Hello MMD readers,  In this, our 21st year of the "Artcraft" label,
And with recent eBay purchases of our own rolls issued between 1982
And 1994 especially, I have decided to offer a _free_ replacement label
service for our player releases of the past.

After buying some of our own arrangements, it was easy to recycle
them with boxes, labels, spools, rubber stamps, tabs and other related
supplies, here in the Studio.  What held up our new releases -- already
on hand, in a 10 year stock -- was the fact that the four Gestetner
silk screen duplicators all broke down, and the supplies for them are
not available today.

(Ricoh of Japan bought the venerable English silk screen duplicator
company in 1995, and closed it down for those products.  Scanner
stylii, stencils, oil-based ink, and all the other items which went
into the printing of Artcraft labels, were now obsolete.)  Since then,
in case you wondered, I've been running on an inventory of old labels
printed, for existing releases, and in 2003, these are beginning to run
out.

Having started with a letterpress (Kelsey 6x10, in storage here) and
progressing on to an IBM Composer, and using the Gestetners for
decades, it seemed natural to investigate if an inkjet printer could
produce a "waterproof" label, with the same appearance of our older
rolls.  The Epson C82 with 'DuraBrite' ink was the solution, since our
four other inkjets produced texts which smeared, like fountain pen ink,
when exposed to moisture.

We are now producing labels on the same stock as before, having 36,000
of them, on buff paper, already printed by the Gestetners about six
years ago using brown Rex Rotary ink for the borders.

It occurred to us that many customers out there who play our rolls
frequently might like to improve the appearance of the boxes and leader
labels, with new replacement ones.  (Sometimes, I have to switch labels
on a few rolls taken to concert appearances, since some chafing can
occur in the archive boxes which transport libraries of them.)

Printing six labels to a sheet is faster and far easier, and with
better registration on our computer equipment, than it ever was on the
English machines.

Thus, if anybody has an Artcraft roll which they wish to 'improve' with
a new label, the service is free.  Just send us 1 label (from the box
or roll leader) in a self-addressed, stamped envelope (SASE) and we'll
mail back some replacements.  (Avery-Dennison 'Glue Stics' are the best
method for attaching these, since they allow for a bit of adjustment,
before the labels are fixed-in-place.)

This offer is for 1 title per SASE, with a sample label from the box
or roll, enclosed.  It covers all Artcraft titles from 1982 to the
present, but not our releases dating back to 1960, under other
trade names.  Collectors can order as many labels as they wish, with a
separate envelope for each selection.  A label cut for the Artcraft box
and another the roll leader will be sent back in return.  (Multiples
of the same title will require a separate envelope for each request.)

If this idea catches on I'll have some rubber stamps made for future
rolls which announce this label replacement offer.  These stamps will
be designed along the lines of those used for our Web site address,
which in turn replaced the "mailing list" request stamps, in 1996
approximately, the year we went on-line and discontinued printing
elaborate catalogues.

Now that computers are doing this printing work, we will be releasing
our new rolls, which have been waiting for box labels.

Regards from Maine,
Douglas Henderson - Artcraft Music Rolls
Wiscasset, Maine
http://www.wiscasset.net/artcraft/