New Vintage Furniture...not what you think

Letterpress furniture.  Not what you expected?  If you look up the definition in Wikipedia, here is what you get - In typesetting, furniture is a term for pieces of wood that are shorter than the height of the type. These pieces are used to lay out type by blocking out empty spaces (white space) in a layout set in a chase.   Nowadays, furniture can be hard to find.  Even harder to find the furniture in a furniture cabinet.  Even harder to find all of these for a reasonable price.

All of these were accomplished at the very end of my Sunday trip to Cedarburg.  I did not intend on finding letterpress materials on this trip so I was extremely excited to land such an unexpected find.

I will clean this up and place it right next to my letterpress. 

 

Among my other finds was this English pottery dog bowl from the 70's.  I whipped threw that flea market like a professional ninja picker so quickly that I was done in record time.  So, I headed back to the Saturday flea market on my way home on Sunday.

 

I picked up the last two vintage  pull-down charts.

The paramecium.  Remember that?

The circulatory system and functional organs of the frog.  Oh, sophomore biology class.

Lately I have become interested in vintage kitchen items.  I had never seen one of these beaters with the bowl.  No whipped cream flying back onto you as you whip away.

Other Found Items

These are just some straggler items from Cedarburg that I forgot to post.  I bought this vintage guide to the Italian bus line.   I love the graphics on it.

This is my little old school desk that I bought from one of the tool dudes.  Metal base and a wood top.  It is the perfect size and sturdiness that I need for my table top letterpress.

Plus, the well will catch my pencils if they roll away.

Bo-nan-za

I was walking past an antique shop window when I noticed a bunch of wood type on display. The shop was closed, but I wanted to find out what type they had and what it would cost. The other day I went in and discovered that they had a bunch more in a box in the back. Among them were these BIG letters.

There was just an assortment of fonts and sizes. I feel like It was like finding buried treasure. When I asked the price I was in disbelief. I bought every last piece.

This bag was part of it along with another box full. I counted close to 100 pieces. I cannot wait to try out some more printing.

First Run

Here are some examples of my first try printing on the letterpress with wood type.

I am pretty happy with the results.

The ampersands I purchased definitely show a lot of the life that they have lived. You can notice the nicks and imperfections. I really like that about wood type, but I think that is a matter of taste.

Pressing on in 2011

Quite some time ago I stated that I was going to learn more about letterpress by actually doing some. My poor tabletop press has been so lonely. After viewing the film about the Hamilton Wood Type Museum I decided I had to act sooner than later. Today I rectified the situation. I headed up to the Platen Press Museum to do some printing and learn a thing or two. Isn't it all so lovely?

This is the back room where I did not work due to the fact that it is the middle of winter and that place is not heated.

Can you believe all of that type from floor to ceiling?

Oh, and the presses. Everywhere. Every kind.

Type was sorted, paper was printed and much was learned by yours truly. I cannot wait to head up there again for some more schoolin'.

Just in time

These wood letterpress blocks arrived at my door just in time. Aren't they cool? With any luck, they will be more than something decorative. I will find out today and hopefully have something to show by the end of the week.

First print

After I went to the rummage sale today (where many bargains were found), I ventured up to the Platen Press Museum again. I went to pick up some line gauges and to have a lesson in using my press. I have to admit that it has been a nice piece of sculpture that I have admired daily. With the help of Paul, I was able to learn how to remedy the many problems I might encounter in my first attempts at printing.
Half the fun of being in that museum is looking at all of the great presses he has accumulated.



This is where I made my first attempts at composing, locking up and getting my form ready.

It might look like much, but I was very pleased to be able to use the thing successfully. My first print.

birthday gift

Several months ago I stumbled across a blog written by a woman who was learning how to use her own table top letterpress. I was immediately hypnotized. I started to search the web looking for all things letterpress. I looked on ebay to see what there was for sale and what the auction prices were like. Very often the prices were much higher than I expected and much more than I had to spend. I began to read Briar press regularly. It was there that I came across the listing for the annual sale at the Platen Press Museum in Zion. I wanted to purchase a letterpress as a birthday present to myself. (Hey, if nobody else is going to do it, you might as well do it yourself). After saving all of my pennies from every extra job I took on over the past months, I arrived at the sale prepared to find my press. I did . Here it is. It is a lovely Kelsey Excelsior 5 x 8.

For now, I am just staring at it in excitement. I cannot wait to begin using it. I have a beginning letterpress class this Friday.


Here are some pictures of the wall to wall presses at the museum.


Unfortunately, my camera battery ran out so I do not have many pics. I will have to go back and take some more to post.