VISUALCHEMIST

Rather than continuing to spend money on workshops with very limited press time, I decided that I would put my hard earned money to good use by buying my own press. It took me a week of searching to realize that finding my perfect press (a Chandler & Price Pilot) was going to be a difficult task, as anyone that has one isn’t exactly willing to give it up, or anyone looking to get rid of theirs is looking to make a small fortune.

In my search, I found out how amazingly helpful and tight the letterpress community actually is. I’ve made contact with a lot of the Who’s Who’s in the business and they were all extremely helpful in turning me to someone they thought could better answer my questions. (Special thanks to Dave Churchman!)

I’m a believer in fate and destiny and I believed all along that the press that was meant for me would eventually find me… WE would eventually find each other, and I was willing to wait until that day came.

Two weeks passed and after countless emails, eBay/Craiglist searches, and antique store hopping, I decided to try my luck at the International Printing Museum to see if they had any presses they could part with. It turns out that they had several, although they each were in need of some sort of TLC/repair. I managed to have a press reserved for me, but after a month of patiently waiting, I decided to take a quick look to see what was up for grabs on Craigslist.

CHANDLER & PRICE PILOT

Suddenly, the sea parted and the stars aligned, angels sang and the sun peeked from the clouds. A local Pilot had been listed just the night before! I emailed the seller and sure enough, it was still available.

Woohoo!

We made arrangements to meet and four days later, I was finally the proud owner of a new (old) Chandler & Price Pilot Letterpress.

I brought my family along and made the quick drive up to Hollywood where we picked up all 200 lbs of solid cast iron, and a bunch of great letterpress extras. Inks, furniture, lead type, tympan paper, a Boxcar base — just to name a few. Christine of Tooknap Press was way more than generous in handing over the miscellaneous doo dads that would have taken me forever to acquire. I left feeling like I had won some geeky letterpress lottery or something. In a way, I think I did.

We finally took the press out of my car earlier tonight and I can’t wait to play with all my new toys! I’ll share photos once I can get into the boxes and sort through my new (old) treasure.