"Friends of the GSO" enjoy an evening in the shop!

Last night the Red Onion Press hosted a reception for the Friends of the Georgia Symphony Orchestra. The evening began with a tour of the Historic Kennesaw Cemetery led by Adam and Lewis Bramlette of the Kennesaw City Cemetery Commission. Following that, the group came in to enjoy some wine and cheese and a premium printmaking and letterpress demonstration including custom print coasters for a musical crowd! If your group or organization would like to enjoy an educational and fascinating event blending handicraft, contemporary art and history contact the Red Onion Press. The shop is well suited for groups up to 25. We even offer a outdoor fire pit!




Nice testimonial from the North Bay Letterpress Artists!

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For the last year and a half, an important part of our operations has been the restoration of letterpress equipment for artists and letterpress printers in our area. It’s nice to know that the word about our service to the printmaking community is starting to get around!

Hi Clemens…

Your information is correct, it was delivered this morning to my shop and after some tinkering and sanding, it’s perforating like 1888 was yesterday.
I’m grateful for the careful way you packaged everything, even supplying me with those bolts for the deck.
We sat around at  lunch dreaming up perforation projects…like a love card perforate’d down the middle to use in case of break-up.

The thing that just blows me away is how well all those pins are cutting. I assumed I’d have to pull them out and try to repair or sharpen them.

Also nice is how the little chads drop neatly down like a shower of termite droppings. I had expected them to have clogged up by now.

I noticed a little support underneath for  a tray to catch them, and made a wood piece to fit. I saw your blog entry about the press going to our shop, and showed it around…we all were surprised at what a nice description you gave of our work out here….thanks!

So, an entirely successful move…and a delighted crew of printers eager to perforate something, anything!

best to you,

Eric Johnson, North Bay Letterpress Arts

Sebastopol, California

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Printmaker Jami Taback demonstrating the Rosback Perforator in Sebastopol California.

Connecting Printers Coast to Coast

The Rosback Perforator Press

The Rosback Perforator Press

Last year when we received an unusual donation of two unusual machines. Patented in 1888 these treadle operated presses had one function; making a series of tiny holes in paper like you would see in a page of postage stamps. Since we had no room for them we reached out online to see if anyone else in the printing and letterpress world might have an interest. After a few weeks, we were contacted by Eric Johnson, founder of the North Bay Letterpress Arts workshop who has been looking for just such a press for over 5 years. The treadle operated perforator is indeed a rare piece of equipment!

Farflungland stamp book

Farflungland stamp book

Eric’s search for the Rosback started when he received a gift of a ream of gummed back label sheets. He came up with the idea of designing and printing stamps for The imaginary Kingdom of Farflungland. These whimsical postage stamps pictured below were perforated using a modern steel rule which creates a series of dashes. Eric knew that the Rosback Perforator with it’s miniature holes would create a more authentic looking stamp.

The North Bay Letterpress Arts workshop is located in Sebastopol, California just north of San Francisco where they practice what they call the poetry of printing. It is also a non-profit workshop that produces both prints, posters and book arts. Much of their output, is poetry and there is a strong connection between the spoken word and printing by hand. You can visit their website at

https://www.northbayletterpressarts.org/

Farflungland stamps

Farflungland stamps

Note they also have a nice bookpress

Note they also have a nice bookpress

Hot off the Press, our first test print

Acquiring a full size swing arm press is the first step towards our goal of equipping the Red Onion to be able to produce full size pages for our book publication project. A Reliance press uses the same method of printing that was invented by Gutenberg in the 1400’s. The first book press was a wooden press, ours is metal and much heavier, but in every other respect it is the same. We plan to film each step of the process. Look for this episode soon!

Assembling the Reliance book press

Putting the parts together involved a certain amount of brainstorming, trial and error. Most of the press parts were in boxes, and none seemed to be missing. starting with the main frame we had to raise the base and press ram weighing at least 500 lbs. and attach them using a portable shop crane.

Open House at the Red Onion!

Celebrating our first year as an independent non-profit workshop, dedicated to printmaking and letterpress arts, the Red Onion Press Open House was well attended.

End of the Journey - the 2200 lb Reliance Press arrives

The Red Onion Press team finally delivers the Reliance Book Press just in time for the Open House and Unveiling! A thirty foot climb up a steep creek bed, a 4 foot wall and and a lawn made for a challenging effort.

The Reliance Press, one of the last of the big Washington Hand Presses that date back to the early 19th Century will now be reassembled and used as our primary book press as we launch our book publishing effort.


Latest Red Onion restoration project! - Sold

Lightning Jobber press, before and after

Lightning Jobber press, before and after

And it’s a dandy!

As the Red Onion Press celebrates it’s first anniversary of the opening of the shop in Kennesaw, it also marks the beginning of it’s antique restoration services. Over the last year, we have worked on several floor model Chandler and Price printing presses, an antique freight scale and a number of desktop letterpresses that were donated to Kennesaw State University. This month, we completed the restoration of a unique press.

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This rare Lightening Jobber was one of only 12 or 13 models built by John H. Jones of Palmyra New York between 1896 and 1903. very few of these presses are still around today. This platen press is a good bit lighter than the similar size Chandler and Price platen presses we have on the floor. The reconditioned press is complete and available for sale. Contact the Red Onion Press for information.

Scale unveiled at Acworth City Hall

Photography by Richard Searle