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Tag Archives: Cal Poly
The Smyth book sewing machine is an extraordinary device
For over five years I have been working to restore a 1935 Smyth book sewing machine. You can read several posts on that topic here, mostly related to the mechanics of getting the machine running after a long dormancy, and … Continue reading
Posted in Bookbinding, Building things, Gadgets, Printing and Printing Processes
Tagged Blognosticator, bookbinding, Brian Lawler, Cal Poly, how a Smyth book binding machine works, how the Smyth machine binds books, Shakespeare Press Museum, Smyth book sewing machine, Smyth bookbinding machine, Smyth machine, The Blognosticator
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The Linotype and Intertype catalogs
In the previous post I described how I published these out-of-print booklets. These are links to the PDF versions of those publications. Please feel free to download them.
Posted in Gadgets, History, Printing and Printing Processes, Restoring antique printing machines, Technology, Typography
Tagged Blognosticator, Brian Lawler, Cal Poly, Intertype matrix, Intertype matrix catalog, Linotype matrix, Linotype matrix catalog, Shakespeare Press Museum, The Blognosticator
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Of molten lead and ChatGPT
At the core of The Blognosticator are posts about the graphic arts, printing processes, solutions to printing processes, and related items. The blog was originally an arm of Graphic Arts Monthly magazine, who hired me in 2000 to write blogs, … Continue reading
Gliding into a saw restoration
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
Restoring that ol’ saw – a Hammond Glider
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
Designing a monogram font
Years ago I made a reproduction-quality proof of a type font in the Shakespeare Press Museum at Cal Poly. This font is comprised a sets of three letters that can be assembled into monograms. Monograms were quite popular for business … Continue reading
Posted in Art, History, Typography
Tagged Blognosticator, Brian Lawler, Cal Poly, Monogram font, Monograms, Shakespeare Press Museum
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Lining Livermore, der zweite Teil
This is a continuation of a blog I wrote two days ago. To read the first part, click here. After I put all the letters (called “glyphs” In typography) into a master Adobe Illustrator document, I built the destination environment for the … Continue reading
Posted in Software, Technology, Typography
Tagged Antique type, ATF, Blognosticator, Brian Lawler, Cal Poly, FontLab, Shakespeare Press Museum, type design, Type Network
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AppleScript solves my grid mask challenge in Adobe Photoshop
I pride myself on being a competent user of Adobe Photoshop. I know how to make my photos look good by sliding sliders and pushing buttons and applying filters and adding Layer Effects and all sorts of visual things. Occasionally I need … Continue reading
Electronic motor control
and my obsession with a 1935 bookbinding machine
This is the second part of my obsession story. To read the first part, please click here. And that’s where my odyssey began. Alternating current induction motors use the frequency of the line power (60 Hz in our case) to … Continue reading
Obsessing on a 1935 bookbinding machine
I get obsessed about my projects. My current obsession is the restoration of a 1935 Smyth book sewing machine in the Shakespeare Press Museum at Cal Poly (I was the faculty advisor before I retired). That machine sews the spines … Continue reading