Reckon this blog has been pretty quiet for far too long. 

For those who got here on their own, well now there's digital real estate over on Facebook and a store on Etsy.  A store? says you.  Yep, if I didn't think membership in the APA (a letterpress printing exchange group) was enough to get me out and print something, well I put a shop up on Etsy, which a guaranteed means to shame anybody into printing something just to fill up a shop and not look like a total slacker.

Not that I'm a slacker mind you....


So--expect more postings as I start winding up the workflow in the shop.  It ought to be interesting.

This is Far More Daunting than Hot Metal

Hmmm, getting this started is not as simple as flipping a switch and making clicking a mouse.  I thought digital would make it all very easy.   Well, looks like I'm wrong.

 

What are we talking about?  Well it is ink on paper, the old style, printed with machines older than a lot of us but still going strong.  It's letterpress, so it's rolling the ink on the type and pressing it off.  However, letterpress is a process not a verb, so no letterpressers who are letterpressing on letterpresses.  Nope, it's ink rolled onto type and plates which is then pressed against the paper to yield (Voila!) Printing!  Printing is done by Printers, sometimes just called pressmen, but it's a big noble trade and many carry it on, even with digital turning the entire printing world on it's ear.  

 

So, ink on paper.   That's easy, right?  Anybody can do it.....right?   I can get rich printing stationery............right?  Ya sure?

 

Well when I find out, I'll let you know.   Every journey starts with a single step, and every book starts with a single letter.