Printing

  Not surprisingly, printing a new book tends to involve printing ten thousand copies of each single page... and then, drying the ink and printing the other side. On the bright side, one then has enough copies to ship to the libraries of the entire world.



  Moveable woodblock and metal typesetting has been in use since time immemorial, as both a bookbinding and fabric printing technique. You certainly may. We, however, prefer old-style engraving.

  We prefer old-style engraving.

  Take a thin block of wax. Make a rectangular depression the size of a sheet of paper. Using a small chisel, stylus, flat-headed screwdriver, or other engraving tool, carve the text into the wax.

  If one then adds the minimum quantity of ink, and then wipes the depression, the only ink remaining will be in the letters. One can press page after page into the engraved text, topping up the ink (and rewiping) as needed.

  A similar technique is used in fingernail polish using a blank, flat rubber stamp as a transfer agent.

  If you found this page useful, please consider donating.

 • Back to the Bookbinding Vault