wood type wonderland

With a bit of luck on my side and regular check ins on Kijiji and Craigslist, I recently scored in a major way for the snap + tumble studio!

A week ago, I found a listing for a California Job case on Kijiji. This isn't unusual as I come across these cases quite often in antique markets, Etsy and Ebay. This particular listing was accompanied by a photo and in the background I spotted some wood type. I wondered what other printing equipment was for sale or if the seller was willing to let go of the wood type. That evening the seller emailed back saying she indeed had some wood type, about 100 or so, to get rid of. A hundred pieces was more than enough for me!

The next day Chris and I arrived at her store in Aurora, Ontario and the seller showed me the wood type. As soon as I laid eyes on the collection, my head basically exploded. Five full trays of various sizes of type, all of them in great condition (my photos only show three trays). Some as large as 5"! I seriously doubt that there is a complete font here but I wasn't being picky. And there is certainly more than 100 pieces of wood type. After the seller left me alone to choose which type I wanted, Chris and I looked at each other like we had just found the candy jar!

Moments later, I told the seller that I was going to be taking all of them with me. She was quite happy since she's downsizing and needed it out of her shop. I made her an offer for the wood type and we both came out of the deal with mile-long smiles! She thought that I was going to re-sell the type or use it for scrapbooking. When I told her that I plan on using them for their original purpose she was pleasantly surprised.

Sunday was spent with a vacuum and mineral spirits. Each block carefully brushed and wiped. I don't have any storing solutions for these and am having some anxiety at the thought of organizing and separating them. Any volunteers? ;)

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