Postcard Printing: Jigs, Easels, or other suggestions for silver gelatin postcards

[MMELVIS]

An AIREQUIPT JUNIOR contact printer would work. I have used one to make several copies of a negative with text. You can layout the negative and the transparency with text then it is just a matter of putting on the photo paper, closing the lid, open the lid, repeat.

[koraks]

I think I'd just set up an enlarger with the film and the text template sandwiched in the film holder; make sure the template transparency covers the entire film so you get no density differences between a covered and a non-covered part of the negative. Put a piece of white paper on the baseboard and mark the size of the postcard/paper, then align, focus etc. the enlarger. Since you'll be using the Ilford postcard paper, which is an RC paper, it's bound to lay flat anyway.

If the paper doesn't lie flat, tape a piece of glass along one side to the baseboard so it acts as a lid and you can lower it onto the paper in order to press it flat against the baseboard. If you use a glass pressure plate, you can even tape the text template to the glass so it gets contact printed while the negative is printed through the enlarger. Heck, if you want to go an all-contact print, the same method could be used with the template and the negative sandwiched on the glass plate, but I wouldn't opt for this, as the thickness of the template/negative sandwich will degrade sharpness (it helps if you use collimated light, i.e. print under an enlarger with the lens stopped down as far as practical).

If the text is going to be black instead of white, you can do a multiple exposure approach by exposing the text template/mask and then the image exposure (or the other way around; doesn't matter).

Maybe I'm missing something, but this doesn't sound all that complicated to me to be honest and there are several ways you can pull this off without resorting to fancy contact printers or other stuff. Just an enlarger and a piece of plate glass (well-cleaned) will do just fine.

[Gary Beasley]

If you were using a transparent film overlay for the text a vacuum easel with paper stops for the print paper and the overlay with a tape hinge in the right position will be a fairly easy and fast working setup. The only caveat is keep the overlay clean and scratch free. The overlay should be bigger than the paper by a few inches to allow the vacuum to hold it down, the unused area of the easel masked to keep the vacuum in.

[Corran]

koraks, you might be right, but while it might not be terribly complicated if making a couple, I am thinking ahead to the idea of making, say, 50-100 without driving myself crazy trying to line things up right.

I'll have to give a try to just taping some plate glass on the baseboard.

I definitely don't have a vacuum easel.

[koraks]

I think the major hassle is in developing dozens of cards. Do you use a processor for this?
Aligning each card under the enlarger doesn't have to be much of a hassle. Just tape/glue a guide cut from material the same thickness of the cards (or a little thinner) in the right spot so that you just have to slide the postcard against the guide. I usually use two strips of masking tape pasted at a right angle for this purpose.

[Corran]

Nope, just big 20 x 24 trays that I can soup a lot of them in at once .

[koraks]

Man, I wouldn't want to trade places with you Well, at least it's a simple develop-to-completion thing, so you'll probably get away with a little inaccuracy in the processing here and there. It's the one thing that bores me the first when printing (small) editions: processing. Particularly toning can be a chore.

[Corran]

I agree. Yes I figured developing to completion would help alleviate processing issues with sloshing around 10-20 at a time say.

Anyway, I'm just prepping now, still have to make stencils and such, and want to get some opinions and thoughts from my local contacts about selling them (interest, venues, pricing, etc.).

[Gary Beasley]

A vacuum easel, especially a small one, is not that big a challenge to build. You would just need to find a small vacuum cleaner to move the air.

[ic-racer]

Whenever I think of photographic Post Card I think of Bill Dane. In your case I'd line it up in an enlarger and use a speed-easel and accept the white border as part of the process.
Worked for Bill...