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.

Mother's Day

To all of the Mothers out there, Happy Mother's Day!

I did a take on the classic gift of flowers, and printed cards for my mother, along with addressed envelopes.

In press shop news, I'm working on organizing typecases, which is always fun. I still need to buy paint for the handles, and cut down new labels for organizing, but right now, I'm just trying to get it organized enough so that when it finally warms up again I can paint the outside of the case, not just the drawers.

Oh! And there's a Ladies of Letterpress post-card swap; if you're a member, you should totally join in. And if you're not, when the swapping happens, I'll take photos of some of the postcards.

Trucks!

The trucks arrived! Go figure, they look a lot different than the old ones. But this means that tomorrow, I will be inking up and attempting to print something!

I painted all of the drawers for one of the type cabinets; changing from old olive green to pretty antique red did mean some serious primer, but that's done now. Just the handles left to paint and the main body.

April Fools' Day

Yesterday I spent some time cleaning the press; there are about 100 years of crud all over it. I did discover that underneath the ink/dust/grime layer, there are gold details; very pretty!

Hopefully this upcoming weekend will bring two things: first, the trucks. Maybe they will even come today or tomorrow. Secondly, the fine art of gooping, and filling in all of the lines between the pieces of sheet rock. It will be warm enough!

And if it really is that warm, I might paint the type cases too.

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.