Finally printing....

I mentioned earlier in the week that I had moved from planning to preparing, and now I've done some printing.

And it feels good.

Barry very kindly spent the afternoon with me yesterday helping me get the letterpress part of the prints right. Partly because I have a shocking head cold and am struggling a bit; partly because he just loves letterpress; and partly because I love having help with the basics that I sometimes forget!

Together we blind-proofed the type and worked out where to register the paper. Then we built a high-tech registration board from a few bit of cardboard and some tape.

We popped the etched page into the registration boards.

Inked up the type.

Barry pulled the wheel around on the Lightning Jobber.

I love all the inkiness on the rollers...

And we printed 12 pages which was pretty darn good!  It was a tricky bit of registration - just setting the type accurately around the blank square and etching properly on the etching press, and then getting it all to come together  with the letterpress - I was chuffed!  I am aiming for an edition of 5 for each of the works (3 more to go) so having done 12 will give me plenty to chose from.

I have also set aside 3 to work on with calligraphy - altho the style has changed enormously from my earlier trials.  I do so love the process of an evolving artwork...