Ask and You Shall Receive

I raced the snowstorm in the Mid-Atlantic today in order to get a mimeograph machine. Jon Beacham at Hermitage in Brooklyn had what seems to be a Gestetner 140. From what I can tell it is in working order. The biggest unknown is just how the paper feeds into the machine.

As an added bonus, Jon had supplies: stencils, stencil guards, various stylus, mimeo paper, mimeo ink and cleaner. Althought there were instruction sheets for stenciling, there was no user manual for operating the machine itself. If anybody has an operators manual for the machine please give me a heads up.

I think the Model 140 was built in England in the late 1950s and early 1960s. I am curious to find out just what make and model was used by various mimeographers during the Mimeo Revolution.

I wanted to get a stencil duplicator as a learning tool. Of course to learn how to print on one but also to understand the limitations and benefits of the medium and how they dictated that which was printed.

Two things made themselves apparent upon examining the machine up close. First was something I already knew, but now know first hand. Mimeo ink does not smell!!! Second mimeography is a dirty business. In the space of a few minutes, I got ink on the couch and destroyed a sweatshirt. The ink gets everywhere. My Gestetner 140 is now safely quarantined in the basement, the new home of Planned Obsolescence Press.

1 comments:

Unknown said...

Congratulations. That's great, as is the name Planned Obsolescence Press.

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