Letterpress Assignment #1

I am so excited! This week I printed my very first letterpress assignment, here is a glimpse at the finished product (please overlook the spelling mistake, and the missing punctuation):



So maybe it isn't too impressive -- the goal of the assignment was to start getting us familiar with the press, to kiss the sheet (no impression), to have the letters crisp and the forms completely filled, and to probably gain a better appreciation of what you have to go through to "make ready".

I have to say that I have gained a huge appreciation of those who use letterpress -- this was only a one color imprint and the edition size was only 15. Total hours spent at the lab:
Composing the text: 3 hours
Set-up of text in chase: 1/2 hour
Set-up of press (includes inking, proofing, registration, padding, proofing again, inking again, adding more padding, proofing again and again): 1.5 hours
Edition run: 20 minutes
Clean up: 1.5 hours

It was worth every minute! I can't wait to share the other projects with you!

By the way, if you are wondering who the little cutie is standing beside my project, that would be Fanelli -- she can be found here with other adorable friends.