to be sated

The dragon has been fed. I swear, if I hadn’t gotten to printing today - I was going to lose it. I got my new press on Friday morning and I’ve only been able to put it to use this afternoon. I had set myself up days prior waiting for the press to arrive, getting the necessary tools and equipment. I liken the preparation to a nursery for a baby. Yes, I’m nuts. But yes, I’m passionate about this. My little press in my little apartment - Pinkish was the mood and so I reached for the red and white. Maybe it’s because I’ve done extensive research that it wasn’t surprising how the mechanics of this press worked. Aside from my five minute dillema on locking the chase, everything went smoothly. The inking was a joy to watch. The brand new rollers on the press slid up the ink disc with ease and the pink spread itself happily and evenly.The actual printing was a stroke of luck.

I just eyeballed the placement of the paper with the gauge pins in positon acting like a square. Nothing was crooked and due to the quality of the ink, type and press - the registration was flawless. And of course, the colour on the white stock was really lovely. I had printed ten cards in less than five minutes. Feels really good to get away from the computer and just get down and dirty with my hands. The creative results were immediate and satisfying. All this build up and contemplating on purchasing a press finally came to a pause. So good.

The clean up was a bit of a doozy. But good thing I took the workshop with Justin, otherwise, not having seen the cleaning process in action would have been real a mess. This part of the process was also a cinch. It does take some time, but it helped to have all of the right stuff (vegetable oil, old cloths, q-tips, newspaper and cardboard) at my fingertips. This short stint with my press (gots to name it something) was prep for the next time. Pressing takes some planning and it’s better to do alot of printing to make the use of the ink and clean up worth it.