Hi Victoria- I work on a C&P and have tuned up presses for other people. I’m north of Baltimore. Would be happy to help out- email me! bowerbox (a) gmail.

As far as I know the big ones are all in New York or Atlanta, or on the west coast. You might look up the American Made show and see if they are having one closer to you. 

I’m in too!

I do offer this, but I work at a digital print shop so I’m in complete control of color, stock, timing etc. We keep the 90# Lettra Digital in stock at work so I can run the digital portion on the same paper as the letterpress portion most of the time. It can be a hassle, but it can help with brides on a budget- if they can’t afford to have…[Read more]

ugh false advertising and reselling! it’s good to know the original source for some of this stuff, though 🙂

It’s possible they’ve changed! here’s hoping 😉

Unless they’ve changed it, they’re not really type-high- I ordered some and they are the standard mounted grey stuff- about 3/4 inch high. Dick Blick also advertised type-high blocks, which were the same 3/4 inch, and I called and expressed my extreme disappointment with their advertising. So, if you’ve ordered them, measure! And, if they really…[Read more]

I can’t suggest any west coast movers, but my advice is GET IT INSURED! Heard about a press that was destroyed in shipping by an incompetent “rigger.”

I did an AirBNB last time- it was great. Perhaps we could look for an apartment for a few people?

Thanks!Maybe we should create an animated gif part of the site, and everyone makes some 🙂

I’d be interested to do some research on this. At my work, we do a lot of printing with inkjet and solvent printers, and especially for the solvent ink the magenta and yellow are not guaranteed to last more than a year or two outdoors before fading. I’m sure it has to do with the pigments in various inks but I had not encountered fading with…[Read more]

Hallie: If you’re still looking, there’s a nice-looking 4 available in MD. Might be worth the trip!!http://vandercookpress.info/vanderblog/2011/10/vandercook-4-for-sale-in-md/ tell Preston that Val sent you 🙂  

You can use a rag slightly dampened with mineral spirits if they’re really grimy, just don’t saturate them and be sure to wipe off any excess when you’re done. Likely they’ll have a patina, that’s part of their charm!

Oh no! I would never have thought of that.. hopefully they didn’t think they were a weapon?! Nice to meet you, and everyone else who came- I really wish I could get to my shop today but it won’t happen till the weekend, I was so inspired by this weekend that I have a million new ideas. -bowerbox

Do you have pictures you can bring/post? I’m sure we can figure it out with the collective power of our awesome brains!

Yes- I’d like to know what kept you going this entire way! We all hit blocks- how do you get past them?

Quick thought Samantha- you might want to make sure that the springs on your roller arms are well greased and there’s no grit or dirt stuck in there- it sounds like the roller arms are not sliding properly. You might need to take out the pins holding the springs (if you’re comfortable doing it) and give all the pieces a good cleaning, grease them…[Read more]

The limitations of smaller presses- in the classes I’ve taught people are expecting to print full chases of type or cuts with a deep impression. How to get the best print by working with the press’s abilities!

If your cases are just a little dusty, you can vacuum them out with a brush attatchment or just dump them over on some grass a few times. Dirtier, see below.To clean cases with type in them, you can take a piece of window screen (fine mesh) and secure it over the top of the vacuum cleaner wand (take off the attatchments and rubber band it right…[Read more]