progress report.

I must admit that I underestimated the challenge that it would be to get a letterpress up and running in roughly 3 months - and during my spare time. I bought the press in August and self-imposed a deadline, which was to print Christmas cards before, well, Christmas. While the deadline kept me motivated me to keep buying supplies, there have been other dependencies I didn't count on. I'm hearing silence from vendors about re-covering my rollers, and the boxcar base I ordered... still back ordered. Since my press is a little bit less common than other presses of its type, it involves some special sizes and rarer parts. Also, since I work full-time and have other obligations, I'll admit that I haven't always been dogged about following up.

What I have done in the meantime is to buy paper. And definitely more paper than I'm showing here. In order to buy paper wholesale, it's often bought full-size: 8.5 x 11. Card makers use large paper cutters to cut paper down to size, and a bone folder to score them (fold in half). At this stage, I'm buying paper pre-cut and scored, which means the paper is more expensive. But I still have a lot to learn about what kind of paper I like using, and which works best with my press.


So I've been looking around to see what's on sale. I was able to buy up some A2 folded cards and envelopes in pale pink ("Blush") that Paper Source was closing out (this is the same paper I used for our wedding Thank Yous), and some fun, long fuchsia envelopes. At another store, I got a whole box of recycled brown paper envelopes and cardstock made of bamboo. Most recently, I bought very some fine, thin Italian paper and envelopes in a nice eggshell color from Cavallini & Company's annual warehouse sale.

The piles of paper have, in turn, led to some very late 'spring cleaning' at our house.

The recent Cavallini & Co. sale was, in particular, very fruitful. I bought a little of everything they sell, I think: journals, gift wrap and tags, rubber stamps, stickers, note cards, etc. These glittering holiday postcards might just have to be my backup Christmas cards.