I have a lovely little Kelsey press that needs a new home. 5x8" chase, with composite rollers---it's fully functioning and ready to use. I've posted it over on Craig's List, though you can contact me directly through this site. And I think we'd all prefer a local pick up here in Portland...
UPDATE 5/26/11: The press was sold this morning to a couple of awesome ladies from NH. Many thanks for the inquiries, and best of luck to the new owners!
Yes, we did it! Four days at the Portland Flower Show, 14,000 people through the front door and we're still standing.
This time around we took on a woodland theme. Screen printed some wood grains and letterpress printed some title work over it (with wood type, naturally). My heartfelt thanks to Reuben J. Little of 43rd Parallel Press for his advice and assistance with the screen printing of all things woodsy.
And a big thank you to my sister Ann, Will, Desneiges, Diane of Ferdinand, and Rich and Kathy--all for spelling me long enough to take time out for breaks and do some fudge gazing upstairs. Thank you very much!
It was a very easy commute, as the Portland Company is located just
across the alley from my studio, with ample opportunity to go feed the
cat and breathe a little bit.
And check it, right there in the background is our very own Vandercook 223. Best 3,600 lb trade show prop ever!! It really pays to do your business where fork lifts are abundant.
It's been over a year since we hauled the big Vandercook into Portland and dropped it unceremoniously onto Reuben's floor. The logistics of how to put it all together didn't exactly elude us, but they took a back seat to everything else the three of us were preoccupied with---or maybe it's just that giant heavy things take giant heavy time to come to fruition.
Once again, my hat is off to the mechanical genius that resides in both my amazing brother Rich and my fine friend Reuben. Between long spans on Thursday night and Friday night last week, we managed to elevate the bed with a pallet jack, a couple pallets and much blocking. We introduced the cylinder through similar means, and got the legs under it, too, and then made adjustments to fit the long rods in place between them with the help of this thing my brother uses when he's got a flat tire.
It took alot less time to assemble than any of us expected, and Reuben tells me last Sunday he managed to mount the motor onto the side of the beast. Much fine tuning will no doubt ensue; the rollers are probably shot and the cylinder needs to be adjusted, but all else seems to be in huge, beautiful working order.
It's a Vandercook Model 223, purchased from Dan Kelleher at Wild Carrot Press last April. It has the capacity to print on a sheet measuring 22 x 30" and we are all giddy with anticipation.
Saturday's East End Holiday Stroll proved to be fertile ground for Quartet & Co.,
a first-time collaboration of artists Karen Gelardi, Maria Vettese,
Christopher Ryan and myself. It was an experiment to provide custom stationery sets, in real time, to folks walking in off the street, as
well as any and all interested parties on the internet. And provide we
did, from the opening bell at 2pm, until we hit the buzzer at 7pm.
A lovely stream of orders flowed in from friends, family, and random strangers. The day flew by in a blur of ink, paper and tape, and I don't remember an idle moment for any of us. My thanks to Maria and Chris for designing, organizing and really making this event happen, Karen for her beautiful work and camaraderie, and the lovely Chloe, for her kick-ass ways on the letterpress.
These days I'm trying very hard to work with what I've got here in the shop. No new dies and no new letterpress purchases for a bit. This little card is the happy result of rescuing the saw cut from oblivion on a dusty shelf and getting it together with some type I never use. I threw it up on my Etsy shop a few minutes ago and I'm feeling very pleased with my new frugal ways.
In the next few months we'll be shifting things around a bit at the shop, moving more towards production work and stationery products, and away from the repair work that's kept us busy the last 10 years. And I have to say nothing makes me happier these days than seeing piles of identical printed matter. I'll post more work as it happens.