TEACHING AN OLD DOG - Typesetting

From rubylith and railroad-track weights to laser prints and 12-second exposures, this “old dog” revisits typesetting—proving that while the tools changed, the patience and precision behind great screenprinting never did.
David C Rail Tees
I’ve often said there isn’t much difference in operations between my shop today and the shop I first started working in in 1986. It is mostly the same equipment, the same chemicals, the same processes, and the same results. The most obvious difference is the addition of the computer and the laser jet printer and how they are used in the creation of film positives. In days of old we used acetate, Indian ink, rubylith, and rub off lettering to create our film positives. It was a painstakingly slow and meticulous process. Designs of the day were no less intricate than they are today and creating a film positive required a high level of skill to ensure accuracy. Creating even just a simple 1-color design with an image and text could take hours of work. Creating a multi-color logo could take days. Of course, this was not my job at the time. I did not possess such artistry. The only time I was ever allowed to create a screen from scratch was when the design being printed was text only, without any logo or design. In those instances, I would lock myself away in the darkroom and lay out the premade letters on a light table (using a safe light, of course), carefully measuring and remeasuring and using premade arcs when necessary to get just the proper curve to the text. Think of an old school typesetter at old timey newspaper. Same concept. Laying out a single letter at a time.
hand drawing designs
At the time, we had about two dozen different fonts in sizes ranging from 1/2” tall to 3” tall. Each size in each font had its own individual box, roughly the size of 100 sheets of typing paper stacked together. All in all, there were about 150 boxes organized in neat rows and placed high on the shelves in the darkroom. The letters were individually cut, of course, with multiple copies of all the letters. Within the individual box, however, there was no way to keep the letters organized. Given that there would be 20-25 of each of the more common letters and even 5-10 of each of the lesser common letter, a single box might contain 500 or more individually cut letters. Each letter was no thicker than a piece of typing paper, so it’s not hard to imagine. The difficulty was then sifting through the massive pile trying to find just the exact letters you were looking for. A veritable needle in a haystack. Once all the letters had been properly laid out and the spelling checked, double checked, and triple checked, a fresh screen was gently laid over the letters, taking extra care not to disturb the precisely placed text. Then a screen-sized piece of leather was laid over the screen, a piece of plywood laid over that, an 8’ section of old railroad track set on top of that to keep the screen firmly pressed against the letters, and a timer set. At the time, we were using 4 24” long 25-watt fluorescent bulbs to expose these screens. It would take upwards of 15 minutes for proper exposure.
letters typography rub off letters letter typographies
Once the process was complete, I’d remove the railroad track, plywood, and leather, and carefully, so as to not disturb the layout of the lettering, remove the screen and take it into the washout room to be rinsed. You learn quickly not to disturb the layout when removing the screen because getting a decent rinse wasn’t always a given. It wasn’t unusual to have a screen where the emulsion might have been too thick and the screen underexposed, or the emulsion was too thin and the screen ended up overexposed. Other times, light might have leaked into the darkroom and exposed the screen before it was even used. In any of these cases, a new screen would need to be exposed. And, it only takes one or two times of having to reset all the letters because you were hasty in your screen removal, before you learn to be gentle in the process from beginning to end. From beginning to end, this process could take 60-90 minutes. Today, with Adobe Illustrator, a laser jet print, and an LED equipped exposure unit, the process of creating a text only screen might only take 15 minutes from beginning to end, with the actual “exposure” of the screen on the light table taking only 12 seconds. Of course, text only designs are a rarity, and creating a screen with a logo can still be rather time consuming, I think it’s a great example of how things in the screenprinting world are different today than they were 40 years ago.

Welcome to Rail Tees!

Located in Boise, Idaho, Rail Tees Custom Screenprinting & Embroidery is not your average print shop. Since 1986, Rail Tees owner & operator David “Rail” Colcord has been providing top notch screen printed & embroidered apparel to a wide range of clients, including businesses, non-profit organizations, churches, schools, bands, restaurants, and anyone else looking for exceptional branded products.
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letters typography rub off letters letter typographies

TEACHING AN OLD DOG – Typesetting

From rubylith and railroad-track weights to laser prints and 12-second exposures, this “old dog” revisits typesetting—proving that while the tools changed, the patience and precision behind great screenprinting never did.

Read More »
October 31, 2025