[scribkin] Hiatus, and News Hot Off the Press!

Hiatus, and News Hot Off the Press!

May 6, 2008 – 9:52 pm

Sorry about the long hiatus between posts on this blog.. I definitely have a couple of reviews and primers that I plan on getting out this week. Also, with a little luck I will have a guest post, which is exciting! I have actually had a few developments happen in my life outside the blog, on the job front and also in my wife’s Annie’s business.

She runs a custom invitation business called Charming Paper, and the great news is that we have just taken delivery of a vintage Chandler & Price 8×12 Letter Press! It’s about 5 feet tall and weights just over 1200 lb. It is made of good old-fashioned cast iron. We got it in terrific shape, which is awesome, because had any of the pieces been missing or broken, they would be extremely difficult to impossible to replace. As it is, it seems to run smoothly and nothing looks obviously broken. It is not motorized, but there’s a small electric motor (not pictured) that will drive it using a belt (like a giant fan belt for a car). Annie won it on an EBay auction, and shipping cost more than the device itself.

Though I’m not that interested in the process of making invitations per se, letter press is a whole different ball park. I am going to stay actively involved with this guy, and hopefully you’ll see some really cool single and two-color prints being made in the next few months.

Ok, well sorry about the off-topic post, but it’s an exciting development and I thought I’d geek out about it. This thing is possibly the oldest device Annie and I have ever owned. So old, in fact, that my early-adopter gene is kicking in.

Here’s another link that shows a similar (old-style vs. our new-style) press before and after a full restoration.

Update: Annie has blogged about the press in her Charming Paper Blog as well.