Beginning

Hello!

I am a graphic and web designer that has fallen in love with letterpress (whats not to love, right?).

i thought i would try my hand at it by doing by wedding invitations. i am looking to buy a refurbished adana 8 x 5 from caslon. is this a good press to start on? i live in australia so very few presses come up for sale unfortunately, which is why i may need to buy from caslon!

any advice on getting started would be very much appreciated!

thanks in advance!

Rachel

Hi Rachel,

I started out with an Adana 8×5 back in 2006. I got one off ebay and an old printer friend from the UK picked it up for me, looked it over and added some books and such to help me out and then shipped it to the US. It’s a great little press. I only got it to do wedding invitations for one of my best friends. I got that press cheap and with a base, I was able to get photopolymer plates made. Don’t expect a very deep impression as it doesn’t have enough weight and pressure for it. I have since then fell in love with letterpress and have upgraded to a Golding Pearl OS#3. Here’s a few things to note about a table top press:

1. remember that you really can’t go much bigger than 4×7 printing area, if that. The biggest invite I did on it is 5×5. 
2. if you haven’t taken any, take some classes. I took a week long class at the San Francisco Center for the Books. I learned a lot.
3. the adana has holes on each corner of it’s base. my husband made me a solid wood bench for it and screwed it on so that if you do put some pressure on the lever, it won’t tip over on you.

Good luck! 

Hi Samantha,

thanks for your advice.

Since writing that post, i have taken the plunge and bought not one but two large presses. Once is a chinese platen pedal press, and the other a heidelberg windmill. i have used the pedal press to make my wedding invitations (teaching my self to use it), not 100% deep impression, better impress on text an image area. The heidelberg im going to get up and running after my wedding which is in 3 weeks. i will be seeking someone to teach me to use this as its a much more complicated machine! very exciting and love every minute of it.

hope your golding is fabulous!

thanks!

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