I think I want a Vandercook now…
Hope everyone had a good Easter break! I managed to escape the rainy weather for 2 days at least by heading down to some bushland that we own down in Goulburn where the weather was much nicer.
The main reason for going down there? I had my bright yellow, brand new dirt bike to test out! For the most part it was fantastic until yesterday when I was too confident for my own good and went flying through a rocky section, hit a big rock and got flipped off the bike. Now I have a banged up elbow, bruises, scrapes where my goggles dug in and a bruise under my eye. Sigh, that’ll teach me.
The good news though? On the rainy days I was at home I managed to gain a little space down in the garage so I now have a shelf and a set of drawers next to the press. Now I just need to work out the lighting problem as it’s really dark down there. Oh and I sent off a new set of designs to Boxcar Press to be made into plates so I will hopefully have something new to show in the next few weeks!
Nothing much to report of the printing side, I’ve been working on some new designs so haven’t really printed much in the last few of weeks. Last week on a rainy saturday I decided to try printing with my little Adana upstairs in the apartment instead of working down in the garage. Wow, I actually thought with the experience I’d gained on the larger press that it would be easy now on the Adana but was I wrong! Even though I’d leveled the platen and checked the roller height I was still getting heavier printing on the bottom than the top - everything was uneven no matter what I did. Perhaps I gave up too quickly though thinking it was going to be easy.
Anyway, thought I’d post a link to an old Chandler & Price for sale on ebay. I’ve been watching it since it was listed and after much consideration have decided not to bid - for one the price has jumped so much over the last day - maybe a little too much? The problem is there are so few for sale in Australia I think the price of them has become quite inflated. Secondly - I just don’t have the room for it! I don’t think I realised how small my little Hogenforst press is compared to a Chandler & Price! 400kg compared to a 1-1.5 tonne monster!
So for the time being I’m going to stick to the little guy and master him first, I’m realising the limitations of a smaller press but I’m designing around them now, no large designs, keep everything small and simple - which luckily is what my style of designing is!
Here’s a sneak peek at some of the new stuff I’m designing. I still have a lot of work to go yet before I get more plates made but I think these are going to look fantastic once I get them on the press.
The dreaded Facebook, I’ve been avoiding it for years and I may be the only person left who’s not on it yet. While I still don’t want a Facebook account for myself, it kind of makes sense to make one for Seven Sparrows so I can share what I’ve been doing so far.
I’ll do my best to keep it updated!
If you’ve ever tried to level a platen before you’ll know how frustrating it is. Even more so if you don’t have any type to lock up in the corners!
So in my frustration while searching through Briar Press I came across John’s platen gauge at Perennial Designs. What a life-saver it was! All you have to do is remove the packing from the press, adjust the cyclinders on the gauge so they fit the corners of your platen and then close the press. Adjust the screws until the cyclinders are tight but still can be moved. Then move the gauge to the other side of the platen and repeat. Double check both sides again to be sure and then you’re done!
This is the press that I’ve been restoring for the last couple of months. It’s a Hogenforst Rapid. As far as google is concerned it’s not a very well known press so it’s been difficult to find out any information about it, let alone a manual. All I’ve been able to find is a sales booklet - in German!
The previous owner of the press had said it hadn’t been used for about 10 years and that his father had used it to brand leather wallets many years before that. Luckily though, they had covered the whole press with grease so it was in pretty good working condition if a little dirty.
A tip for those who are thinking about buying a press - find out as much detail about the location and access to the press before buying. Although I had talked to the owner a couple of times, he had failed to mention that there were a few stairs and limited access. That’s kind of a problem when you’re trying to move 400kg and only have a engine hoist which won’t fit through the access door!
Luckily though they had a industrial trolley and with the help of a lot of straps and three men we were able to lift it down the stairs and slide it on to the trailer. It was quite a scary experience driving from the Blue Mountains to Sydney with an upright top-heavy press strapped to a tiny trailer, but luckily it was uneventful, and unloading it with the engine hoist was easy - even if I did have heart palpitations seeing my press hanging 10cm off the ground.
Where do I start??
My name’s Simone and I’m a web designer who has an obsession with paper!
I’m always on blogs like Oh So Beautiful Paper and Paper Crave looking at invitations and cards and had always wondered how these beautiful letterpress pieces were created. After watching a video of a old Chandler & Price press in action I became even more facinated with the process and started searching for a press of my own to learn on.
Mid last year I ended up buying a Adana 8x5 (pictured above) but since then I’ve also purchased another press which I’ve been restoring for the last few months and have only just started printing on.
Follow me on my steep learning curve!
