Sunday 11 October 2009

♁ lessons in letterpress ♁

Last week I had a great day with Vicky and Chrissie at 
Harrington & Squires.  
Once upon a time, a long time ago, far away in another land etc etc I bought, for a ridiculously small sum, a whole load of letterpress furniture, type in cases and two Adana presses. And it has so far languished in every available space in my shed/ house/under the stairs. I nearly gave it away, I stubbed my toe on it all, I cursed it,  I tried to print with it a couple of times and failed miserably. I had forgotten what all the things were for and needed a refresher. 
I noticed that Harrington & Squires did day courses and with much excitement I put myself in their very capable hands. 
It was a lovely, inspirational and educational day. 

I relearned all the basics, some technical terms (albeit all forgotten already as demonstrated yesterday whilst attempting to print with Simon Goode "can you pass me one of those thingummys please?") and came away with a set of business cards all handprinted by me and a new found desire to letterpress my life away. Of course, there is much left to learn but I am so happy to realise that it's a wonderful addition to my skills and I want to do more.





I know these pictures don't do letterpress much justice, 
the letters are debossed into the card with ink and feel really really good.
{I've blurred my phone number since I became a member of the witness protection programme}
Chrissie and Vicky were great teachers, patient and very knowledgeable about their subject. The studio itself is a dream to work in, it's called The Corridor for good reason, spread over three floors it's delightfully laid out with inspiration everywhere. I highly recommend a day there. Have an idea about something you would like to print...I was hopelessly unprepared.











I learned the basics of type and how to put it in a chase, lots of useful stuff about inking up and registration. After lunch I had a whole afternoon of printing my heart out, the day whizzed by and was over before I could draw breath. I left filled up with enthusiasm and another new skill. 
I'm so excited about printing up all the old printing plates I found with my Adana booty. 
Invitation to a South Seas Dance anyone? 

4 comments:

Unknown said...

I am sooo green with envy, and how good are you to grab the bull by the horns? To do something constructive rather than stub your toe once too often and chuck it all down the dump, which is the sort of idiotic thing I would do. You have every right to be knocked bandy with your new found skills, and sounds like a great environment to have found them in!

Louise said...

Dear Suzie
It only took me 4 years! I wouldn't say grabbing the bull by the horns more like slow motion brain creaking action!
But thanks for the dynamic picture you paint of me!
Shame really as i've wasted all this time and some of the bits have rusted up but now I can steam ahead.
(yeah right-ed)
(*)

Francesca said...

oh how lovely. what a treat! i'd love to do some day courses when the little ones are off my hands!

Louise said...

Francesca
I think you do quite enough already!
I don't know how you find time to blog!
Seriously though, I used to dream of doing things like this when the girls were little and now I can, I thoroughly enjoy it. So much to learn, so little time.
{*}