Adventures in Letterpress

This past weekend I had the chance to travel to Alexandria, VA for a day-long workshop in letterpress. I came across this opportunity on the web and could not pass it up! The 10am-6pm workshop consisted of a short lesson in the history/mechanics of letterpress that was followed by hands on learning. My boyfriend and I were allowed to design our own piece, put it together, and then print. Though it might sound pretty easy...this process takes hours to set up for...but it was definitely work the wait. We used a tabletop Chandler & Price Pilot press (6.5x10) to create 40 postcards and over 100 bookmarks. We opted for a green ink on a cream colored paper.
Here we are focusing hard on our type! Check out the awesome C&P Pilot press..don't ya love the green?? That thing might look small but it weighs around 250lbs.
Here is Dustin loading up his composing stick with type ... then ... fitting his type into the chase. The marble slab is used to easily slide the type/furniture around and to ensure a flat surface.
Ta-da! On the left is the final product... and on the right is the inked up type..beautiful right?
Although we were in the area for a few short hours...we had the opportunity to ride the metro into to DC for dinner. We were unfortunately surprised of how slow the trains run in DC...I think we were a little to use to the speeding subway of NYC.