Common press built with a modern twist

University of Maine at Machias (UMM) Professor of Art and Book Arts Bernie Vinzani had never taken a sabbatical in all his years of teaching. He'd never thought about it, but when the opportunity was offered he realized that it would give him the time to do something he'd wanted to do for a while: research and build a version of Benjamin Franklin's "common press." The research started two years ago, and the original plan was to go visit printers, press sites and book arts specialists. Then COVID 19 hit.
Vinzani's degrees are in printmaking, with a master of fine arts (MFA) in printmaking from Indiana State University, but he also has years of shop class from high school that still come in handy. His love of all things paper developed way before high school when his father and grandfather introduced him to the world of stamps, where history, paper making and art all combine into a tiny piece of magic. His career has included working for clients such as Ansel Adams at the groundbreaking company, Twinrocker Handmade Paper. Since the early 1980s he has made book and conservation papers in his Whiting shop, including for the Library of Congress and Harvard University libraries. He may have exhibited his work nationally and internationally, but building a press remained on his wish list.
Not to be daunted by the pandemic, Vinzani continued his research, visiting online many of those he'd intended to visit in person. "I kept a notebook," he says, sitting in his shop, where there are woodworking tools small and large, floor to ceiling containers neatly labeled with their contents and stacks of lumber and projects. The pride of place is reserved for the press that he built from all those notebook notes. "I had over 50 presses I was looking at," he remembers, outlining what he liked or had questions about for each.
The press needed to be modified for two specific reasons. While the press belongs to Vinzani, he will be bringing it to UMM for display and demonstrations. After students graduate from his program, he explains, he wants them to know that they can build their own press from locally available and relatively low cost materials, an affordable option for those who have some shop skills. In addition, Vinzani's press is bolted together rather than with mortise and tenon. It's easier to take apart and easier to build, he notes.
Erik Squire, who has a woodworking shop in Machias, had some old maple floor joists and offered them up for the press. Vinzani shows a slab with a raw edge of bark, a piece left from cutting the joists into parts. The wood is tightly grained and hard as can be. Maple, oak and some pine were used in the press, with maple being the bulk of the structure.
While reproductions of Franklin's press have been made before, Vinzani needed to find parts, like the screw that administers the pressure that makes printing possible, in places and for a cost that anyone could find. The screw in his press, for instance, ended up being something called a Chelsea jack that he found on eBay. "The shipping cost more than the jack," he says with a grin. A jack of this sort could lift a house, he explains. The maple and oak play a critical role in helping the press maintain its integrity in the face of that intense force. Many large old presses were actually tied into the physical structure of the building where they were housed, he adds. A bit of whimsy found its way in: An old croquet mallet head plays a pivotal role, albeit mostly out of sight.
The many years of experience in book arts and papermaking serve his students in the UMM Creative Arts Program, where Vinzani directs the art galleries, the book arts studio and the Gallery for the Book. Students learn about publishing the written word through traditional as well as experimental media exploration using letterpress, relief printing, digital and electronic technologies. He has brought book arts specialists to the college from all over the world, and in once instance had over 70 professionals attend an 11-day book arts intensive.
Of the press he's built, Vinzani says that there are a few students who "will really tap into it," but he's hoping more than anything that it shows students that they can build their own equipment using very old design ideas while innovating with materials. The same lesson will be taught with some other colonial era materials, such as soot and linseed oil ink, a material not as easy to make as it sounds. The ratio of oil to soot can mean perfection or halos of oil bleeding into the paper.
"Some students are afraid of machinery and setting type. I want to see them using their hands and not relying so much on the computer," he says, his hand on the press and a smile on his face.