I offered to restore a 1960s era Hammond Glider TrimOsaw for the Shakespeare Press Museum at Cal Poly. This machine is best described … Continue reading →

Posted in History, Printing and Printing Processes, Technology, Typography | Tagged Blognosticator, Brian Lawler, Cal Poly, Hammond Glider, Hammond TrimOsaw, Precision table saw, Shakespeare Press Museum, Typographical table saw | Leave a comment

The Smyth book sewing machine is now running!

Posted on January 29, 2023 by Brian Lawler

Some of you may recall my obsession with a 1935 Smyth book sewing machine and all of the steps it took to restore it and get it running again. After my return from Germany last September, I worked a lot … Continue reading →

Posted in Bookbinding, Printing and Printing Processes | Tagged book sewing machine, Brian Lawler, California Polytechnic State University, Shakespeare Press Museum, Smyth machine, Smyth-bound | Leave a comment

Ink-jet trompe l’oeil buildings

Posted on September 16, 2022 by Brian Lawler

I spent the last year in Europe, mostly in Munich, and I had a wonderful opportunity to visit several countries as a tourist before returning to the USA. My wife and I became vagabonds after my final semester teaching at … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventures, Art, Printing and Printing Processes | Tagged Bergen, Brian Lawler, Bryggen, ink-jet printed fabric, Norway, Trompe l'oeil | Leave a comment

Pushing the limits of repositioned panoramic photography (updated) (three times)

Posted on July 17, 2022 by Brian Lawler

In several previous articles I have written about the process of repositioned panoramic photography. It works best when there is no perspective – strictly two-dimensional subject matter. With my experiences with street art (see the most recent article here), this works perfectly. … Continue reading →

Posted in Adventures, Art, Panoramic Photography, Photography, Photoshop techniques | Tagged Blognosticator, Brian Lawler, Burano, Burano Italy, Compositing panoramic photo, Masking in Adobe Photoshop, Repositioned panoramic photo, The Blognosticator | Leave a comment

The Gegendruck

Posted on June 5, 2022 by Brian Lawler

In our industry we throw around lots of arcane terms – offset, litho, ink-jet, gravure, roto, screen printing, make-ready, prepress, flexo, etc., etc. I’ve been doing my best recently to learn similar terms in German, some of which don’t have … Continue reading →

Posted in Art, Graphic Arts people, Printing and Printing Processes | Tagged Brian P. Lawler, engraved printing, intaglio, Martin Schall GMBH, printing with engraving, stahlstich, steel die engraving | Leave a comment

Running the Landa Nanopress

Posted on June 5, 2022 by Brian Lawler

Part III [Part II] [Part I] After numerous visits to the printing plant where the Landa Nanopress is running, I have a pretty good idea of how that machine works. I am assisted by a very nice diagram on the … Continue reading →

Posted in Bookbinding, Imposition and Pagination, Printing and Printing Processes, Software, Technology | Tagged Blueprint AG, Brian Lawler, digital book printing, Landa Nanopress, Munich, Production ink-jet, The Blognosticator | Leave a comment