My Love Affair with a Press

I have always loved typography. There is something sexy yet strong about a simple letter in the perfect font, color size and it can say so much more then what the letters spell out. I have always wanted to be a designer of some sort, but letterpressed stationary, simple cards for fun, decorating envelopes or small posters.... this is my new obsession! Even the way the plates imprint into the paper is sexy! Oh and it doesn't end there! Even graphics and designs look crisp and limited. Yep, I love it!

Alas, I am of course, broke! And living in a small mountain town, resources are slim. Even with a great uncle who holds a soft spot for print and presses not far from me, I found myself still at a loss on finding information on how I could actually "do" instead of just "dream it up." Even the internet was sparse on information, or at least beginner information. But I have finally found the treasures I was searching for, well at least on this quest. And just in case there is anyone else out there looking for how to build a homemade letterpress, I thought I would share some of my finds.

Here is a guy who made a homemade press to print his own 'save the dates' cards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z8pTri90JoE

Over at ReadyMade Magazine, one site I am amazed I ever lived without! they have also come up with another version of the homemade press. Although lacking a bit on construction pictures, still a great start. As stated in the instructions, this press is good for line art.
http://readymademag.com/printarchive/article?id=1230
and here is the pdf link of what the press should look like:
http://readymademag.com/letterpress/letterpress_illo.pdf
Again from ReadyMade, a great description on how to print with this press:
http://readymademag.com/letterpress/

Then there is the great Charles Morgan who unselfishly shows how to build a hydraulic press. You may need protective ear wear with the bungees, but maybe there is room for improvement on these hazards?

http://www.mossworks.com/docs/BottleJackPress.pdf

And last, but of course not least there is instructables.com, another site I can't live without. Here is a post of another version of the homemade press:

http://www.instructables.com/id/Build-a-Letterpress-&-Use-It-to-Print-Things

And it looks like there is one better place to go then Briar Press for printing press information.
http://www.briarpress.org/ or Vandercook at http://vandercookpress.info


I am at that place where I want to burst and do it all, but stuck in mud at the same time. I guess I will start with the design and have it sent off for a plate and hopefully by the time I get it back I will have constructed a homemade press that will help me live out some of my offbeat fantasies!
I will be sure to post all progress on this off course!

Self Care

I have been told over and over again how self care should be my first priority.... Sure! And I promise, it totally is.... After I take care of the bills, work, pissy clients, what's for dinner, why don't I have any money in my bank account, yet work all the time? And though I feel this list could go on all day, that would just remind me more and more of things I need to get done, but won't have time to get done, thus ending in me feeling a bit in despair, and ultimately out of control. You have heard of selective hearing, right? I have selective priorities....not really, but I think I pick and choose which ones I stress about and which ones I don't. To be honest, for the most part, I feel like I have this gooey, slime, jello like substance surrounding me. And when something comes my way, after I dodge and duck to avoid it, it catches up to me, probably the slime holding me back? At this time it hits me, but I would say 99.8% of the time by the time this conflict makes contact with my gooey-slime it slides down towards my feet, I am done with it. I can't decide if it is because I have too much to stress about that I subconsciously refuse to deal with, or I really do have a lot to worry about and my brain and body can't jam one more item in? Or, there is a slight possibility, that I really don't worry about much, and thus just don't care about the stress attack, well, except for cleaning off the goo....
I don't know? But better yet, I don't think I care. Most of the time I believe I am true and perfect follower of the phrase, "grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change; the courage to change the things I can; and the wisdom to know the difference. ...," and in so many ways, may be the only reason I am still a bit sane? But what if I don't know the difference and just blow off everything?
O-Well.
However this began (some tangent of something totally different, I am sure), I think it is mostly coming from this eternal pressure I have began to put on myself these days. I have gazillion (real word-in the new dictionary!) interests and thoughts and ideas of something I want to do, write, create, buy, sew, cook, and again, another list that can go on and on. And most of the time I get too overwhelmed with just thinking of my options that I tire before the pen touches the paper, or any other graphic way I can describe the previous mentioned activities.
I guess I feel like everyday I have a continuing war within me. On one side, we have the the go getter, do it all-people pleaser verses the and the Bob Marley, everything is gonna be alright/take it easy and as it comes. I feel like a walking contradiction within sometimes. Like parts of me needs order and checklists, with well thought out goals, mostly so I don't waste time, however the other just wants to finger paint and see what comes?

On Your Marks, Get Set.....

I guess "go!" is all that is left?

I always have a problem when I get a new journal. This couldn’t be any truer, but I am a bit neurotic when it comes to finding that safe place to jot down my deepest secrets or biggest wishes. I guess I have always had this feeling that I am being watched, so when I finally do decide to write something in a journal(mind you, I never, ever, write on the first page of any journal-more on that later) I feel like I am always writing it for someone else to read, so in the end, I guess I never have found that safe place in the pages of some gorgeous leather bound intricate journal that I paid too much for and will never actually fill it all the way up, because I have always moved on to a new one at some point, as if changing the cover of my journal changed the outcome of what is in it. I must have at least nine, if not more, journals floating around. Not one of them have I written in to the last page. I have a very low attention span.
So all of that being said-why would someone geared the way I am subject her inspirations, dramas, and goals on the revolutionary break down of society, AKA the World Wide Web? I have no answer for that. Maybe it’s because I can edit the way it looks at any given time? More then anything, I just needed a place to start. I have been trying to be creative lately. Schedule time to be creative? Who does that? I mean, it comes to you when it comes to you. Don’t avoid the obvious desire to create anything! If we did, then there would be a lot of plans out there that never materialized from the cocktail napkin. When I realized how ludicrous this was, I decided this was as good of a starting block as any. Plus it is a perfect spot to get what I am actually moved to create; out in the open. Since I tend to give, sell or lose for some reason everything I have ever done, hopefully this will grow into a decent portfolio. At least it will get me motivated to put down all of the surreal dreams and ideas on something more permanent then my memory!