I’m still trying to find some time to photograph all of the work we’ve done lately, but in the meantime, he’s an interesting discussion on Briar Press from a while back: If letterpress is labour intensive, time consuming, dirty, troublesome, expensive and takes up so much space, why this passion for letterpress?
I’m sadly announcing the sale of my beloved Plan B. He was bought a couple of years ago as a backup (hence, “Plan B”) just in case something ever happened to Collie and I was mid-way through a job. Now that Meeka’s in place, Collie will become the backup, so Plan B would be better off in the loving care of a new printer.
I did consider keeping Plan B and selling Collie, as Plan B is clearly the better of the two presses condition-wise, but I’m sentimental, and Collie was my first floor press.
So if you’re in the Canberra area and looking for a Chandler & Price NewStyle in great condition, have a look at his listing on ebay.
*sniff*
Last night the new motor and belt were installed, and Meeka was given a thorough oiling. Won’t be long before most of our jobs will be printed on it.
See Meeka the Heidelberg in action.
Printing by day, press cleaning by night. We’ve been busy bees this week. The new motor arrived for Meeka, so while we’re getting that ready, I’ve been scraping years of grease off him. Seeing improvements already.
After a swift delivery by three very generous men, Meeka is now in his final position. Plan B was moved across for Meeka to take that space, and he now sits off to the side of the studio. I’ve spent an hour cleaning Meeka so far – he’s quite grotty and in need of a little paint touch up, so please excuse his condition in these photos.
A new single phase motor is currently on it’s way to our studio, hopefully arriving here by the end of the week so we can get the press up and running by the weekend. We’ll replace the old worn belt at the same time with the brand new one that arrived last night. In the meantime, I’ve got lots of dust, ink and grime to scrape off.
And I’ve been researching his age as well and it looks like his year of manufacture was 1964 or 65.
Arriving on the tow truck
Moving Plan B out of the way
In final position
110 years of Heidelberg
Meeka
Taylor the pressdog, looking a little worried
Meeka
The old belt, which we have a replacement for
We’re pretty excited in the studio today, awaiting the arrival of Meeka the Heidelberg late this afternoon. Still unsure if he’ll be arriving with a new motor or if the search will continue into the week.
Our beloved Chandler and Price NewStyle platen, Plan B, will be moving out to make way for Meeka this afternoon as well. I’ll be deciding his fate in the coming days. As much as we love having him in the studio, with Collie and Meeka (I’m so girly for naming presses…) he’s just not needed anymore. And I can’t justify keeping such a large press if it’s not being used.
Plan B
We have some very exciting news today (no, not another baby!). Next Monday, a new member of the Poppy machinery family will arrive – a Heidelberg
t-platen press. It even comes with a name: Meeka. (haven’t decided if it’s a he or she yet).
Here is the first photo of the press. Many more to come when it’s settled into the studio.
Congratulations to Yvonne from Paper Flourish for her fantastic greeting card design idea: Vintage Parisian correspondence. It’s sparked a lot of ideas here, so we’re excited to get going on them! Keep an eye on the blog for the progress of the new greeting card.
Our greeting card competition ends midnight tonight, so get your entries in if you haven’t already.
Leave a comment here with what you would like to see on a greeting card for your chance to win a set of three Poppy greeting cards. Winner announced Wednesday 16 June.
The electricians have been in to install a new line for the platemaker and hardwire it in the studio, and today was our first opportunity to give it a go. A little adjustment of the brushes, and a quick test of all the compartments and it was ready to try a plate. I estimated the exposure time at 3 1/2 minutes and to my surprise, it worked perfectly. The detail from the negatives came out clean and crisp. The final test will be to print from it, but I’ll give that a go another day as I’d already cleaned up the press after a morning of printing today.
Lookie what arrived in the mail for me just now.
SQUEEEE!!
Nothing makes a little designer happier than freshly printed, brand new, first edition Pantone swatches. A perfect replacement for the swatches that were destroyed a few days ago.
We’ve had some great competition entries already. So far our favourites have been flamingoes, vintage bicycles, teapots, rainboots and typewriters… Ok, so we’re having a hard time narrowing it down already, but keep your entries coming for your chance to win the set of greeting cards. You can enter as many times as you like!
I’m at home today with a sick 1 year old, so to spice up my day I’m announcing a new competition.
Our greeting card range has been so popular at the Canberra Handmade Markets and on the shelves at Shop Handmade that we only have a few left of each design. Our favourite Lovebirds design has already sold out everywhere. You can win three of these cards before they disappear — Leaf Drops, Magnolia and Field of Flowers. To win, all you need to do is help us decide what new designs we should add to the card range. Enter by leaving us a comment on this post or our facebook page to answer this question:
What would you like to see on our next greeting cards?
Competition ends 15 June, so get in quick!
If you are looking after someone else’s dog, do NOT let them in the studio.
At all.
Three years ago, the love of my life took me on a mystery drive to a tiny little country hut in the Snowy Mountains near Jindabyne, cooked me a yummy beef stroganoff, poured me a red wine in front of the fireplace, and asked if I wanted to see a magic trick. Pulling a ribbon out of thin air, Adrian passed it to me so that I could discover what was inside it…
It’s been a while since our last post, but for good reason. We’ve been madly printing some gorgeous new weddings, which I’ll show you when I get the chance to take some photos, but for now I thought I’d share this mobile photo:
Taylor under the desk with her mouse
I was getting some plates ready in the studio office when I heard a scratching. Now, I knew there were mice in there, I’d been hearing them for days. So I closed the door so it couldn’t escape and called in Taylor, the pressdog. She’s never caught a mouse before, but I thought she might enjoy giving it a go.
10 minutes later, there she was holding the mouse. I’m glad she’s a gundog and it’s in her breeding not to eat it…
Another project in the studio today is Kristina’s wedding stationery. Soft blue and charcoal, it’s another sweet little design.
Ok, so Rupert’s pretty cute, but he really knows how to get in the way when I’m walking to and from the press.
I just love printing white ink. It gives a bit more ‘oomph’ than an inkless blind deboss. Today we’re starting the first colour of Bernadette’s wedding stationery suite, and I can’t wait to see it finished.
In addition to our 7 greeting cards below, we also have to offer 7 notecards and 7 swing tags (photos to come). Printing the pink cards has turned me — to be honest, I used to hate pink, but now I’m just loving it (soft pinks only, none of that hot pink stuff just yet).
