New Tiny Press

I purchased this mini printing press, a Baltimore 11, on Ebay back in 2014 for a song (not really a song since I can't carry a tune, but a very good price). It was affordable because it was missing an ink plate and rollers. It took me 2 years to find the parts.

First, rollers were purchased at the LA printer's fair from Ramco Roller. The owner, Adrian Ramos, kindly took a set off one of his presses because it was a perfect match. The ink disc was a harder fix because it had to be made from scratch and I had nothing to go by but the model number. Everyone at the Printer's Fair said "talk to Dave" meaning the wonderful Dave Churchman. I contacted Dave in Indiana and even though he had just gotten out of the hospital, he jumped on my project. He had an Amish machinist make me a disc and after a few stem adjustments (FYI, a Baltimore 11 does not use the same ink disc as a Sigwalt 11!), a perfect fit. My little press is all set and ready to go.

My regular press is a Kelsey tabletop and this one as about 1/3 the size. So cute!

The Baltimore 11 press was made from the late 1800's to the early 1900's. Mine has it's original black and gold paint. You can read a little history at briarpress.org here.