ADVENTURES IN LETTERPRESS - part 2

I've only gone and bought another press! I'm still waiting for the first one to arrive but in the meantime I've been looking for some accessories to get me started. Ebay has been my new addiction for the past few days and also a wonderful site called www.caslon.co.uk that sell refurbished presses, parts and inks. They couldn't have been more helpful and I'll definitely be using them.

Last night though, I bid for a second press because it came with a whole host of parts such as a cabinet of various fonts and other equipment and managed to win it for much cheaper than buying things individually. My next problem is finding somewhere to set it all up as I'm outgrowing my normal studio space already. The garage is starting to look tempting!

ADVENTURES IN LETTERPRESS - Part 1

Yesterday I became the proud owner of a letterpress printing press! (well, it's been ordered - hopefully will arrive in a week or so.)

Now, I firstly need to admit that I know next to nothing about the process in practical terms but as a self confessed Stationery Geek I love the idea of at least giving it a go. So, I hope to share photos of my trials and tribulations with my new "toy" er, sorry, I mean "equipment" with you over the next few months.

As a bit of background . . . when I studied in the late 80s, our year's intake were among the first to use Apple Macs for graphics and typography for degree work so I was an "inbetweener" of two generations of design practitioners. Remember, this was just before the revolution in home computing so I hadn't grown up with one in the house or even really touched one even at school as computer studies back then consisted of drawing flow diagrams with "Goto" labels etc. But I also learnt old school type mark-up, manual artworking with a bromide and scalpel and preparing pristine mock ups for clients tracing from type sheets with a 0.25 Rotring pen. I believe all these disciplines have actually given me really sound handskills for the work I do now.

These days I need to be surgically removed from my laptop and suffer withdrawal symptoms when the internet connection occasionally goes down as it did earlier this weekend. Such is technological evolution! Which brings me back to Letterpress . . . 

So, after 20 years of working on Macs and PCs I've decided to explore the wonderfully archaic and tactile qualities of a little vintage printing press. It was a "bargain" but of course I'm now committed to buying all the stuff I need to get started. It may all end it tears but like every hopeful of X-Factor - I'm now on a journey.