Producing and selling wood type based on licensed type

Marko Drpić

I started wood type production a few moments ago (based on three years research - see my Atypi2020 presentation). First five typefaces - all by Slovene typographers - were donated, including the permission to sell wood type. The decision was mostly based on the knowledge of how much effort is put into the whole process. Now I would like to expand the set and include type of other typographers that I find would function fine as wood type. As this is quite an unusual way of using digital type the majority of licence agreements are not specific enough whether I can sell the type based on digital design or not. What are your thoughts on that? What would your expectations as an author be in this case?

George Thomas

A license would be required, and I would not be inclined to do that.

Craig Eliason

Many (smart) EULAs restrict the design from being used in "alphabet products" which this would fall into. If that's the case contact the foundry to see if they're interested in negotiating separate terms for your wood type. 

JoyceKetterer

ps - you mean type designers not typographers.  a typographer sets type a type designer designs type.  

Andreas Stötzner

Marko, I’m interested in this from the technical and aesthetical side. Could you post some views of your wooden letters or point to somewhere to go?

Marko Drpić

Andreas Stötzner said:

Marko, I’m interested in this from the technical and aesthetical side. Could you post some views of your wooden letters or point to somewhere to go?

Hi, Andreas!
Thank you for your interest. There are currently only two articles published in English describing part of my effort.
- "Research on wooden letters for letterpress printing in the USA" and
- "Workshop preparation for the production of wood type for printing"

The best way to see how the project unfolds is to follow it on Instagram @tiporenesansa.

Have you done some experiments in this way?

Andreas Stötzner

Thanks for the pointers, Marko. Very interesting. Are you planning to produce entire lettercase sets and sell them to print shops? Or pursue another purpose?

I did none of the kind so far, not with wood. But, in a similar sense, I once created a font digitally which then was used for hand-cutting the mould for the cast of a bronze plate.

Marko Drpić

Andreas Stötzner said:

Thanks for the pointers, Marko. Very interesting. Are you planning to produce entire lettercase sets and sell them to print shops? Or pursue another purpose?

I did none of the kind so far, not with wood. But, in a similar sense, I once created a font digitally which then was used for hand-cutting the mould for the cast of a bronze plate.

One third of my time goes to educating and we have already done some really nice projects with visual communication students: creating missing glyphs to fill the gaps in our wood type fund, digitally create modular ornaments and make these in wood).

The 5 full alphabet sets that are nearly finished will also serve as didactical aid.
On the way it turned out the quality of wood type is surprisingly high (I use Deckel pantograph not a CNC) that I'm definitively putting it on the market. So far I got a very good feedback from type designers and am looking forward to future projects.

Marko Drpić

Craig Eliason said:

Many (smart) EULAs restrict the design from being used in "alphabet products" which this would fall into. If that's the case contact the foundry to see if they're interested in negotiating separate terms for your wood type. 

My instinct tells me in the end it will all come to 1 to 1 negotiations with type designers that see some personal satisfaction in the project.

Marko Drpić

George Thomas said:

A license would be required, and I would not be inclined to do that.

Could you, please, elaborate that?

Grzegorz Luk (gluk)

Hi Marko,

exciting project (but most probably very niche...)

Marko Drpić said:

My instinct tells me in the end it will all come to 1 to 1 negotiations with type designers that see some personal satisfaction in the project.

to avoid it You can at start look at OpenFontLicense fonts.

Marko Drpić said:

Have you done some experiments in this way?

I made some primitive experiments (but with CNC mill ) In lack of pear I started with plum tree branches.

The biggest problem for me is the exact height of the block 23.56mm. I made it with CNC planning, but it is time-consuming... With interest I saw in linked article your wooden plate leveling FAG machine - true gem

Marko Drpić

Grzegorz Luk (gluk) said:

Hi Marko,

exciting project (but most probably very niche...)

Marko Drpić said:

My instinct tells me in the end it will all come to 1 to 1 negotiations with type designers that see some personal satisfaction in the project.

to avoid it You can at start look at OpenFontLicense fonts.

Marko Drpić said:

Have you done some experiments in this way?

I made some primitive experiments (but with CNC mill ) In lack of pear I started with plum tree branches.

The biggest problem for me is the exact height of the block 23.56mm. I made it with CNC planning, but it is time-consuming... With interest I saw in linked article your wooden plate leveling FAG machine - true gem

Thank you for you suggestion. Also, your test looks very good. Any fruit tree wood is good as long as it is properly dried (down to 7% moisture). And, as you've put it, preparing the blocks is by far most difficult part. I will be putting some blank blocks on my soon-to-be web page which could maybe be a good start for you.

Grzegorz Luk (gluk)

Marko Drpić said:

...  Any fruit tree wood is good as long as it is properly dried (down to 7% moisture) ...

the whole truth ..

Marko Drpić

Grzegorz Luk (gluk) said:

Marko Drpić said:

...  Any fruit tree wood is good as long as it is properly dried (down to 7% moisture) ...

the whole truth ..

Simply avoid using the whole slab. Find bigger branch and use only half round. This way you will avoid cracking.