Not very moveable type

It's been nine years since I blogged about rescuing a quantity of letterpress type and Adana printers from being skipped. Back then it was all crammed into the tiny cottage and I never had the space and time to go through it or use it. When Andy and I made the big move in 2012, it was stored in someone's shed and in 2015 I had it moved here. And it all went into another shed. 

There it has remained. Not the best place for it; as you can see, there are quite a few gaps in the shed walls, the roof leaks and next door's ivy continuously invades any crack it can find. So recently, to prevent it all deteriorating any further, I moved it into the cottage. 

I did it bit by bit. The cabinets, being full of metal type, are a little bit heavy. After a couple of hours, I had nearly all of it inside. For the moment it is in our main 'den' until I can sort it out properly. 

It's not exactly convenient, but I need to sell a fair bit of what I have, and it has to be in a dry place. The printers and other sundries are now jamming up the little front room we recently sorted out.

So I'm gradually sorting through the bits and bobs, deciding what can go to help with the mortgage. It feels like selling off the family silver, but I have far more than I need and at this point in my life, I still don't have the time to play with it. I have enjoyed cleaning things up though, such as this old lead cutter. Transformed from this...

 ...to this. 

It went off to a new home yesterday.

Little Flourishes

A few years ago I was able to rescue a small letterpress studio - which caused a little bit of a problem with where to put it in our tiny cottage. The type cases ended up stacked up various walls and the printers are safely wrapped and stashed in my kind neighbour's stone shed, all waiting for the day when we move somewhere bigger and I have more space.

Anyhow, I was cleaning the spider webs from our front bay window and was idly looking through some type chests when I found an undiscovered stash of decorative flourishes.

Aren't they lovely? And I didn't even know I had them!

Going over the top

Isn't he beautiful? I couldn't do this with a spider...

But there is something very endearing about cockchafers. This fellow was rescued from a bucket of water by Andy. I have been doing my own rescuing, but of a somewhat more extreme nature...




A quantity of standard Adana equipment and presses which were in need of a home. It looked worse than it was...I had a day's hefting about, (and the kind use of a neighbour's shed corner for the presses). Luckily most of it was cabinets of type and stacked nicely up the walls in dead space. I have taken a solemn and terrible oath not to bring home any more 'stuff'. There really is no more room at the inn.



So what am I going to do with it all? Well, precisely nothing at the moment, it was simply a mercy dash (as much as you can dash with lead type) to get it from there to here. There is plenty I plan to do with it, in the future - but right now I have my hands full. The new book job is wonderful, a dream project, but very intense; with three toy orders to fulfill, if I am not drawing, I am needle felting. And my toy shelf is emptying again. Mavis - who languished on the shelf longer than anyone and watched enviously as her friends were packed off to new homes - has been posted across the Atlantic, where she is destined for a very special chicken shed indeed. And not before time; she was starting to get ideas about the Rooster Boys...

Not making a very good impression

Poor old block, it looked so delicate and pretty - this must be the oldest one I have, I think it must be verging on the antique, judging by the script and patina - more like old, hard leather than metal. But although it awoke - a little - for me, this old workhorse is going to be pastured out. In other words, it will have to go on the shelf and be decorative.

The main problem is that the fine lettering has been worn and softened through years of use. There is ancient caked ink between the letters which is impossible to get out without damage and in areas the words have sunk marginally too low to give a decent impression. I tried it on both the proof press and the Adana, but the poor thing was having none of it. At first I thought I could get away with an 'aged' finish, but Andy gave my efforts short thrift and after a bit of a sulk I took his point. Not only does it not look great, but I am going to have to invest in some proper (and horribly expensive) printing inks.

At the moment I am mixing oil paints with a medium which gives it a certain tackiness, (as printing ink should be). But it isn't working perfectly and it's being forced out to the edges of the indentations on fine lines like this...

Meanwhile, I'll trim these up and see if I can flog them on Etsy as supplies for collage. I'd like to think the old block had had one last hurrah.

(for letterpress enthusiasts there are more photos on Flickr...go on, you know you want to...)

Christmas Greeting!

A couple of months ago I was given a quantity of letterpress equipment and two small presses (well, one was given, and I exchanged a painting for the other). A lovely gentleman wanted shut of it, but it needed to go to a good home. I heard about it through the grapevine and within minutes had bagsied it. Andy's parents were kind enough to lug it all down from the North, and their car just about survived...we unpacked the two presses, one 8x5 Adana, one (phenomenally heavy) hand proof press, four full size trays of typefaces, (Gill San and Times) and some empty ones, a little cabinet of small type, (more Gill, Times, Spartan and some yummy 14pt Rockwell Shadow) a bundle of print magazines, various vital odds and sods, boxes of this and that, quoins, chases and other mysterious gizmos and I looked at it all and thought - oh dear...

It may seem somewhat reckless, considering that we live in an already overcrowded small workman's cottage - but I have waited a long time to be able to have my own printing studio, even if that means fitting it into the everyday fabric of our limited living space...I soon had it tidied away and part of the 'furniture', if you will pardon the pun (nerdy type joke). Actually, if I am in confession mode, I have been collecting random bits of type and woodblock for some time, with the vague dream that I might be able to use them eventually. Some people have a shoe habit. I have a letterpress habit. It's cheaper and more fun.

Actually, I think my Adana looks rather picturesque sat in the window, next to the slow ripening tomatoes. (On the elm table which is also in the window because I bought it for a tenner and then didn't know where to put it...)

But I have not had time to play with my toys - it's the usual thing of making time, and I haven't done any typesetting since 1993. Last night I realised that Andy's late shifts were the perfect time to take over the downstairs room, where my bits and bobs are stored. So I began hauling it out from various hiding places...although the proof press, on the table, is now a permanent fixture and when it is not in use, we put two bowls of fruit on it. (Seen here on the hearth in the background).

I intended to start something simple. Maybe some Christmas tags for my Etsy shop, using these newly acquired blocks, one of the best bargains I have ever had on eBay.

So I started with an easy 2 bit design which took mere minutes to be locked in and ready to go...(in case you were wondering about the rather poor joke earlier, the blocks which fill in the gaps are called 'furniture)

For a couple of hours I fiddled about with the Adana, but couldn't get a clean print. I stuffed bits of card under different bits, wedged the platen with extra wadding and rearranged the blocks. But for whatever reason, although the press was working sweetly, I couldn't get a decent result. So I moved on to the proof press, which, unlike the Adana would give me indentation as well as printing.

Using an old catalogue as a pad, I finally got an acceptable result. The only drawback is that the blocks have to be hand inked with a roller. However I seem to have retained a few basic skills from my younger days, and this proved to be no problem after a few gos. There is something rather wonderful about bringing dormant type back to life. By the time Andy was home, everything was put back to bed and the room smelled vaguely of white spirit.

Today, when they were dry, I snipped, sliced and clipped until they resembled more or less respectable tags. Then I realised I hadn't got a good hole punch...I have since found one on eBay, but with rampant postal strikes bringing small businesses to their knees, I don't expect it to arrive for over a week. (I have also learned not to use the Adana on the coffee table, because it gouges big scratches in it...oops...)

And a singular Christmas Greeting to you too. (No, I don't know why the left creator of this block the 's' off either).