Typo Script is cast just like this. The first time I used it I broke an uppercase L, and I was using just a hair over a kiss impression. I was heartbroken! In a panic, I developed a method for supporting the kerns: http://www.flickr.com/photos/7929005@N07/sets/72157622461135128/, which I posted to Letpress for comments. You can search the archives for “protecting kerns.”

Soon afterwards, I received a private email from someone with the highest credentials in typecasting. He said:

“Do NOT try to support the kerns of foundry types. This is the surest way to break them. No, you will not break them off unless you try to emboss into binder’s board. You can even hot-stamp and not break them. All foundry kerns are trimmed under the overhang so it does not touch the shoulder of the type following. They are much stronger than you think…The Typo Script kerns will not break in normal use, even if you impress them into a soft mold-made paper like Rives.”

So apparently that trim under the overhang has nothing to do with supporting the kern. The trimming was done to provide maximum strength to each particular kern. That’s why there’s no consistency in the angles.

Looking back, I’m thinking that maybe the L that broke was weak to begin with. Also, there’s the possibility that over time typemetal could become more brittle. I think this is the case at least with the antimony, I’m not sure.

Subsequent to my first experience with the Typo Script, I used it for two 50-print jobs, both with a hair over kiss impression on Crane’s Palette cover, one with some clay supports and one without. Both jobs were completed without incident (whew!). Maybe I was lucky, though, so in the future I’ll heed my advisor’s wisdom and use the Typo Script, unsupported, for kiss-impression work on soft, preferably dampened moldmade paper.

Thanks so much for drawing attention to this issue!

Barbara Hauser