Sunday, July 3: The 2011 convention's final day included two notable activities: a visit to the San Jose History Park and the Printing Office staffed by the San Jose Printers' Guild, and a visit to Dave and Liz Tribby's residence and Handset Press.
Grateful for transportation provided by thoughtful drivers, members piled out in the parking lot of History Park in beautiful, sunny San Jose weather. This printer was happy for the warm weather; I spend about eleven months out of the year wishing for weather like that, and I intend to enjoy it when some comes along!
After a delightful picnic lunch provided by Dave and Liz Tribby--and there may have been others involved, members meandered over to the Printing Office. Guild members Dave Robison, Marjorie Wilser, Kim Hamilton, Steve Robison, and Dave Tribby were hosts to visitors. Dave demonstrated one of his Multigraph presses set up to print in Braille. You may know that the Multigraph uses short, stubby, grooved type which slides into horizontal rails in a cylinder on the press, and Dave has a font of Braille type. The impression cylinder is specially designed to receive the raised dots on the type as they press through the paper. The Braille type is "right reading," and a group of blind visitors had no problem reading the type right on the press. The result on the printed page is blind embossing (no pun intended :-), and the sheet is read from the back side.
The press being demonstrated by Marjorie Wilser was a Weiler Liberty press--with no throw-off lever: if you do not get the paper down on the platen before the press closes, you make an impression on the platen unless you can overpower the press's momentum and get it stopped first. Of course, Marjorie was generous enough to allow AAPA members who wished to do so to treadle off a few impressions to get the feel of the press. It is somewhat of a strange press in that the ink plate is clear to the back of the press, facing away from the operator.
A short drive brought the group to the residence of Dave and Liz Tribby. My oh my, what a print shop Dave has! With the addition of Charlie Hinde's Bean Creek Press, there is a great abundance of type, borders, dingbats, and all sorts of stuff that turned some of us green with envy! And the happy thing about it is that Dave puts it to good use! (Note the Handset Journals and Tribby Tribunes in the bundles, just for a couple of examples.) So surveying the shop and visiting over his treasure trove kept a lot of us happily occupied until the call came to help devour the pizza. Then the visiting was transferred to the patio behind the house. And after that was a tour of the Tribbys' lush and productive garden. It all makes me almost feel like moving to Sunnyvale!
This has been a fantastic convention! Highest commendations are due Dave Tribby and Steve Robison, their wives, and others in the San Jose Printers' Guild for all of the hard work and organizing that went into this convention. It is one that will live in the memory of the attenders for years to come!
