Printing with the Lion Menucator - Mimeograph
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- čas přidán 28. 07. 2020
- After seeing this online on Ebay I fell in love with the process.
This is the Lion Menucator, a device used about a hundred years ago to print menus for restaurants easily and cheaply. It is a portable mimeograph device which uses paper stencils to print whatever is necessary.
Here I use the risograph paper with the fax machine to make the stencil but traditionally a typewriter would be used to remove wax from the surface of similar paper.
I learned a bunch from the book "The Origin of Stencil Duplicating" by W.B. Proudfoot and also a lot from the youtuber 10-48 - / @1048net
If you have any questions I'm happy to answer whatever I can!
Music: grandfunkdynasty.com/ - Jak na to + styl
Hi Trent, such an inspiring video after having just bought my own menucator which I really wanna use for printing out stylised songsheets from the computer in the style you have done as I wanna give my people that handmade touch....and I'm so sorry to be the zillionth person to put it to you , but I'm having trouble making any sense of what riso paper you used (or that I can use), through what fax machine (since everything telling me riso paper through thermal machines will cause damage)....I feel I am so close to Beautiful process but currently brain hurting....so could you please laymanTerm it once again for this fella....?
Again, great video and I've subscribed of course! THANK YOU
Que interessante aparelho, uma abraço do Brasil
Another question I have is, could you please give a brief description on how and what you use to clean the roller and the screen.
I can't quite remember as this qas quite a while ago with original inks but probably white spirit or hand sanitizer as it was in lockdown. These days I use water as I use water soluable inks. Check out the other videos and you can see how to make nori ink
Hi I just got one of theses can you recommend how best to replace the screen.
Love the experiment, I just started investigating mimeographs and would love some advice :)
Could you explain the process of making a stencil? It looks like you are using riso paper and a fax machine. Would love to have a quick writeup on replicating this process.
Also, did you have any luck with making mimeo stencils by hand with anything that you can buy nowadays? Trying to find the old style mimeo stencils that you can use with a typewriter or styluses seems to be close to impossible.
Hey, I have been meaning to do a video but I have just moved house. It is on the list though to explain the fax machine. It took a bunch of trial and error and I had to take apart 5 different faxes and read 3 manuals before I got anywhere close to understanding. I still don't haha but luckily one of them worked.
Yes it is riso paper!
@@stampalofi8103 No rush :) Just excited to see others working with mimeographs that I can learn from. I am just getting into mimeo and knowledge is few and far between.
I am currently looking into making stencils by hand in a similar way to Japanese toshaban/gariban printing, but also interested in making thermals stencils :)
Looking forward to your other stuff. I've seen on instagram you're working on a stamp type of thing - that's awesome!
Can you show us what you use to clean it? I just found one in my parents basement and want to know how to use it
Heya, so I just scrubbed it will some general degreaser. The ink that was used for it originally, which I assume is still all over it, was oil based so a degreaser of some sort should work and then just washing up liquid. Be a little careful with scrubbing the ink plate as you might score into it but I'm sure you'll manage fine!
As for the ink I used in this video it was not dried on but fresh so I just used some cooking oil to dilute it and then washing up liquid to remove it.
I hope that helps and please do let me know how you get on! If you are ever in Edinburgh I teach workshops at the weekend how to use it!
I've just picked 2 of these up at auction, as my wife is an antiques dealer. Now I'm I'm chump who likes to keep stuff like this and actually use it. One question the risogrpah paper. How does that work? Can I directly create a stencil on it, or would I have to use a fax machine or some sort of printer to get what I need.?
Heya, these are really wonderful objects! And if you ever wish to donate them to a good cause please get in touch!
As for making a stencil please check out my other videos. In them I use a fax machine to burn away the thin layer of plastic film making the paper impermeable. Where the film has been burned away the ink can then pass through. I now use a sort of tattoo thermal copier but it works just the same as the fax machine. I suppose it would also be possible to use a laser cutter but definitely too much hassle! Please share with me what you get up to! Good luck and feel free to get in touch again :)
Very cool! Would love more info about the risograph paper you used, thanks :)
Hey Trent. It is just normal risograph paper. You can find it on ebay. There are many different types but it all works on the same principle I believe.
@@stampalofi8103 Cheers for replying. Would still be grateful for more info. Do you get those expensive rolls and cut them up? It almost looked like you used tattoo stencil paper, but that wouldn't work.
I bought two rolls for 40 euros on ebay and each one has hundreds and hundreds of possible stencils worth in them. Try to find them for a reasonable price as they are for sure less than a penny a stencil :)
Hi @@stampalofi8103 could you please give me the full name of the risograph paper, do you use an old fax machine, and is a Tattoo Transfer Stencil Machine Copier Printer the same thing?
@Alex Hamilton oh hey! I just answered another comment of yours. I use the fax machine for my workshops as it is a fun gimmick to teach people with but my own work I often use a thermal copier (tattoo doodad) as I can just have the risograph paper feeding into it straight off the roll. So for the type of risograph paper I am pretty sure any will work but I used the CR S-2500. I had to cut a section off the end to make it the right size.
No veo que fije el papel encerado a la malla minuto 3:14. Son líneas muy finas para una malla de serigrafía. Parece que el video tiene truco.
Im exploring ways to press ink through a stencil like a silk screen, to get both the size of font (arranged photoshop as an A4 inkjet printout) mixed in with images. i guess you use using KELSOM THERMAL STENCILs with a Tattoo Transfer Stencil Machine Copier Printer? Rather than a fax machine? I guess your ink is oil based. Do you use zinc powder to make the ink stiffer with a sharper image transfer and burnt linseed oil to get more ink through the stencil? Or is your ink water soluble? What your doing looks good.
Heya, I'm almost 100% certain that the "kelsom thermal stemcils" are just risograph paper. Check out my other videos for more info. I go into more details about the ink and the stencil paper. I teach this kind of flat bed mimeography in Edinburgh. If you want to follow what goes on search stampalofi on instagram/Google. It is such a fun way to print! If you have any other questions feel free to ask!
@@stampalofi8103 Thanks will check out you on instagram
Amazing video. I am studying mimeographs . Thanks. Excuse me, could I use a "thermal laminating" machine and a double paper ( risograph paper and drawing inside in another paper) ?
Heya, so the laminator will just turn on and melt everything that goes through. The thermal fax machine or copier can basically print an image but with heat. The heat (in place of ink) then evaporates the risograph paper where it understands the image to be. Short answer is no it wouldn't work with a laminator. Try a fax machine :)
@@stampalofi8103 thanks very kind.
@@stampalofi8103 Unfortunately I tried athermal fax but they are rare in Italy, could be good a thermo-inkjet-based copier? ( II think it is different than tatoo thermal) Thanks again.
@OI M Heya, no, just a thermal copier will work. I actually developed this process when I was living in Milan, so it is definitely possible to find thermal faxes in Italy, so keep looking :) I'm sure you will find one :)
@@stampalofi8103 yes, "new" thermal fax is expensive than my old Mimeograph. I bought a great Mimeo (1888) and now thanks to you, I would like to do this process. And I do not use fax, then I will buy a new thermal copier. Only my doubt was thermal "inkjet" different than thermal tatoo. Thanks a lot for your patience
My mom had one when I was little and she used it very often. Unfortunately, we don’t have it anymore 😔
They are wonderful historical printing objects. I loved mine to pieces but unfortunately it was lost in the mail from Italy to the UK.
Which paper do you use for it ? And what do you do with this laser printer in this process ?
Hey max. I do often use a laser printer but that us purely to make separations for the thermal copier. The thermal copier (here a fax machine) scans the print or drawing and translates black into dots of heat. Where the heat touches the risograph paper it evaporates the plastic on its surface. This then creates the stencil matrix used to print with.
@@stampalofi8103 wow nice, thank you for your answer, can you reccomend a risograph paper? Or does a normal transferpaper also work?
@@ripper22l sorry, I'm not sure what you mean by normal transfer paper. If you search "risograph master" in ebay you should find something that works!
I still do not understand how you make the stencil? What risograph paper allows that to happen. Can I draw on duplicating paper and use that as a stencil through which to print through. This probably all sounds dumb, but I would appreciate some guidance Thank you
So be careful you aren't confusing risograph paper for rice paper. Risograph paper is a special thin paper with a plastic surface used in the risograph process. The fax machine has a thermal print head inside that understands black when it reads it through the scanner part as positive and white as negative and burns the drawing into the plastic which then evaporates leaving the paper permeable to ink. It is really cool!
@@stampalofi8103 Thank you, it was what the Xerox was actually doing to the risograph paper that had me fooled.
I think I understand now, so shall experiment.
@@exitstencilpress116 please do share your experiments! If you are ever in Edinburgh I teach workshops on Saturdays! Have fun!
What are these worth??
Um, well I think I bought mine for about 40 euros but some people are asking over 100 for one in good condition. There are quite a few brands made across the world. The original roller was made from pure rubber I believe so there aren't many around with that as they have degraded over time and they are usually covered in black ink. I personally think they are wonderful but not crazy expensive as antiques go.
I have the rest of the Proudfood book, manuscript of Part II.......
wow cool! I learned a bunch from the one I have and also from facebook.com/groups/825366750922687 (mimeomania facebook group) that I know you post on a lot!
Always interested in new info and I would love to visit your collection!
I don’t get the part with the stencil.
You ran your menu thru a scanner and it somehow printed out the stencil…
But how does the traveling salesman get a stencil of every restaurant menu?
(And why would traveling salesmen need copies of restaurant menus in the first place? You just said that as though it was the most obvious thing, lol)
Ah you are right! I meant travelling printmakers! They would print the menus for the restaurants
Could you please advise on what the traveling print makes would use prior to fax machines to make a stencil?
@@sharhas4181I'm guessing they would work with metal typefaces and wax sheets.
Probably set the type up in some sort of frame, heat the lines of type over a flame, press onto the wax sheet.
Lettering would melt away, leaving a piece of exposed screen.
The unmelted wax would not let ink pass. The melted bits would allow ink to pass in the form of lettering.
I have no idea if that's how it worked, but that's probably how I would attempt to reverse-engineer it.