Friday, April 02, 2010
We've gained some weight
This could also be called: "We Bought a Guillotine Paper Cutter and Got a Free Letterpress" I'm so freaking exhausted from my day, but I wanted to share a timeline of events with you.
Last Friday: insomnia led me to a Craigslist ad at 4am that resulted in me calling this guy 3 hours from here.
Monday: Carrie's dad gives the go-ahead to get a new press and a paper cutter. He says he will help us. He will regret this.
Today:
7am: meet at the barn to throw all imaginable tools into the truck.
8am: Take off in the HUGE 26' dock-height truck for Southern Missouri
11am: drive up to a very ramshackle building with this terrifying dock. Yikes.
11:05: realize that the forklift doesn't work, the pallet jack doesn't reach high enough to lift the press, and there is a 6 inch tall, jagged edged step which we must get the press up.
12:00: Seriously rethink getting the press. Maybe we just get the paper cutter
12:15: Carrie's dad finds a 1/4 inch steel punch, chips away at a concrete crack, and threads the punch through part of our paper cutter in order to jack the press. Look at all thos printing blocks!
12:15-2:00: Alternate wedging old print blocks and the ill-fitting pallet jack in order to get the press up the step.
(There aren't many photos here because I was busy biting my nails.)
2:00: Carrie and I stand on the paper cutter for more leverage to pull the press up the ramp.
2:30, move the paper cutter into the truck
2:35: move the press onto the lift gate, which promptly sinks 6 inches. Carrie's dad says "Crud" and we all nearly had a heart attack. The owner said "Well, that would be a bummer". The motor held, though, and we put it up in the truck, strap everything down and blow that poop-filled chicken coop. You think I'm kidding.
6:00: get caught in traffic because of rain
7: Arrive at the barn finally, Carrie's mom brings us fresh iced tea, and Carrie's brother comes up to help us out.
7-8:00: Unloading, anxiety over height of truck to door, width of new pallet jack, and much pushing.
8:15, move everything into place. Go home. Collapse. Write blog before I forget everything.
I don't want to ever move ever again. The funny thing is, Carrie's dad says that it really wasn't that different than any other day on the farm. Well, I'm sure glad that's not my job. I would need to be on blood pressure meds!
The new press needs some work, but the paper cutter should work right away. I guess now we have a backup! We'll have to pour a little money in to the new press, and the previous owner hadn't used it in 10-15 years, but never cleaned up the ink, so it has melted one of the rollers and dripped absolutely everywhere.
Labels: 12x18, carrie, chandler price 10x15, letterpress
Monday, November 30, 2009
Printing all day everyday
Will you please look at that impression? Amazing!
This is a sneak preview of a brand new item! It's not quite done, so it's not up in the shop yet, but I'm super excited. I should be getting the tab cards in today, and will print letter dividers on them and get them ready for RENEGADE CHICAGO this weekend!
I've once again enlisted my dad to make me some boxes. And these are in oak! So very pretty. I think I'll have about 10 of them for sale in Chicago this weekend, and will take orders for more on my etsy shop. I'm cutting it close!
We tried out all kinds of things on our new press this weekend--this was a vintage Santa and reindeer cut from Jerry at SOS Linotype in Nashville. It printed so beautifully on the C&P press!
This is very exciting: Carrie's Chicago print. It's 5x7, and in 2 colors! We hope to post it on Etsy this week.
And here is Carrie's mom, Neda assembling calendars for us at the barn while we printed. I think we're finally done with the darn calendar. Next year, we're doing it differently! But first, we still have about 150 to sell!
Labels: carrie, chandler price 10x15, letterpress, printing
Friday, October 16, 2009
Carrie's latest print
Check out the latest woodcut Carrie put in the shop!!
On Tuesday night we did some creeping around a certain school that might have a large press. There were some really nice students working, and we didn't get in their way or anything, but we wanted to use that big press! It takes so long to do the printing of these by hand.
It all went fine, but Carrie thinks they look better when printed by hand. I think it's awesome no matter what.
Now I need to get to carving. We both really like the act of carving, then printing. I haven't really done much of it at all since the 2009 calendar last fall, and I got a lot better doing all 12 of those. I have a design all ready in the sketchbook. Maybe this weekend.
Home Sweet Home Print:
9x12 paper
8x10 print
Buy it here!
Labels: carrie, letterpress, printing, shop