Weddingbee

Our wonderful letterpress invitation artist, Kristin Walker of Twin Raven Press sent me an email a few weeks ago describing with great excitement the new press she is shortly welcoming to her home.

If you are in love with letterpress, or just curious about how it works, read on to understand the nostalgic ambiance that surrounds these beautiful machines.

Kristin writes:

I went up to Portland last Wednesday to check out a new (well, new to me, but very old) letterpress machine that was for sale from a gentleman who restores them to working condition. I’ve been very excited to meet this man for a long time and I finally had the chance to do it. Here are three photos of the printing press I subsequently purchased from him that will be used to print your wedding invitations:

I’ve been wanting to buy a larger press than the one I currently use for a while and this was just too awesome of an opportunity to pass up. I’m going up there to retrieve it with a trailer and pallet jack about two weeks after my boyfriend and I move into our new house. Your wedding invitations and other materials will be the first job it will print since it has been restored.

The type of press is a Chandler & Price 8×12 New Style Craftsman and it is dated as being manufactured in 1912. It measures approximately three feet wide by four feet deep by 4 feet tall and weighs in at approximately 980 lbs. I got to start it up while I was in Portland and it works beautifully.

After reading your post about how bottled coke makes you feel a sense of nostalgia over historic & traditional Americana, I thought it only appropriate (and exciting!) to share a very historic piece of Americana with you that will be directly responsible for the grunt production of your wedding invites. Isn’t it cool? I almost want to name it the way that some people name their cars…

Want to see what one exactly Kristin’s press looks like while running? Watch this video:

And here’s another one where someone’s actually feeding individual sheets and printing from photopolymer instead of lead:

Finally, I highly recommend this SHORT documentary on traditional letterpress:

I can’t wait to help Kristin break this baby in! I think we’ll have to make a video of our own.

Do any other letterpress enthusiasts out there have any paraphernalia to share?