The March meeting discussion and demonstration was on the use of gold blocking machines to provide the finishing touches to a book. Adding titles and author information is the part that often determines whether or not the book looks professionally finished or not.

The use of a gold blocking press adds that touch of professionalism that makes a book look great. Two presses were demonstrated, one a small Kingsley, and the other a slightly larger machine. The Kingsley is good for small jobs, or single lines of type up to about 36pt font, although within that range it is quite flexible and easy to set up.

The large machine takes a chase of about 100mm x 75mm, which is excellent for doing the entire title at the same time. The downside is that the lettering takes significantly longer to heat up, and it is harder to get the desired result. With multiple rows of type, it is easy to have one that is slightly lower or higher than the remainders. This means that when pressed onto the book, one row of text might not appear at all, or be only partly imprinted. This is particularly prevalent when using second hand type, where some may be worn down more than others. This can be overcome by doing test presses, and packing up the lower letters with small pieces of paper or similar. However, this can take time to set up.

When planning on using these presses, it is useful to think about what you are going to do prior to making up the book. Most of these presses will not allow you to do the spine once the book block is glued in. That is because they work area is usually only 30mm to 100mm deep, and hence there is no way a book can be placed in the press with its spine facing upwards. Once made up, only the front and back covers can be finished.

Doing the spine, therefore, needs to be addressed prior to the book block going in. The case can be folded flat and pressed easily at this point, although care must be taken to ensure that the spine of a thin book lines up under the press properly. It is very easy at this point to have the spine lettering go on to the book crooked. This is very noticeable.

However, if the right care is taken, and the time spent to get it right, gold blocking adds significantly to the final finished look.