Today was the second and final day of my weekend letterpress course. Remember how much in love with it I was yesterday? I still feel that way. And will definitely be investing in one of these machines (albeit most likely a much smaller one) in the not too distant future.
The machine we used today to print our designs was a Chandler and Price machine manufactured in 1902. It uses nothing but the power of your own arms and legs. It’s a workout and a creative design session all in one.
The creative part came to me a little too late however. I had no idea what to make. I was over-thinking it all weekend to the point where my mind could not decide on anything. Business cards? Greeting cards? Coasters? As I was gathering materials this morning, I still had no clue. Joe(y) had suggested I make recipe cards, so that’s what I did, sort of.
I made the design. It was a half-postcard half-recipe card hybrid, apparently. I enjoyed having to put everything in reverse. Where the top is at the bottom and the left is on the right. It fits in with my day job quite well as I view reversed images all day long. My brain easily adjusted to this part.
Next, I set the locked frame into the machine and applied the ink color that I had mixed together. 
Once the machine had been set and inked, the actual printing process was quite speedy. I realized I probably should have made my form a bit smaller, and not the exact measurements of the size paper I would be using. I know better than that. I just wasn’t thinking.
In turn, I lost one of the lines I set in the process in order to be sure everything else fit it.
While I am not quite sure what exactly I made today, I love that I made something and understand how it all works now.
I have been wanting to learn this craft for a long time now, and have finally done just that. I’ll most likely be going back for open studio time in the near future, this time with an actual design and project in place.
The Things I Think About 
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