Was.

Turns out I’ve lost my ink. I’m sure they are in a box somewhere. But, where? Which one?

So the press sits. Again.

UPDATE:

The ink has been found. Not really where it should have been. But, isn’t that always the case?

Well, with the ink, I’m ready to rock the press.

Here are a few shots of my first project since we moved into the new house and started the farm. I know the photography isn’t top notch, but I tried to catch the inherent awesomeness of the press.

It is awesome. I just need more type. Time, too. But especially type. I’m always accepting donations. Oh, and it’s a bit small. It’ll handle up 7×11 prints, but nothing larger. A couple days ago a fellow letterpresser offered me a larger one with extra type, but I had to pass for now; can’t afford it at the moment. These things are heavy and expensive to ship.

But, oh, how they are worth it.

So, in my foolish spontaneity, I took on the task of creating a carved and pressed card to give out this year. (Keep in mind, a press project can often take just a little longer than freakish-long; enjoyable, but time consuming.)

The first step was to come up with the design and layout of the card. I wanted to focus on the message, then build the art from them. Leaving out a lot of details of my thought processes here, I tried to focus on an image of the birth of Jesus from an African perspective. I found such an image and sketched this out (see left; click for a larger view) based on a Kenyan representation of the nativity. I found it simple, focused, and impressive.

The next step was to take the image, draw it onto the linoleum block, and start carving away. The block came mounted onto the cork board; very convenient. Three days later (yeah! 3 days) I finished. Click here for the final product. If you’ve never tried doing a lino cut, it can be very fulfilling and challenging. Once you get the hang of the carving tool (in my case it’s the red Speedball in the picture), you’ll think you can carve Picassos out of those things.

With the carving done, I was ready to bring out the press (click for a pic). Just because it’s a table top doesn’t mean it’s not heavy. Make no mistake: that sucker will not ask your permission before amputating your foot if it slips out of your hands.

On to the typography. I knew what I wanted to say on the card. I grabbed up the letters I needed, arranged the words on a metal plate, and set them aside. And this is precisely what will happen when you set your type a little too close to a two-year-old cookie monster: doom and gloom. For some reason, he was all smiles.

I rearranged the type and was ready for layout. As you can see in the image, I started by placing the type on the left and carving on the right. When printed, the image would be reversed. For now I wasn’t worried about word spacing or precise position. I needed to feel out the design, see if it’s what I wanted. It wasn’t, of course, so I did some rearranging. I ended up with the text on the right, image on the left…on the press that is. You can see that one here. If you want to see some closeups, have a look at these: a, b, c, and the important tiny tool in my arsenal: copper thin spaces.

Next up is locking in the layout. I grabbed my wood spacers and began the puzzle. If you’ve never done letterpress layouts, it’s like completing a puzzle that has no real end. There is no right answer, but there are innumerable wrong ones. You just have to keep putting in spacers, and moving things around, trial and error, until everything fits tightly. Have to keep checking the sorts (the individual letters) and the spacers to make sure nothing is wiggly. Here’s a couple shots of that: midway and finished.

When I was happy with the setup, I brought out the ink. I had two plates, two rollers, and my wife picked out purple and gold for the colors. Excellent choice. I ran a few test prints (click here for a look) to make sure everything was working: position, color, no movement of the type, no movement by the art, and proper impression of the art. I could tell the purple was going on too heavy, so I had to remedy that. I noticed the layout had to be moved about one inch to the right in the press. And it was obvious the linoleum block was not set tall enough; the paper was not able to reach the inked surface. So, when I moved the layout down (another pic), I took the chance to add some paper underneath the linoleum block, lifting it up. I ran some more trials, made a couple minor adjustments, and was finally happy. Here’s that pic.

Excellent! I printed up about 70, and called it a day.

I am looking to push my upside down kingdom production up a notch, and this poster is a step in that direction. Much like other posters I have worked on in the past, this one contains an element requiring the viewer and the owner to do a little more than just have a look. This is an area I’m quite passionate about, and enjoy promoting the cross-centered, upside down kingdom of our Lord.

Will I sell these and others? Yes. Do I do this for the money? Hopefully you know me well enough by now. But if you don’t, this is certainly not for the money. I hope to cover production cost (printing and shipping) and raise support for missions, local and international groups, and my own dreams of New Testament translation work in East Africa (or wherever else the Lord might take us).

I’m making available a small sample right now, along with a detail view of the center. This is not yet finished. I still have issues to work out, finer details to get under control, and make some changes here and there. The poster will be 11 x 17 when all is said and done. I hope to have this final within the week, then I’ll look at a future printing date. Feel free to leave comments; I look forward to them.

$25 unframed

11 x 17, white on black, printed on 100# stock.

No other piece of material I’ve ever created has raised as many questions and garnered as many comments as this simple typographic poster. The message, I believe, is both vital and clear. But something I like to do is get people to think a little bit longer on issues like this than maybe they are comfortable with.

People tend to initially see the poster and comment, “Hey. That’s nice.” I’ll ask, “Did you get it?” Then they’ll spend a little more time on it. That’s when I ask, “What’s missing?”

*Click*

That’s when the message comes together.

Each poster is currently listed at $25 for one (including packaging and shipping). Each additional poster within the same order is $15.

Payments will be processed via PayPal (unless we work out another arrangement). Please submit your order by email.

$25 unframed

11 x 17 poster printed on 100# stock.

Each poster is currently listed at $25 for one (including packaging and shipping). Each additional poster within the same order is $15.

Payments will be processed via PayPal (unless we work out another arrangement). Please submit your order by email.

11 x 17 cafe-like poster to add to your decor.

Each poster is currently listed at $25 for one (including packaging and shipping). Each additional poster within the same order is $15.

Payments will be processed via PayPal (unless we work out another arrangement). Please submit your order by email.

And let me be clear. I’ve used these programs (including open source and freebies) for professional work. You do not need the high and mighty, latest and greatest from Adobe, or this and that commercial install to do any sort of design work or basic research and writing. Maybe on another post I will list the tools I use for Scripture studies and translation work.

Research, Reading, Writing

• Of course a yellow pad and a pen, preferably a Paper Mate Flair pen.
• Skim: for reading PDF files. Free program I like using far better than the commercial Acrobat. I still use Acrobat for compiling PDFs, but Skim is sleek and fast. (Mac Only)
• Bean: for writing RTFs and DOCs. Very fast and has exactly what I need. Sure, programs like OpenOffice offer a lot more features and capabilities, but that’s well beyond my needs for writing. Bean opens and runs very quickly, and I can easily work through my piece. Great for jotting down and gathering notes. (Mac Only)
• InDesign CS2: for desktop publishing, magazines, posters, mailers, brochures, newsletters, and various other materials. I am going back to using Scribus, however. Scribus is very different than InDesign, takes some getting used to, but has been much more gentle on my machine than the memory sucking Adobe programs.

And that’s it. Not much to it.

Image work

• Photoshop CS2: for general image creation and editing, posters, etc. I would rather use the non-commercial, open source program GIMP on a regular basis, but GIMP is severely lacking in two major areas that I sorely need: colors for print media, and a top quality type manipulation element. Until they fix that, I’m going to use the tried and true professional’s choice.
• Illustrator CS2: for vector imaging, logos and my type posters. I’m starting to learn Inkscape more, the open source vector program of choice, and it seems to have what I need. It will just take time to adjust.
• Wacom Bamboo Fun tablet: this truly is fun. Here’s an image of the one I picked up. I can sketch, draw, edit, etc. as if I was using a pen or pencil. I am so glad my wife allowed me to pick one up earlier this year. It’s been extremely beneficial in many ways, especially in helping the hand not get so stuck on the mouse. Eventually I hope to get a Cintiq 12WX or the 21UX, but at the current price tags I can so wait.

Web Related

• Firefox: no need to say more. But, make sure you use the FireBug plug in. That should be a requirement.
• Komodo: coding CSS, HTML, PHP and pretty much any other coding you want to do. It’s a great simple TXT editor as well.
• Pixus: an Adobe Air application that lets me quickly check the dimensions of elements on my screen.

Various other tools

I also use various other tools like Klok, for keeping track of time I spend on projects; Blender and Google SketchUp for 3D work (I’ve been working on a young adults room redesign for our congregation using SketchUp); Jing for sharing screenshots and video captures; FontForge for fonts I’m working on; Miro for videos; and then Skype and Adium (Mac Only) for instant messaging.

Well, that’s it in a nutshell. Hopefully it’s somewhat useful to someone. And, again, I would love to see what tools you use, free or not.