and now for a paper making studio!!

I'm puttering around in the studio basement getting the space ready for a hand papermaking workshop that I'm teaching. When I got the studio we put in a bunch of pot lights to make it brighter, but It's weird being down there and not knowing if it's light or dark out. This must be what it's like to work in an office building cubicle.

Checked out my beater and I guess I haven't used it since it was used in "The Time Traveller's Wife" movie. I have an extra pipe (I think it's theirs), my drain stop has a broken handle and my makeshift engine protector is missing. Ugh! Have to do some McGyver-ing!

My felts are all in one place, I have to clear the air dryer, and put the press on the floor by the drain... hmmm... better check to see if the pump has enough fluid to create pressure... and where are my boards?!?
The workshop starts this Sunday and the first thing we'll do is talk about types of paper, what the differences are, fibres, and ways to manipulate pulp. After that we'll start getting the dry stuffs ready for pulping. The five participants will be learning how to make paper from scratch. We're starting with cotton and linen fabrics for the pulp. Using linters will come later when we need a boat load of pulp to work with!

I love the fact that I can turn our old rags (t-shirts, pants, towels, etc.) into gorgeous pieces of coloured papers. That is what I call Up-cycling!

I've got the rags but I'm still waiting for the riches!

Photos from Don Black Linecasting

These are pictures of the Don Black Linecasting  "class trip" I organized in the beginning of October. I forgot to bring my camera so these are taken by our friend, photographer Michael Robinson, who came on the trip because he likes all things old!
Thanks Mike!

Like the type says.

 On the way into the Warehouse

When you walk into the warehouse this is what you see on your right. In the foreground is the Intertype machine and in the background against the wall is a flatbed press they use for proofing. Craig was kind enough to show everyone how the Intertype machine worked and he also cast some type for some of the group!

Ooo! Hot foil stamping!! Craig is demo-ing the hot foil stamper for Nerissa.

Shiny!

One of the most popular styles of presses these days! This is a floor model.

Two part qoins. I used these at school!

The name is in the photo! I still have a fear of these! Joe from Pomegranate Press told me a "poke your eye out" story about one!

A beautiful old paper cutter.

Lots of wood furniture!

Large Foundry type

some of the mechanical parts of the Intertype machine.

Printing some cuts

Rolling!

Beth takes a look at some images "hot off the press"! She even bought a small press just like my Showc

The cuts and the print on the bed of the press.

They have walls of drawers of letterpress stuff!!

Craig's work area.

A pile of lead "pigs" for casting type. We used them for weights for pressing handmade paper when I was at O.C.A.!

More drawers of stuff AND a bunch of presses that Craig is working on.

 

 MORE!!!

Packaged type and ornaments for sale.

Tanya from Snap + Tumble checking out the Ludlow mats and composing them in a casting stick. Craig let my husband, Ken, demo type casting on the Ludlow for us.

Drawers of type!

I believe these drawers contain mats for the Ludlow. The drawers are beautiful!

Wood type in a drawer.

Tanya, Christine and I looked at drawer upon drawer of cuts!

Craig setting up the hot foil stamper.

I was looking for ornaments and a cute little font to use for my Wayzgoose Anthology submission.

Craig talking with Nerissa.

Don Black Linecasting

We had a great time on Saturday morning at Don Black Linecasting! I was a bit groggy as I am a night person, but I managed to get to the studio before 9 am to meet everyone. Luckily we had three vehicles and so everyone got to go to Scarborough by car. Unfortunately we had several people who had to drop out last minute due to illness. Yup. It's that time of year again where colds are making their rounds of infecting unsuspecting humans!

When we got there Tanya and Christine had already arrived. I talked to Craig a bit and then we decided to start. Well, I had to start. After introducing Craig (Don's son who has taken over the business), the space and my husband (who was demo-ing type/linecasting on the Ludlow) everyone basically went wherever they wanted and started poking around and asking questions. 

We were lucky! Craig had a variety of presses that were restored and ready for sale. I fell in love with a Showcard flatbed press that has a bed size 4x my Mini Showcard! It was beautiful, but if I get another press I really want a flatbed press with a bigger bed than my Vandercook. I wish I had enough cash to buy one of every style of press... that's the collector in me... but one must at least try to be practical! I answered quite a few questions about presses. I know one person bought a small press and I believe another has their name on a press for when it comes in. 

Craig was a wonderful host! He patiently and kindly answered SO many questions, he let us rummage around freely and just before we left he even reminded us that the Intertype was heated up and if we had time we should see it in motion. I felt everyone should see that! It's an amazing machine. I used one when I was in art college and loved it. Craig showed us how it basically worked and cast people's names for them. A great souvenir from a great day at Don Black Linecasting (the letterpress candy shop!).

I was so busy I forgot to take pictures. Luckily our friend Mike Robinson, who is a professional photographer, took plenty of photos. He's putting them on a disk for me. I hope to have those up by the end of the week!!

For now all I have are pics of the cast type I bought for a short piece about my son for Wayzgoose 2011 and some ornaments that I found to add to the few I already had.