As I continue my letterpress adventures I continue to refine what I do with my type - where and how I store it in particular.
So far, I have most of the lead type in type drawers in type cabinets. Tick.
The wooden type sits in other drawers, which sit on top of each other and not in a cabinet at all. Not so much a tick.
There are also five more drawers of type sitting underneath a table in the studio which needs to sit in a cabinet. Definitely no tick.
So I have some thinking to do and the past week has seen two completely different sorts of resolutions.
Firstly the small.
I found this ingenious type cabinet in NZ - being made by the printing museum folk there. It is small - about A5 size and yet, works brilliantly.
It is economical space-wise, and useful for small sized (say 12pt) lead type.
Here's how it rolls...
It comes like a mini 3-drawer filing cabinet.
Each of the drawers has compartments for type.
Which, when you pull them out and put them side by side, work just like a California job case! How brilliant is that?
I was over the moon when it arrived this week and thought I would be able to start transferring my small font sizes into it, which would then free up space in the cabinets for some of the ones sitting under the table.
The second resolution came about most unexpectedly. The antiques and collectable gathering "Recyclerama" arrived in Maleny again on Saturday, and as we wandered through we came across a type cabinet, without any drawers.
Clearly for most folk this would not be helpful; but for me, with 5 drawers of type with no home yet, and another 10 empty drawers sitting in a cupboard, this seemed perfect. This cabinet could be filled with all my random drawers and random type, and I can modify some of my drawers to take all my wooden type and then it will have a home as well.
So home it came with us and we sat it in the sun for bit to dry out and whenever the time is right, Barry will do the hard yards of sanding and cleaning it and I will then be able to start filling it.
The small issue of exactly where it will fit remains to be solved; but I am sure we can move something around!
So far, I have most of the lead type in type drawers in type cabinets. Tick.
The wooden type sits in other drawers, which sit on top of each other and not in a cabinet at all. Not so much a tick.
There are also five more drawers of type sitting underneath a table in the studio which needs to sit in a cabinet. Definitely no tick.
So I have some thinking to do and the past week has seen two completely different sorts of resolutions.
Firstly the small.
I found this ingenious type cabinet in NZ - being made by the printing museum folk there. It is small - about A5 size and yet, works brilliantly.
It is economical space-wise, and useful for small sized (say 12pt) lead type.
Here's how it rolls...
It comes like a mini 3-drawer filing cabinet.
Each of the drawers has compartments for type.
Which, when you pull them out and put them side by side, work just like a California job case! How brilliant is that?
I was over the moon when it arrived this week and thought I would be able to start transferring my small font sizes into it, which would then free up space in the cabinets for some of the ones sitting under the table.
The second resolution came about most unexpectedly. The antiques and collectable gathering "Recyclerama" arrived in Maleny again on Saturday, and as we wandered through we came across a type cabinet, without any drawers.
Clearly for most folk this would not be helpful; but for me, with 5 drawers of type with no home yet, and another 10 empty drawers sitting in a cupboard, this seemed perfect. This cabinet could be filled with all my random drawers and random type, and I can modify some of my drawers to take all my wooden type and then it will have a home as well.
So home it came with us and we sat it in the sun for bit to dry out and whenever the time is right, Barry will do the hard yards of sanding and cleaning it and I will then be able to start filling it.
The small issue of exactly where it will fit remains to be solved; but I am sure we can move something around!
Great score on the empty type cabinet! I hope you got it for a good price.
ReplyDeleteThanks Miss Iowa - we did and I think it will work out great!
Deleteyes, this one is a great find. i like the small cabinet very much, too!
ReplyDeleteSuch character that little fella hey Velma? And yes, a happy find - storage is always good!
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