Octavian

I've officially tucked Bertha in for the winter; oiled everything, gave everything a good cleaning, (well, good enough for the moment) and put a big old sheet over the press to keep dust and grit off while I clean the rest of the studio.

I also brought all the stuff into the heated area that needs to not freeze, like ink and PVA glue.

And a surprise! Octavian in metal 14 pt! (Which, incidentally, is the only size available in metal.)

Holidays

Oh! I got overwhelmed with school stuff, and didn't get half as much holiday stuff done as I wanted to. I barely got my own cards printed. Yuck! The pine bough is actually part of the card set that I was able to print. Now I see why companies print holiday material in July/August; that's going to be the plan for next year!

A lot of the press work now is getting things tidied up for the end of the year, and also prepping for next year. Starting to think of new projects all ready! But as school calms down, I have more time to think about printing/designing/etc.

Happy Holidays to All!

(I can all ready tell you that my new year's resolution for BCP is going to be updating this WEEKLY. So I might as well start now!)

WBAC Holiday Sale

Things have been pretty busy at Bedford Creek, and as a result, many things are going in the mail on Monday!

The Wells College Book Arts Center has a holiday sale at the end of the week, and so I'm sending some postcards and holiday cards there. The "Get Even" postcard is an example. (There's an Oddline one too, no worries.)

The Save-the-Date cards I've been working on are finished, and just waiting for Monday morning to be shipped off; unexpectedly, the ink didn't dry as quickly as normal, so I had to wait before I sent them.

Holiday cards are almost done; one more run with red tomorrow morning, and they'll be ready to go too!

Press Shop

I have a camera! Which means you finally get to see what the press shop looks like. Hooray!

The first is at the door, looking in. The second is at the big type case, looking back toward the door.

Bertha (which you really can't see in these) is all inked up for the current print job, printing a new wedding line. It's exciting to be able to share these photos. Again, hooray!

Hallowe'en

Not, as a rule, my favorite holiday, but I did think something seasonal was appropriate.

Been printing this weekend, finally have time to print! So I'm finishing up Wedding Programs that I've been working on, and designing some Save-the-Dates for a wedding next year. All very exciting.

Printing Christmas and Holiday cards soon, I'll be selling some of them, just haven't figured out how/where yet. Maybe Etsy?

October

A long overdue post.

My camera worked for about .05 seconds, and then decided that it does not want to work again, so instead I've found an exciting image to share from the archives. It's one that I took back in September when I was visiting Singletree Press down in Rochester. The Book Arts Center there had just received a lot of wooden type in a few different languages, as I remember. So that's kind of fun.

The press studio is coming along every day! I'm happy to announce that the two wooden Hamilton Type Cases have moved in; though the marble top that belongs to one of them has to wait until there are several strong men to heft it. And I printed new business cards today; just happy to be back in the printing business. (AKA remembering how to line everything up properly, since if you neglect these things, you tend to forget until you've done it again.)

Over the next few weeks, menus, programs, and save-the-dates will come to life.

Busy in the print shop, once again!

Paint!

Ta Da! It actually turned out much more yellow than I thought it was going to. But it's beautiful! Second coat will probably go up later this week.

Haven't been printing, but have been designing like crazy. Lots of stuff to do!

Ghostly, III

I like this photo, not because it's an amazing photo, but because it shows how much of a difference filling in all of the holes makes.

Ghostly, II

The work so far; the seams all have their first layer.

Ghostly

The press is all wrapped up, because over the next few weeks, the walls will be gooped,* sanded, gooped again, and then painted! This does mean that printing is on temporary break, but after this, it will be so nice in the print studio!

*(I'm told the real word is "mudding," but "goop" is so appropriate.)

Playing with Vandercooks

So over the past weekend, I went to visit Singletree Press, and the book arts center in Rochester.

We had fun using lots of different cuts to make cards!

(.918, for you non-type-geek sorts, is type high--the height your type must be to print from it.)

Map-Fold Wedding Invitations

107 map-folds, 250 pages, and 5 press runs later...

...they're done! The invitations have been delivered!

I'm really happy with how they turned out.

Postcard Exchange

So if you follow BCP on facebook, you'll know that I've been working on that page, trying to figure out what the BCP "look" is. (To date, I still haven't come up with the "look," but it's getting there.)

In Ladies of Letterpress news, I've finished my postcards for the swap, and will be mailing those out soon. I'm excited to see what I get back!

And in Wedding Invitation news, I've completed two press runs, and all the maps are folded into their envelope form. The maps are now resting under weight, so that the folds are nice and crisp (but not too) and the invitations are nearing completion. Very exciting!

New Business Cards

Working on new business cards; hopefully will have some (digitally) printed by tomorrow. Maybe?

100th Post!

A Centennial, of a sort.

First color run is complete! And here is one all tucked in with a map. Very exciting!

Next up: RSVP cards, LoL Postcards, and some business cards. Print much?

Proofs Pulled

Hooray! The first proof has been pulled, and it looks swell. I'm quite excited.

Wish List

Should anyone care to buy me this darling little press, you may feel free.

Right after you hit the lottery, that is, since this particular press is going for more than what I got my press for. (Paint it, and apparently it's worth a lot more.)

But it is cute, and someday I want one similar. Add that to the list of type faces I want, the board shear, the vandercook, and the other ink colors.

Wish lists are so much fun!

In other news, I've been folding, pulling proofs, and printing up new business cards, (for myself) so it's been a pretty productive time in the print shop.

Envelopes

Folding, folding, folding. But now past the half-way mark; 62 done! And a map of one of the Hawaiian Islands, which was kind of exciting.

And, for the record, the stack in this photo is about 7 or 8 inches tall. They're loosely being pressed until the others are done and they get more seriously pressed to make sure all the edges stay nice.

Postcards!

It's wonderful to be printing again. This is the first press run for the Ladies of Letterpress postcard swap; I still have to do the back to make it an official postcard. Yay!

Fold, Fold, Fold

I've been folding five of these envelopes a day for the past four days... so now I'm up to 20. Only 80 or so more to go!

Endless Project, II

I'm beginning to wonder why I ever signed on for this project. Regardless, I'm slowly coming up with my idea. Only now it's morphed again, I'm trying to use linoleum rather than the Boxcar plate. I'm still not totally happy with it. Eventually, I'll come up with the right idea?

Maps

For the wedding invitations that I'm doing, I'm using a map for the outer envelope. So I've been spending a lot of time figuring out how big the maps need to be cut, and figuring out a way to flatten them so the creases will be new. I was thinking of dampening them and then letting the papers dry with blotter paper, but it's so humid here that I'm afraid they would take too long to dry, or get moldy, or some unfortunate thing like that.

The flowers are just pretty.

Food for Thought

I haven't done anything printerly recently, but these photos are too wonderful not to share.

Mt. Rainier, July 2010

The Never Ending Project

So early this year, I decided to join in on a postcard swap. The basic idea is that you do a "Hello From..." and then print something that is related to the location you live or work at. The image above is a part of the idea that I've come up with. But I didn't realize how long it would take me to craft this postcard. I have the paper for it, that was exciting. And now the stuff to send to Boxcar to have it made into a plate is almost (but not quite) ready. I think it will be ready sometime in the next week. I've been working on it since April. Like I said, the never ending project. But I'm really really excited to see how it will all turn out.

Hummingbird Proof

Hummingbird proof! I actually was pretty lazy and just inked it up like a stamp and then printed it that way, but it is a proof. I can see the spots I'll need to work on a little more. Overall though, I'm quite pleased with the way it turned out.

Linoleum Carving

I decided to try my hand at carving linoleum with wood carving tools. (Since that's all I have around the house.) Verdict is; the wood carving tools are sharper than my lino tools ever were, so it worked out quite well.

I carved a hummingbird yesterday, though I still have to ink the press up and pull a proof of it.

Etsy!

I listed my first things on Etsy ever. Big step!

http://www.etsy.com/shop/bedfordcreekpress

New Stationary Cards

Since these are now safely in the hands of their new owner, I can show these now too.

It's a rainy day here, I'm putting off going out to the print shop. Maybe I'll paint the inside of the window? Don't know yet.

Cuts

Today, I went and picked up two metal cuts from the Porch + Paddle; I'm going to try printing them, and see what they look like.

I also sold some cards! So now you can buy BCP cards in Clayton!

New Cards!

Boxcar Plates came today, which means that I've been printing for quite some time non-stop. Wonderful! Here's a sample of what I've done today. Enjoy.

Mapbooks

Every once in a while, I have a fit of binding and book making that I have to go through. Today was one of those days, and today I made a Mapbook! My linoleum came in today, and hopefully tomorrow will bring Boxcar plates. So excited for all the printing to take place!

Oh, and Ladies of Letterpress are holding a postcard swap, I just got the details on that, so I'll be printing those soon too!

Photoshop

Boxcar Prep, take 1.

I.

hate.

photoshop.

At the moment, anyway. I went to save, and the program quit... which means that all of the boxcar prep that I did this morning no longer exists. Well. Not all, because I saved about half-way, but most.

Boxcar Prep, take 2.

Maybe I don't hate photoshop. I'm just frustrated with it for suddenly quitting.

But. The file is now loading on Boxcar's website, so it will be coming to me in printable form soon! Estimated date of delivery is the 8th. And then, watch out!

Clayton

BCP cards will soon be available in Clayton! Yay!

I'm excited, I've been dreaming up things to print. Have a Boxcar order going in soon. Very Very exciting.

Linoleum

Yesterday was the first installment of things I printed on a Vandercook. Today is part two; a different technique than rainbow rolls, but still just as exciting.

Linoleum cuts! This one is formally called a "Reduction Cut," because by the time you finish printing, you have nothing left of the block you started out with. The image was inspired by the family of foxes that I have living across the road from me. Adorable!

Four color run; there's a white background that didn't show up so well on the white paper, but turned out nicely on the brown paper.

Rainbow Rolls

Rainbow rolls are so much fun to do! I haven't yet figured out how to do them on a platen rather than a cylinder press, but playing with the vandercook presses proved to be a lot of fun, as was digging through the WBAC metal image collections.

The basic idea is that you load each end of the cylinder with a different color, and then you let them distribute together. It makes a new color in the middle, so ideally you don't pick colors that make mud. And you can either print your image with it (which I did not do) or print a background with it.

Type Case--Done!

Today's mission is officially complete, though not yet 100% dry. I finished painting the typecase! Admittedly, my large surface spray-painting technique can still improve, but I'm quite pleased. Now, to just sort the type in those drawers.

Ready to Go!

I'm taking these to The Cheese Store today!

Where, hopefully, they will sell quickly, so I'll be able to take more in. They are the test run, sort of. And then I'm heading to Michaels to see what paper goods they have. Instant gratification, I don't want to wait for the paper to ship from French Paper Co., even though I love the paper!

Almost Ready!

All the cards are in little baggies, and are almost ready to go! I just have to figure out a way to put "Bedford Creek Press" on it. Labels are tricky little things.

Stationary Cards

Since these cards have now reached their owner, I can show these without spoiling the surprise!

These were printed with polymer plates, printed in two colors, on ivory paper; the envelopes were a mix of matching tones.

Got the cellophane baggies today; I've been wrapping things since then. And I was out in the shop printing my own silly cards, so that I have things to send people too!

Procrastination

This morning, I had such good intentions of getting out to the press shop and printing.

And then everything else happened. Errands took the day away! I did find a new cut to print (part of the errands involved rummaging through a collection of wood cuts) so that will probably happen soon.

B is for Bear

I'm trying to do one of these every couple of days, we'll see how long it holds up. And I'm not sure if I want to go with the very flat portrayal of the Aardvark, or add in a little scenery like the Bear.

I did, however, purchase the cellophane baggies that self-seal, so I'll be able to sell cards soon!

A is for Aardvark

If you've been following the Facebook page, you know that there has been a hotly contested poll going on for the the letter "A." Well. Results are in, and A is for...

Aardvark!

So I drew the aardvark (a funny looking creature) and was strongly reminded of the R.O.U.S.

But much nicer, and without dangerous teeth.

Book Idea!

I've come up with a new book idea; so hopefully I'll be able to be plugging away on that soon. Hmmmm... so excited to start that, not so excited for the exams coming my way.

Gold

“Faces of type are like men’s faces. They have their own expression; their complexion and peculiar twists and turns of line identify them immediately to friends, to whom each is full of identity.”
— J.L. Frazier

I painted some of the gold detailing on last night; I've been working on it and kept promising a photo, so here it is!