
Clarendon 18pt
This post is a little overdue. I did this course last year, it got lost in my drafts somehow. This was a one week course at UWE Bristol led by Tom Sowden and Angie Butler. Thoroughly enjoyable and I was able to make some work with ideas that had been floating around my head. Specifically a line from an Emily Dickinson poem “the absence of the witch does not invalidate the spell”.
Tom & Angie were excellent tutors and very knowledgable. For example when I had this weird grey line coming out on prints from the Vandercook press Tom was able to tell me this was from my Claddagh Ring! As I held the paper and rolled the press it was making the mark. Unfortunately I haven’t been able to do any letterpress since, I am tempted to get an Adana but have absolutely no room in my teeny abode – one day 🙂

Wood Type on Vandercook Press

Finished print – spot the mistake!

Cheltenham Bold Metal Type, Vandercook Press

Final Print, Cheltenham Bold, Somerset Satin

Flexoplate

Finished Print
This print is from a photograph and has also been printed from a Rubber Stamp Carving.
6 comments
0ops! Did you say "dugger!"
I saw a lovely old "parlour press" for sale in London…and cursed the weight limits of the airline.
I can't remember, but I found that lovely big 'D' in the type drawer and was delighted with it. There wasn't a lot of wooden type but it was great fun hunting in the drawers trying to find the right letters.
Even if you left all your clothes behind you probably couldn't bring the parlour press – must have been a wrench to have to leave it.
The Absence of the Witch Boes not Invalidate the Spell! That 'b' doesn't either :))
Oh don't you hate when that happens! Such nice sharp lines on these.
It's my dream to find a new to me press. I had to leave mine behind when we moved a few years ago. sigh.
ooooo so delightful angela! I'd love to have a flatbed press – the C&P clamshell action severely limits what things I can print (as the forme sits in the press at about 90 degrees – anything not locked in tight as tight will just fall out!) …. my uni has a big albion in the print room….. mmmmmmmmmmm how I wish I could sneak the monster home with me!
Better than no press at all Ronnie 🙂
Carole how dreadful to have to leave a press behind, that would kill me.
Very good Ersi never thought of that. Maybe it was the witch who messed up my 'd' 😉