Elk Notes

In my last post I mentioned that I had a new notepad design coming up. Well, here it is!

Elk Notes

The image on the cover is from an antique letterpress block I purchased on Ebay. The block is a zinc plate mounted on wood.

Elk Block

Originally, I wanted the block for my cousin (in-law) and his fiancée’s wedding invitations (which I plan to print as their wedding gift). But I just really, really, really wanted to use it before then. So this notepad was born!

Printed in a bright Teal blue, it really pops against the dark gray cover stock. Each notepad has 20 sheets inside. I’m selling them for $7.00 a piece. Get one now!

Listing is live on Etsy here!

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Letterpress Notepads

Hello all! I want to share with you another one of my letterpress adventures I have had over the last few weeks. I found a box of scrap cover stock left over from someone’s die-cutting project. These pieces were a rather odd size and shape, so I wasn’t sure what to do with them, but I didn’t want them to go to waste. Eventually, I decided they would be PERFECT as the covers of little notepads! They just needed to be trimmed down a bit.

I am Woman, Hear me ROAR!

The first idea I came up with was a notepad for women. I am doing a craft show in May that is also a fundraiser for women’s shelters in the Portland area, and I wanted to print something that I could donate to some of the women we are trying to help.

The quote on the cover is from the song, “I am Woman” by Helen Reddy. For me, the phrase is really the embodiment of an empowered and feminine woman.

Woman notepad lockup and final print

As you can see in the picture above, the paper was a rather strange shape, but once I cut it down, it worked perfectly.

Metallic Gold ink

I wanted the text to really pop, so I printed it in a metallic gold ink. Although it wasn’t as bright as I hoped it would be, it turned out ok.

Once printed, I cut up some 20lb. blank white paper, stapled everything together, folded, and trimmed the edges.

I am Woman, Hear me Roar!

I totally forgot to take pictures of the process, but hopefully you get the idea. The final dimensions of the notepads are 3.5″ w x 5.25″ h. Each pad has 20 blank sheets inside.

Pi, Pie Notepads

March 14th was Pi day, so in honor of that auspicious holiday, I created my second notepad design. A delicious homemade pie floating atop the Greek symbol Pi.

Pi Pie Notepad

For this notepad I decided to go with a darker, more visible, color ink. So I went with a deep burgundy color. Or, at least that’s how it looks when printed on the dark gray paper. In reality, the ink is a ghastly bright pink, fuchsia color. Thank goodness to appears darker when printed. I wanted it to be uni-sex, and fuchsia isn’t really any guy’s favorite color.

I printed and assembled these notepads just as I did the first ones!

Pi Notepad open & closed

I am having so much fun with these little notepads, I can’t wait to see what design I come up with next!

Woman and Pi Notepads

I have only printed two different designs so far, but I still have about a thousand pieces of this paper left over, so I plan to make many more designs (and suggestions are welcome if there is something you’re dying to have!).

If you would like purchase either of these notepads, they are up on Etsy for $7 a piece.

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Baby Got Letterpress!

I have been embarking on a lot of “firsts” recently, and last week was no exception. I assembled and printed my first two color letterpress broadside. It all began with a silly parody poem, and ended up being a fabulously fun printing project.

Big Type form

A parody of the infamous ‘Baby Got Back’ verse by Sir Mix-a-Lot, the text reads,

“I like Big Type and I cannot lie.
You other printers can’t deny:
When your form gets set with some itty-bitty type
and some reglets in your chase,
it gets proofed!”

Essentially, I wanted this to be what my boyfriend calls “letterpress porn”: a compilation of a variety of sizes and typefaces (in metal and wood) and decorative leading and cuts.

The “itty-bitty type” and the colophon were the most obnoxious parts to set, since it was REALLY FREAKIN’ SMALL TYPE! I literally had to use tweezers to grab the sorts from the case.

Itty-bitty type form

But once I did, I think the tiny type came out just fine:

Itty-bitty type printed
But the headaches didn’t end there. After I set it all together in one form, I had to decide what I wanted to pull out for the second color. Then I divided it all into two forms:

Two Color forms

After that, it was just the fun of printing and watching it come to life! I had some 110lb. Cranes Lettra 8.5 x 11 left over from another project, so I went ahead and used that to print these small broadsides.

Here is the press all set up and doing the black run:

Printing

And once I printed the red, it all came together!

Baby Got Letterpress Broadside

I am really happy with the final product. I know most people won’t get it. But I think it is hilarious! And anyone who has ever said (or thought to himself) “I like Big Type!” will enjoy it to no end.

I just listed it on Etsy today, so head on over to get one for your very own! I only printed 25 of them, so get ’em while you can!

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Happy Pi Day!

Happy Pi Day Everyone! It’s March 14th (i.e. 3/14) and I have just the thing for your geeky loved ones. A Pi letterpress notepad, perfect for writing down those pie recipes, mathematical equations, or anything else you might need to make a note of. Pi Notepad

Dimensions: 3.5″ w x 5.25″ h
20 sheets

Price: $7.00

You too can get one of these notepads for your very own! Just check out the Etsy listing here:
https://www.etsy.com/listing/126418883/pi-pie-letterpress-notepad?

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My First Foray into Custom Business Cards

This February has been full of firsts, not the least of which was my first set of custom letterpress business cards. I made them for my sweet and wonderful friend Jina. This simple project turned out to be much more than I bargained for. After setting the type and owl design, and getting it just right in the chase, the darn owl cut wouldn’t print! And by wouldn’t print, I mean it would ink once, then die on me. Over, and over, and over again. GAH! I wanted to pull my hair out. I kept on building up the back of the block with paper and tape but nothing seemed to fix the problem. It just kept dying. After taking a break and getting a fresh pair of eyes on the subject, Doug suggested I put some scrap leading under the block instead. He thought the wood might be compressing the packing behind it so much that it was backing off the rollers just enough not to get inked. I’ll be damned if he wasn’t right. A little bit of leading behind the block and the owl starting printing!! In the end, I was able to pull the cards just fine. But it certainly was a frustrating job for my first custom business cards!

Custom Business Cards

(no, I don’t have special liquified type — just protecting confidential info)

Owl cut on business cards

^^^^^ This is the cut in question. The most frustrating cut on the entire planet (just in case anyone was wondering who held that title).

Business Card Packaging

And finally, my adorable, timeless, packaging.

And a million thanks to Jina for being my guinea pig!

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C&P Press Alterations

I finally took some pictures of the alterations that Doug and I made to the C&P. These changes were needed in order to slow the press down and make it a bit safer.

First, we replaced the large pulley on the motor with a much smaller one. This resulted in slowing the press down slightly. It isn’t a drastic change, but it is an important one for making me feel a bit safer running the press.

C&P New motor pulley

the new, smaller pulley

Second, Doug rewired the press to an Emergency Stop Button. When pulled out, the press turns on. If the operator leans in too close to it, his/her body will depress the button and stop the press.

Press E-Stop

This should minimize the possibility of getting fingers caught in platen. In addition, the BIG RED button calls immediate attention to the safety hazards of the press and says “Pay Attention Now!!”

So hopefully these changes will make my new press safer and stop people from doing anything stupid around it.

And, just for kicks, here are a couple new photos of the whole press:

C&P Front view

C&P Side view

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Homemade Boxcar Base

This past weekend Doug finished making me a couple of aluminum bases for deep relief photopolymer plates! He milled down the aluminum to .853″ (+/- .0005″!). I never realized how difficult it would be to get such an exact tolerance on something. Thank goodness he knows what he is doing! Then he sent the milled aluminum out to be anodized.

We finally got them back from the anodizers, so on Saturday we laser-engraved a grid onto the surface for easier plate alignment. Here’s the final product!

My boxcar base

I especially love that it he personalized the bases just for me!

Base with plate

He made me two identical bases (that he machined together) so that they can be used as one bigger 6×8 base.

I ordered some photopoly plates yesterday so I can get printing with my new bases soon!

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Girls on Presses

I spent today pulling apart the motor on my C&P. Well, Doug was the brains of the operation, but I added some much needed muscle. I want to slow the press down, so I need a new pulley for the motor. Now everything is torn apart and I just have to wait for the mail-order parts to arrive. Bah. While we got a lot of much needed work (and information collecting) accomplished, it still felt like a rather unproductive day, until I found this picture:

Girl Using C and P Press Vintage

I can’t wait to be just like her!

* Source for picture — I found it at this website. No idea of the original source. If you know it, please let me know.

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New Press!

Abut a week ago I purchased an amazing press! The press is a Chandler & Price 12×18 New Series.

C&P Front View

C&P Platen and Ink Disk

This style of press was was manufactured between 1911 and 1964. According to the C&P Press catalog, “In many a [print] shop, this press is the one that is always busy.” It can handle any job up to about 11″x14″ without any difficulty.

C&P 12x18 - from C&P press catalog

My press is motorized, but the speed is rather frisky. I plan to slow it down. While a traditional print shop would have had no problem running it so fast, I don’t need to produce so much so quickly. I would much rather reduce the risk of finger smashing than try to keep up with this monster. Thank goodness I have a partner who understands gear ratios and can slow the motor down without too much trouble. I will definitely be posting updates on this process, so stay tuned.

I am already prepping come more greeting card designs to try out on the press. I can’t wait until I get it up and running!

 

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Capricorns Unite!

This weekend my Capricorn letterpress card was included in a delightful little treasury! It is definitely worth checking out the other artistic interpretations of the sign:

Capricorn Treasury

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