I showed up with my notebook, a Cabin & Cub product that we carry at Winkel, ready to go.
Akemi provided a glimpse into the fascinating world of letterpress, both as an art form and as a way to make a living in times past. The stories of competitions at the CNE for men to win jobs in larger cities with their typesetting skills were exactly the kind of lore I love.
The studio is a feast for the eyes. It sent my heart strings thrumming - being able to poke about and look at type, and see others' prints, and getting to snoop in drawers and boxes and fondle some of her handmade paper.
We were soon left to ourselves to find what we wanted to print. Fondling blocks and exploring drawers ...rowr!
Then Akemi gave us some guidance on setting the words - like the basics: they go in reverse.
I made my choice - something small for the show press. I'd brought my own letterpress blocks from home to try on the Vanderhook press.
Time for smooshing ink. That's the technical term.
Setting is a finicky business - everything has to be in there, right and tight.
And finally, a print.
With much tweaking, I learned to make quality prints. Said tweaking involves, building up layers of tape on the back of the blocks to bring everything up to the same level. That was the no-fun part. Really, the only no fun part.
What's fussypea about? Never mind right now. All in good time.
Then, it was on to using the Vanderhook. The Big Kahuna. The one where the fear of ruining a $300 roller stayed the hands of a few. But I'm glad I went for it. With Akemi's great help and patience, I was able to use the letters of our names that we've collected to make a print.
But, learning about letterpress prints was also learning about myself. The patience and discipline needed to make excellent prints of consistent quality - and those qualities being lacking in my life, well, it means I'll likely always work at the level of a dilettante.
I moved back to the show card press, where I was happy to putter and make some more prints.
I'll look forward to more classes there in the future, and will dream of finding the perfect show press and collecting type for it. In the meantime, with Kozo so close to home, there are beautiful cards and prints to buy; blocks to fondle, and Akemi - a nice person I love to talk to - to visit. Chatty like me, and accommodating to a fault - I stayed about three hours past the time the class ended.
In the meantime, it's back to mourning the state of my dirty windows.
