We've moved!

Bedford Creek Press now has a website! 

Come check it out at bedfordcreekpress.com

And if you're on Facebook, you can find us there, too!

Postcards

Postcards for a change of address, delivered!

End of May

(Mostly) set up in the chase

It's been a busy week at the press. Invitations for a dinner celebrating the 1812 bicentennial in Sackets Harbor and new address postcards. The invitations had seven press runs, the postcards two. Oh! And those digitally designed cards are done now too!

Type

We're currently working on a digital project here at BCP, and that doesn't make for very photogenic images, so here are some to show type from start to finish!

bars of type metal (pre-melt)

The very abbreviated version:
There are a variety of machines that can melt down the metal and make it into type, but the one that we've seen and used is called a Monotype Super-Caster. This uses a matrix to make individual pieces of type. These individual pieces are then sorted into a California Job Case, from which the printer sets type. Then the type is locked up in a chase, and we print!

I didn't have a picture of metal type locked up,
but this wood type gives you the general idea.

1812

The U.S. Oneida!

The current printing project is for the Sackets Harbor Battlefield State Historic Site; we're printing commemorative envelopes for the 1812 bicentennial! These will go on to get 1812 stamps, and then they'll be canceled sometime in June (I think). If you're a stamp collector or an 1812 buff, be sure to get to Sackets Harbor this summer!

Juicy News, V

Smile!

The final print of Juicy News--an orange slice!

These have been a lot of fun. It took me until today to realize that playing Fruit Ninja (which, if you haven't done, you should) probably played an important role in the creation of these. Oh, inspiration. It comes from everywhere!

The printing this weekend has been focused on 1812 Commemorative Postage Stamp Envelopes. If you're a stamp collector, you'll want to look out for those, they will be released over the summer. More information on that in a later update.

Happy Easter!

Juicy News, IV

When life gives you lemons...

....Make Lemonade! Here's a link to a favorite (and classic) recipe. We experimented with making mailing labels and stickers; the mailing labels are wonderful, the stickers take a lot of time to cut out. 

Juicy News, III

We didn't have a coconut,
but we sang and listened to the song
while printing these.

It's been a busy week at the press. Juicy News is completed, there are limes, lemons, and oranges aplenty. For now, here is a look at the lime print. We're looking for places to sell them, but if you're interested, feel free to email us. And while you're at it, friend us on Facebook!

Here's an example of the process. First, we start with the background color:

It's pretty boring at this point.

Then, we add the second layer:

Better.

And finally, we add the rind, since it's generally darker than the other runs.

Lime!

Each different fruit gets a bit different attention; the lime was probably the most difficult. We had a couple registration errors and had to throw out a bunch. BUT it's a lot of fun, and the end product is worth it.

Juicy News, II

The polymer plates arrived last week, and the paper arrived yesterday!

Polymer plates are somewhat difficult to explain, so I'll leave it to the pros. We get ours from Boxcar Press, located in Syracuse. If you're curious about the technology, they explain it here.

Juicy News, I

converting drawings to digital format

There are several projects going on at BCP right now, but this one you get to see from start to finish over the next few weeks.

A few years ago I did a reduction linoleum cut of a lemon, and ever since then I've wanted to expand on the idea. So oranges, limes, grapefruit, and of course, more lemons will be joining the collection this month. I'm using polymer this time rather than linoleum, that way we can always print more.

NYC Center for Book Arts

photo by Molly Cichy (check out her website: mollycichy.com)

Hey, look at that! The Ladies of Letterpress postcard swap is at the NYC Center for Book Arts--which means that we are, too!

Inspiration

New Year, new projects.
New goals.
And new inspirations.