Last week saw the sad death of a great man, Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. By a strange, and sadly well timed, coincidence I recently finished my Mac & Cheese print, featuring an Apple computer.
A few days ago Margo Ogloblina featured my print in a wonderful tribute treasury on Etsy. The treasury is called RIP STEVE . It made my day!
Thanks to Margo!
The first step in figuring out what needs to be done to the press is to take it all apart. So that’s what we did this weekend. The mark of a good tool is simplicity. The fewer parts, the better it works. Amazingly, the press only has about 25 parts in total (Half of those are cast body parts, the other half are the metal rods holding larger cast parts together and screws).
Here they all are laid out on the floor:
It became abundantly clear that a previous owner has spray-painted the entire press red without taking apart anything. Also, a couple of the rods had been intentionally deformed to prevent extraction of the pins. As a result, Doug drilled and tapped the problematic rods, then performed some magic to extract them. Unfortunately, I forgot my camera, so I did not catch Doug’s sorcery on film.
But in the end we succeeded in taking the thing apart.
Next weekend: Stripping and painting!
Porcuprints has just launched an Etsy Store!
Check it and see what prints are for sale!
This is the beginning of a new era for Porcuprints, so let’s make it great!
We made it back home to Oregon all in one piece! We did not die of dysentery, nor break an arm.
And, while we did not receive any awesome fictional points to add to our treasure trove, we did acquire a FABULOUS Kelsey Excelsior 6″ x 10″ tabletop printing press.
Unbelievably, the press appears to have all its moving parts. It was probably put in a barn in the 70’s and left there. There are a few makeshift repairs, such as a nail holding on the ink disk operating dog, or the spray paint red paint job.
Despite the few problems, it is in really good condition. I am still going to attempt a full restoration job on it. It just seems to me that if I am going to take the whole thing apart to clean it, I might as well do it right. So in the coming months, I will full disassemble, clean, repaint, regrease, etc. I’ll be posting the whole restoration process.
And, just for the fun of it, I am including a picture of my cat investigating the new press.
Does anyone remember the old video game Oregon Trail? It was designed to teach children about the realities of life on the Oregon Trail, from hunting for your supper to dying from dysentery.
While I have no plans to die of dysentery anytime soon, this trip to California was like my own personal Oregon Trail game. We literally were trading elk skins for my printing press. How very pioneer of us!
Let me explain: Doug’s cousin wants to open up an elk farm of his own someday, and has been getting to know the kind folks at Rosse Posse Acres, an elk ranch in Molalla, OR. He bought some skins a while back, but had no way of getting them down to California where he lives. Since Doug and I were going to his place to pick up my printing press, we decided to make a trade; elk skins for a printing press.
Our Oregon Trail Trip:
First Doug and I had to pick up the elk skins from the elk ranch in Molalla. On our way to the farm, I just had to stop and get a picture of the sky at 6:30am. It was incredibly beautiful!
As the journey (i.e. our drive) continued, we stopped and dipped our toes in the Pacific Ocean. It was only my second time, so I was definitely excited!
Our trip would not be complete without needing to Ford a River. Well… Creek actually… But my little car made it with no problems.
Having successfully maneuvered our way down the trail to northern California, it was time to make the trade and head back home to inspect (and restore) our prize.
Kelsey Excelsior Printing Press Pictures coming soon!
The time has finally come! Tomorrow I am driving down to a teeny tiny town in California to pick up my very own tabletop letterpress. While I have, and love, my little etching press, I have been coveting a letterpress. While a floor model C&P would be ideal, something like that would definitely not fit in my apartment.
Amazingly, my other half’s uncle ran across a little tabletop press a swap meet a month or so ago. We asked him to keep an eye out for presses, in the unlikely event that something should show up. One day, he calls and says, “so I found this little press at a swap meet. It was 50 bucks, I picked it up for you.” These things never happen in real life!
I haven’t seen it yet, but I am pretty sure it is a Kelsey Excelsior. Hopefully it will look like this:
However, I don’t know what condition it is in. I am just crossing my fingers that it has an inking disk. Everything else can be made or replaced pretty easily, but those ink disks are expensive to replace.
So, as I said, we are driving down tomorrow to pick up my baby press! I can’t wait to see it and set to work on restoring it to working order!
I will be writing about every detail of the restoration, so check back for updates!
This weekend, at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, Etsy is sponsoring a special, one day conference for creative people interested in starting (or effectively running) their own small business.
The workshop, called Hello Etsy, is a series of conferences happening in Berlin and a few cities in the USA, including Portland, Oregon!
The attendance fee is only $20, and for that you get a whole day of speakers, food, and workshops to help you on your way to becoming a successful small business owner.
There will be a number of local speakers, including Duane Sorenson of Stumptown Coffee and Rebecca Pearcy of Queen Bee as well as other well-known names. You can see a full list of speakers here.
As far as the workshops go, there seems to be an amazing range of topics to choose from. From how to build your own website on WordPress (in “less than an hour!”) to learning how to deal with the finances of a small business, you are sure to find something interesting or worthwhile. Here is a complete list of the workshops.
If you are interested in going, don’t forget to Sign up! There are limited spaces, so reserve your spot! And look for me, ‘cuz I’ll be there!
WHEN: Saturday, September 17th, 9:00 am to 6:00 pm
WHERE: Pacific Northwest College of Art, Swigert Commons, 1241 NW, Johnson St, PDX 97209
Tickets: $20 RSVP. Limited space available.
Porcuprints’ latest addition is “Mac & Cheese”! See Below for a sneak peek before it goes on sale!
“Mac & Cheese will be up for sale soon!
Every year since the 1970’s the Old Aurora Colony Museum (in Aurora, OR) has held a quilt show. They display beautiful quilts in addition to traditional quilting demonstrations, a quilt raffle, and a block contest. This year my grandmother-in-law “voluntold”* me to make a block for the contest. The 20 winning blocks will be used in the 2012 raffle quilt. All the other blocks will be made into quilted items that will be sold to benefit the Aurora Colony Historical Society.
The theme of this year’s block contest is “Seeing Red,” focusing on shades of red with white background fabric. Having just finished my zodiac print, I could think of nothing else. So I decided to print the block on fabric and construct a border around it.
This idea became much more complicated than it first appeared. I had to find a fabric paint that would capture enough detail on the block, but also stay on the fabric through washing. I first tried a traditional oil based ink. This paint got all the detail, but it lightened in washing, and even shrank a bit. Next, I tried a basic fabric paint from a hobby store. This was an awful one. It didn’t roll on the block evenly and just looked horrible when printed. Finally I tried a silk screen paint. This one worked. It did not pick up as much detail as the printing ink, but it captured enough and it will definitely stay on the fabric.
For the border, I chose a traditional Chinese design. I wanted the border to match the style of the print’s corner pattern.
The little squares are from a fabric that has a lot of Chinese characters. You can see them from afar, but close up you can sort of make them out.
Anyway, I am glad I could help out the ACHS.
___
The 39th Annual Quilt Show will be held October 14-23, 2011
For more information on the Old Aurora Colony Museum and its Annual Quilt Show, click here.
* Voluntold = a conjunction of the words “volunteer” and “told.” Definition: when another person volunteers you for something without asking you beforehand.
Going to the Art in the Pearl Festival this Labor Day Weekend! It is going to be a blast!
