This week on The Press...

This week I received the rest of my letterpress supplies so I went as far as I could getting my press set up.

 Unpacking & repacking my stuff. My mother-in-law got this fabulous box for me for Christmas. It could be a jewelry box or you could store stationery in it (eeeeee!!!), but I thought "what a great way to store some of my furniture, etc for the press AND make it look nice." Like this...

Fits nicely on the hutch in my living room & when it's closed up, everything is protected, hidden but accessible. Yeah!!!

 The gauge pins Matt showed me...oh, btw, Matt is the lovely guy who sold me the press in Pittsburgh. He uses these a lot. I like the way they look. But! On the Boxcar Press videos I've been watching, they use a different kind, which I also happened to order. I like options, especially when trying to figure out what works...So...

Here they are! Gauge pins (the other ones) all set up! Except they weren't. I measured wrong (something that honestly never happens to me. Measure twice, cut once is my motto.) and so had to move the single size pin up. That led to much frustration & cutting of the tympan...that tan paper. That let me to do some more research on pins. Apparently there are these pins that are compressible, that do away with the worry that they will hit your $300 printing base & break it. I'll take those, please.

I figured it out though! Learning to letterpress on my machine is a process, not an event (that should be a poster...). Here is my machine all set up - polymer plate is on the base, gauge pins in, scrap paper out of the shot. Now all I need is ink...

I took this picture specifically so I would remember where to put the plate on the base next time. My mom didn't raise no dummy.

One thing I do not have yet - cleaner, which is why I am not showing you any actual prints. The opinions vary far & wide on what to use or what not to use. I'm printing at home, so I'm a little worried about fumes. Odorless Mineral Spirits comes highly recommended, but I'm reading that we'll still be breathing in the chemicals & it's still flammable. Someone on Briarpress.org has recommmended...wait for it...Crisco. Ya! What?

So, I think I'm going to start with Odorless Mineral Spirits & go from there. The research will continue, no matter what.

Welcome, Victor!

Big news today...I am off on a road trip to Pittsburgh.

Ok, that's not the big news. But the reason I'm going to Pittsburgh is. I have found a tabletop letterpress! Tabletop means that it sits on a cabinet or other surface, not on the floor which means it's apartment-sized. FINALLY!! I have been looking for this machine for YEARS. Seriously, years.

That's my precious in the picture above - a Cook's Victor 6 x 9.

You guys know my love for letterpress. I post about it frequently, especially in the Cards of the Week post that I used to be good about doing. Then there was the letterpress month I did a few summers ago. Anyone remember this Valentine's Day post...that went up in April? Am I on top of my blog calendar, or what?!

This road trip is a milestone in my love affair with letterpress. I'm a little nervous as I've been in pursuit of this form of printing & this type of press for so long, the saying "be careful what you wish for" seems to be ringing in my ears. But! That is just self doubt creeping in & if 2012 taught me anything it's that my gut kicks my self doubt's butt.

My gut says: I'm off to Pittsburgh...