The Custom Printing Co.REGIS Graden's career as a letterpress printer originated in a dingy dingy used as a description of fleece wool; the wool is lacking in brightness. alleyway he took as a short cut walking to school in Gary, Ind. One day, at the age of 12, he found a discarded rubber stamp and became fascinated with the reverse lettering and how he could transfer the correct image onto paper. Graden, now 66, received a table-top letterpress for Christmas and a lifelong passion blossomed into a full-time career. lie owns Nut Quad Press in San Fernando San Fernando, city, Argentina San Fernando (săn fərnăn`dō), city (1991 pop. 144,761), Buenos Aires prov., E Argentina. It is a district administrative center in the Greater Buenos Aires area. , devoted to letterpress printing letterpress printing or relief printing or typographic printing In commercial printing, process by which many copies are produced by repeated direct impression of an inked, raised surface against sheets or a continuous roll of paper. . "My dad was in politics and one of the first things First Things is a monthly ecumenical journal concerned with the creation of a "religiously informed public philosophy for the ordering of society" (First Things website). he encouraged me to print were these 4-by-5 inch cards that said, 'Keep it boomin' with Truman and don't let it go phooey phoo·ey interj. Used to express disgust, disbelief, or contempt. phooey interj Informal an exclamation of scorn or contempt [probably variant of phew] with Dewey.' I gave them to my dad and he passed them out around the neighborhood and gave a few to a local congressman who took them to the White House. (President Truman's) personal secretary sent me back a letter thanking me for my efforts for his campaign and reminding me that Benjamin Franklin began a very illustrious career as a printer. "I moved to California with my parents in 1953 and immediately went down to Long Beach to purchase a printing press which I kept in my garage. While working as a service station attendant I sold fliers and stationery and invoice forms to businesses, and business cards. When I joined the Navy in 1957, every day we had the plan of the day and I would print it to distribute it to the sailors on board. "I got out in 1959 and after a decade working for Richfield Oil Corp. in the marketing department. I started the Custom Printing Co. in Mission Hills. When you start a business, your earnings and income go down. I probably invested $30,000. My income the first year was $34,000. "I printed stationery, business forms, advertising materials, business cards, wedding invitations, anything they wanted. My gross sales Gross Sales A measure of overall sales that isn't adjusted for customer discounts or returns, calculated simply by adding all sales invoices, and not including operating expenses, cost of goods sold, payment of taxes, or any other charge. at peak during the 1990s were $100,000. I had one full-time and three part-time employees.. "I sold my commercial accounts in 1993 to another printer and started Nut Quad Press in the same building. Today, I use only letterpress printing the way Johannes Gutenberg did when he invented the casting of individual type in mold (and) the printing press in 1440. I do work for the Getty Museum, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art The Los Angeles County Museum of Art, also known as LACMA, is the official and world-renowned art museum of the County of Los Angeles, California, located on Wilshire Boulevard along Museum Row in the Miracle Mile vicinity of Los Angeles. and other prestigious accounts. I am one of the very few people who are using the letterpress printing as an art form." |
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