visualchemist

A dear friend from high school moved up to the Seattle area and it had been years (years!) since we last saw each other. Being the socialite and foodie that she is, she invited my family to her last minute birthday party. I needed a last minute gift, so I quickly hand set some lead type I had laying around and pressed a set of notecards for her. I hope she likes them! Happy Birthday, Miss Almie!

*If you are interested in a similar or custom letterpress set like this, get in touch!

I love the vibe up here in the Seattle area, and the Spring season is super inspiring, but I was starting to having letterpress withdrawals. Since I was away from my equipment, I was itching to see what the local antique shop and flea market had laying around. I had a hunch I’d find some form of letterpress something or other for sale, so I visited the “rain or shine” Fremont Flea Market.

Among loose doll arms, vintage keys, and other etceteras, I found several cases of wood type laying around, but at a price I wasn’t interested in paying. In that sea of vintage wood type, I could not completely spell out “letterpress junkie” so I decided to pass. I wasn’t really planning on buying anything, anyway.

I came. I saw. I scratched the itch. The Mister would be proud of me.

Okay, that title sounds a little more dramatic than it needs to be. Well sadly, and happily, I just found out that my husband is going to temporarily be relocated to the Seattle area for a few months. That means I get to tag along, but it also means having to part with my presses for a few months. But not only do I have to part with my presses, I also have to say goodbye to my semester-long letterpress class that I have been taking with Rachelle Chuang, of the International Print Museum. Boohoo. Just when we were getting to know each other. =( I like her!

For my last session, I was joined by one of my old college instructors, Wendy Emery, who also happens to be a permanent fixture at the Print Museum. I was actually late to my last session because Wendy and I went to check out my next acquisition… a Challenge Advance 19″ guilloine table-top antique paper cutter! Woohoo! I’ll share more about that later… perhaps when I return from my trip.

I thought I’d share (part of) a class project. Disclaimer: It’s been years since I last carved into linoleum AND my prints weren’t coming out as solid as I would’ve liked. Maybe it’s an old piece of warped linoleum? Eh, better luck next time.

*And for those of you paying attention, yes, the “T” in that first shot would totally have shifted. I snapped the photo before the lock up was ready to go!

I was itching to use my vintage wood type so I printed up three sets of valentine’s day cards over the weekend. I hope to build up a line of typography driven cards for now, then branch out and do the fancy stuff later. I’ll add to the collection soon, so keep checking back. These guys are now on sale through my etsy shop.

Finding vintage wood type for sale is like looking for the latest iPhone on the first day of release. There just isn’t enough to go around, everyone wants their hands on it, and if you see it on eBay, good luck to you and your wallet!

I was fortunate enough to stumble on some rather inexpensive SignPress wood type. And while I opened up the window to let in some fresh warm air, Brad J. of Mukwonago, WI., was out dropping my package off at the post office in -12 degrees and was bracing for an evening with a -40 degree windchill. I had never heard of Mukwonago until this point, and now, whenever I look at a map or hear “Wisconsin,” I can think of Brad and Linda, and the awesome wood type they’ve passed along to me. I can assure them that these vintage wood letters are going to enjoy the rest of their days in this beautiful Southern California climate.

As I organized the box of 200+ jumbled characters into my empty type case (drawer), I was pleasantly surprised to find that I was only missing a capital A and an M. Altogether, I acquired a set of (font unknown at this point) san serif capitals, lowercase, numbers, punctuation, and a script lowercase set of Murray Hill. Not a bad purchase at all. I also discovered a little scribble on one of the cent symbols that says “Jeff Gibson sucks.” I don’t know who Jeff is, but whoever he is, someone obviously thinks he isn’t worth a cent, and it will forever remain on this tiny piece of letterpress history. Priceless.

On New Year’s Day, I was online when I stumbled onto a listing for letterpress type… free to a good home. Free? I’ll take it! I’ll give it a good home! Promise.

My current letterpress type collection was modest, at best, and I actually was in the market for more clunky obsolete letterpress stuff. The problem was that the free type was way over there, and I was way over here. So now what?

Luckily, my SIL, Angie, is a Bay Area photographer and was already planning a trip into the city. I asked if she could do me the hugest favor of picking up the case full of lead type and a couple emails and a few days later, I became the proud new owner of 18pt Cooper, 24pt Cooper, 36pt Gothic, and a vintage type case (sight unseen, up to this point). Yahoo! BTW, Amanda G., thank you so much!

I couldn’t wait to see what the freebies looked like. The suspense was killing me, so Angie was kind enough to take a few photos. Eventually these heavy lo-tech lo-fi blocks of coolness will make their journey to Southern California, (via those handy USPS flatrate boxes), but until then, I’ll just stare at these photos all day.

Photos: Angelica Realce

This year, I asked my Secret Santa for vintage wood type for Christmas. Goofy, yes, I know. My sister-in-law, Angie, read my wishlist and personally hand picked these vintage pieces of wood type as a Christmas present for me. Apparently, she lives next to an antique/junk shop that happens to have a bunch of letterpress type laying around. Lucky her. Here’s to the start of a great wood type collection!

Also, a few weeks ago, I had put out a wanted ad on BriarPress for some new to slightly used Pilot rollers. I received a few responses, but one offer was the best. My barely used Pilot-sized Super Rollers, bought from Paul F., arrived in time for a photo with the Christmas tree. Along with the delivery were a set of roller bearers and an ounce of copper spacers. Yay!