I am not sure quite how I got here with another book in the works, but it is related to having a big press that all I have done is fart with. How can I justify owning this thing when all I have done is proof a few blocks and look at it wistfully?
One of the sheets of Arnhem with 3 layers of ornaments. Not perfectly lined up, but good enough for my purposes. Turns out one reason this one didn’t quite line up is because I inadvertently cut about 50 sheets 12.5” instead of 12” Didn’t notice till I had printed half of them. Fun times trimming them down, a sliver on each side!
My other books are either at a stage where making progress is an effort, or I am waiting for supplies. They will get done, but nothing is as motivating as something new and shiny. This is a useless little book, but it is a fun interlude and maybe future customers will appreciate the junk more than the art, considering I am a very poor judge of which is which.
One reason I have not done much on the Vandercook is because it is capable of helping me to make things I have not done before, or at least not on this scale, speed, and quality. The bed is only a little larger at 14 1/2 x 20 than my Poco 0 (12x18), so I won’t be doing anything bigger than I already do, unless I come up with a cunning way to put together sheets to create a larger whole. But I can print a whole lot faster than on any of my other presses as is evidenced by the nearly 200 sheets I have put through it in the last few days—printing three layers on each side.
This is an alphabet book, made to showcase my current wood chromatic typefaces (7—with 2 more in the works). It will have a little story about Badger and his friend Honey, created with silkscreen. I’m using Arnhem 1618, a cotton paper I use for a lot of things, and Mohawk Superfine, a cheap all-purpose pulp paper that prints chromatic type well. It also is slow to dry so I am having to use cobalt to speed up the process.
Only 20 letters to go! But unfortunately, I am back to work this week which dampens my time on this and all my projects.
One of the practice pages for A.