Dear Readers,

I offer my sincere apologies for not posting for so long! A new job, and lots of projects are to blame. But I have vowed to be much better about posting and showing off all the fun things I have been working on. What follows is a recap of the last few months!

I have been learning how to use a milling machine to edge my own blocks, instead of making Doug do it. This is going to speed up all of my work, since I won’t have to wait (rather impatiently) for Doug to get up the enthusiasm to do the work for me.

Learning to use a milling machine

Next, I spent the end of summer helping Em Space to plan our annual Letterpress Fair. This year I managed to secure the Oregon Rail Heritage Center for the event. It ended up being the most amazing venue! In convincing the board to allow us to rent the space, I learned a lot about the commonalities between letterpress and trains. For instance, Did you know:

• In 1859, Thomas Edison started the first newspaper to be printed on a train. ‘The Grand Trunk Herald’ was printed on a small tabletop printing press in a baggage car and circulated to railroad employees.

• In 1897, Chandler & Price (the printing press company) advertised their sending “twelve carloads of Chandler & Price Gordon Presses,” of course by train, as “the largest single shipment of platen presses ever.”

Cool, huh?! I love history.

The Letterpress Fair was held on October 12th. I had a booth (that somehow I managed to omit in all my photos– oops). But I did get some good pictures of the event.

Letterpress Fair at the Oregon Rail Heritage Center

The Fair was a part of Design Week Portland. One of the special things we did for the event was a “Steam Powered Design Challenge.” We challenged 20 designers to create images to be printed with a steam roller! It was really awesome.

Inking plates for the Steam Powered Design Challenge

After the Fair was over, I was able to turn my attention to my own projects. First off was to organize all of my type. I haven’t quite finished, but my cat (Thursday) does his best to keep my company.

Thursday: Guardian of the Type Cases

I have also printed a few new cards and I have begun a lot of new blocks for woodblock prints! It is going to be a busy winter, and I promise to keep up the flow of information throughout it all!

I’m glad to be back to sharing all my musings with you. Stay tuned for more!