Tuesday, February 12, 2008

Letterpress success


About a year ago I acquired something that I've wanted for awhile—my very own letterpress. It's a C&P Pilot Press, which is a table top platen press originally manufactured for schools. As eager as I was to get the press, it has taken some time to get it up and running—between keeping up with my design projects and figuring out how to work it, its been slow going. A 50+ year old piece of equipment doesn't exactly come with a user's manual (although I have been discovering an impressive amount of information online). There are many diehard old timer pressmen out there, as well as a whole generation of enthusiastic newcomers. I originally planned to print mostly with polymer but now I want to experiment with some linoleum cuts. I have a few pieces of old wood type which give a lovely impression, hopefully I can add more to my collection. I just finished my very first project—my business cards. There was some trial and error of course, but as with most things it's a learning process. My letterpress mantra continues to be, "It's an art, not a science."

6 comments:

Stacy @ Sweet Sky said...

Hi Anne!
Thanks for sharing your blog. I read the whole thing and really enjoyed it, especially the logo makeover! (Who can resist a good makeover?)

Take care!
Stacy

Enyasi said...

WOW!!!! The press is operational... Your cards look great... Will you be doing greeting cards? It is so hard to fine cool letter press stuff that does not cost a small fortune.!

Laurie Cinotto said...

hooray ! can't wait to see what else you crank out!

Naomi Cox said...

Yea! You did it! Looks great.

/// said...

You have such a LOVELY blog!!! :)

Anonymous said...

Hey Anne! I didn't know you had a blog :) The cards look great -- looks like you've made lots of progress. Hope you're having fun...

Tara

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