to buy or not to buy

I’ve always said to myself (lately) that if I had the chance to buy a letterpress, I would. And now, that opportunity is here. So what am I so afraid of? Maybe I’m not sure of what I’m getting myself into. I see the cards, the pretty colours, the lovely impressions, the sexy letters. But I don’t see the goings on before the blessed results. I’ve never been good at the technical stuff. I know how I want something to look like, but knowing how to do it is a different matter. Take for instance the portfolio collecting dust somewhere in my closet. The ideas were good, but the execution poor. [Another story for another time.]

So back to what I was saying. Would it be wise to give a few hundred bucks on an antique press that supposedly has all its parts when I don’t even know how to use one? Let’s also talk about the added costs of paper, ink, font sets (I will want for many) etc. Just because I’m in love with letterpress, does that mean I should do it? Or is it a look-but-don’t-try kind of thing? Am I fooling myself? Is this small but cast iron piece of equipment going to sit in the corner of my room and laugh at me? Oh god. But what if I learned how to use one? Would someone hold a letterpress workshop in TO already? Is there a Letterpress for Dummies I can get my hands on? Knowing me though, I’d get right to it and experiment. Do it and see what I get.

I dream of creating sweet nothings with my bare hands. Postcards, notecards, labels, tags, cards, anything, something. But I can’t do any of these things without a letterpress. So…I suppose there’s my answer.