I decided to create a website for some of my letter press stuff, to operate alongside this blog.

Here is it is. The header and buttons are all digitally manipulated letterpress prints with wooden letters from my small collection. The Gill Sans at the bottom of each button is digitally added.

I'll be using it to share a bit more about me and my letterpress interests with more detailed posts on some of my projects. Eventually there will be a shop on the site, at the moment you can find some of my items for sale on etsy

Here on posterous I'll be gathering things that inspire me, so a sort of design and letterpress scrapbook.

Hope you enjoy both of them.

Those who know me know there are few things I like more than a new notebook. I'm a fan of moleskine naturally but I like to have a variety...after all there's so much paper to be explored.

I picked these up on Artifolk last week (on offer) they are pocket size so good for carrying around. They are for my attempts to practice drawing properly...something I've not done for years but as part of my exploring design I'm keen to try again.

As my first 'real' project I decided to print some Christmas cards using a lovely wooden block I got recently of a Christmas tree.

Once I was set up and ready to go I printed rather more than I'd planned...

Here they are:

Square 14cm x 14cm (approx)

Printed on recycled card.

There about 30 sets available (in total) so if you are quick they can be yours for £11 for a mixed pack of 4 (one of each colour) with white (recycled) envelopes (P&P included, UK only). They will be hand numbered on the back by me.

If you'd like something really quite unique then get in by emailing me at:

theletterpresslab AT gmail DOT com

PS here is the print block before I started printing

Todays' work in progress is a one off recipe ideas book for a very good friend who has asked for some tips.

Rather than send an email I though a personal notebook would be nice and would allow me to use some of by food related letterpress blocks.

Because its a one off  I'm hand blocking which is very slow but easier than setting up the Adana.

I'm pleased with its slight quirkiness so far.

I I have been trying to get a few extra letterpress things on ebay lately. 

This was one of my successes.

Love how its wrapped like a gift and service was super swift.

And inside....

A rather large letter X

In my various letterpress adventures I've been trying out some different inks and paper combinations.

I have a 'standard' forme I use for testing the papers and inks...which I'm sure you'll see popping up as I experiment.

One of the inks I've really liked so far is this metallic mid gold

It's particularly good on red paper

Since getting my Adana 8 x 5 I've been accumulating bits and bobs of kit. 

You don't quite realise some of the things you might need to be able to do projects.

Type obviously. But also hand rollers, inks, glass to pre roll ink, cleaning kits, spacing stuff, paper and so on and on.

Here's a peek inside the the IKEA filing cabinet that the Adana lives on top of...

Hopefully soon I'll do a list of where to find.....

For project 2 I decided to try to print a birthday card for my Dad.

I wanted a mixture of text and a picture. So off I went and rummaged through the bits I had and spent ages played with them and trying to set them in the forme.

What I realised was that something relatively simple is not as easy as it looks if there is lots of space to be carefully filled and the forme must made nicely tight so nothing wobbles when you print.

After lots of testing and packing the print bed and so on I got a few acceptable prints.

It has rather a school project quality I feel.

It was hard to get a good print impression from both the font and the countryside scene.

I think my Dad liked it, he said he did.

forme = a technical term for the composition of text and any pictures laid out ready to print with spacing material and locked tight in a frame specific to the print press being used (the frame being known as a chase)

note:

ink: Light Green (Hawthorn Printmaker Supplies Stay Open Ink)

paper: cotton rag pre folded square card with envelopes 210gsm medium texture (Khadi Papers)