Drawing

I've been having fun recently designing stationary cards for a friend. It's still up in the air if I'll be printing these at home or making a pilgrimage to the WBAC--but it is fun to be designing.

So I've started making little sketches, and then sticking them in Photoshop and tweaking them so that they are a little crisp-er. A lack of grey smudge where I stuck my finger in the ink, for example.

And thinking spring thoughts; I bought new "green" cleaner for the press, it's biodegradable and doesn't have any ozone harming chemicals in it.

Organization

Well. I bought string to tie up type with (I know, simple pleasures) and have started the process of reorganizing the cases. Right now, 17/18 of the cases are organized in this strange, alphabetical layout. 1/18, however, has been reorganized to be this layout, which is the proper layout for a California Job Case.

Maybe once the weather is nicer I'll start painting the cases too. I'm trying to figure out if they should be red, blue or green... not fire truck or christmas tree. Sensible shades.

Learning the Chase

Okay. So maybe a Vandercook gives you a little more wiggle room than a platen when you are setting type. I'm missing the days of sliding a nicely tied up block of type into the press bed, and then sliding it back off. This whole lifting business is a bit more challenging.

Also, when I picked up the most recent bunch of stuff, I grabbed some quoins and a key, thinking they would go together... not my luck. I have two quoins and a key, but they don't play well together. Rats.

However, I did get that wooden tray attached properly; it looks beautiful. And now I'm varnishing the second part of it--next on the list of things to bring in the house and work on are the type cases, I think. Lots of type to sort through. I'm trying to find someone who will buy the old type for melt value.

So... Soon. Soon I will be printing. Or at least learning to print on a platen.