Hey--we're over here!

Looking for Ladies of Letterpress? We're over here, at ladiesofletterpress.ning.com. We have over 1500 members, and are growing every day. So much so, that we're having a conference too: Letterpressconference.com. Come on over and visit!

Ladies of Letterpress Scholarship

Because we care about preserving the craft of letterpress printing, Ladies of Letterpress has created a scholarship fund to help defray costs for members interested in taking classes, working in internships/apprenticeships, go to conferences, or other educational activities related to letterpress. Through this scholarship, we want to assist members as they continually grow, learn, and educate others about letterpress printing.

Submission Guidelines:

- We only accept submissions from current members of Ladies of Letterpress.

- The class/educational opportunity must already be scheduled (we can’t make assumptions about possible future events).

- The class/educational opportunity must be related to letterpress printing, or running a letterpress printing business.

- Please share your experience with us! The scholarship recipient must report back after completion of the class/educational opportunity with descriptions and photos of the experience, posted on the Ladies of Letterpress site.

- The scholarship is for $300. If the entire amount isn’t needed, remaining $ will go to a 2nd recipient.

- The scholarship recipient will be reimbursed after the expenses have been paid. Please keep a receipt and send us a copy.


Please answer the following questions:

- Tell us the title, teacher, place and date of the class you want to take (or describe the apprenticeship/internship opportunity):

- What is the cost? (tell us if it’s for tuition, housing, travel, etc.)

- How will this class help you with printing or with your printing business? (please describe in 300 words or less).


Send your responses as a pdf file to jessica.c.white@gmail.com by May 15, 2010.
Winner(s) will be announced June 1, 2010.

Feel free to pass this info along to friends, colleagues, schools and community print shops!

Printing--A Kiss

I leave you some very warm printing thoughts this weekend--the below was posted by Fritz of NA Graphics on his excellent photostream. No matter where you come down on the kiss vs. punch debate, reading the way printers used to be (and still are) transported by their work is really refreshing. Check it out, and have a nice weekend!

Lettra in small quantities

Via the Letpress Listserv, Legion Paper is now offering Lettra in 25 (rather than 50 or 100) sheet increments, with no minimum order--envelopes too!

http://www.legionpaper.com/buylettra.asp

20x200

Art by Lauren DiCioccio

20x200 offers art at affordable prices, in limited quantities. Twice each week, new editions of photos, prints, or drawings are introduced, starting at $20 for the edition of 200. As it says on the site:

(limited editions x low prices) + the internet = art for everyone

There is a serious lack of letterpress on the site, so if you're up for it (you can also make digital prints of letterpress-printed work, and save the actual letterpress for the more expensive editions), you can read submission guidelines here.

The Recession's Hidden Victims

Picture via The New York Times

The New York Times had an interesting article in its Sunday Magazine last week called "The Self-Employed Depression"--needless to say, I thought, "That's me!" (Self-employed, though not depressed). It's a great article about those self-employed people who, because of how unemployment numbers are tallied, are often left out of poverty and unemployment calculations even as they struggle to make ends meet and how this "downturn" is affecting them. The article focuses on Lisa Feuer (shown above), a freelance yoga teacher in NYC who has seen her gigs steadily decline over the last year, to the point where she's had to apply for food stamps. We're not exactly in the same boat as letterpress printers, but our product, like yoga classes, could be considered something to buy chiefly when times are good. I haven't seen a big decline in orders from last year, but I do feel a little on edge, in case the bottom really hasn't fallen out of the economy yet.

Cool Blog Alert: FPO

FPO is For Print only, a blog by Bryony Gomez-Palacio and Armin Vit "dedicated to both the visual stimulus and the detailing of the development and production of printed matter: Annual reports, books, business cards, stationery suites, collateral materials, posters, packaging and anything else where ink meets substrate (source)." They are also friends and featurers of letterpress--cf today's example, printed by the Cranky Pressman for Jennifer Blanco:

They accept submissions of recent work, and each posting contains useful info about stock used, production time, and cost (curious about how you all would have priced out the Blanco job!). Essentially, the stuff I used to buy How for.

The Recovery Act Wants YOU

If the economy is stressing both you and your business out, the Small Business Administration may want to give you free money. From the SBA's site:

SBA’s America’s Recovery Capital Loan Program can provide up to $35,000 in short-term relief for viable small businesses facing immediate financial hardship to help ride out the current uncertain economic times and return to profitability.

Some loans are interest free--this program runs till 2010. Get more details here.

Love your Machinist

I finally took the new press for a trial run this afternoon--it's new, of course, only in that it's new to me, though it's been sitting in its spot for a year while I got all the parts together. Here is the as-yet-unnamed press (sorry in advance for the low-res photos!):

It runs great, as it turns out, and had only ever had one owner. The hardest parts to find were not new rollers or other letterpress-era bits, but the modern stuff I needed to make it run. I found a motor on eBay, a belt on eBay, but the pulley eluded me. Then I thought: if you can't beat 'em, call the machinist and have one made. As we know, usually when something on the c+p breaks, heaven forfend, it's curtains for that press. The chase hook on my 12x18 broke at some point in the past, and my dad's machinist friend made me an aluminum beauty:

(needless to say, it doesn't look near that blindingly shiny anymore.)

So, I took the old, steel and leather pulley I had

to the local machine shop, and they measured it in and out, and made the perfect thing out of aluminum:

They even made a crown in the middle so that the belt gravitates toward the center. It cost about $115, but was just what I needed. I'm about to put some tape on it to make it a little more grippy, so I wanted to show it to you all before it became another hard-working shop part. If you want to see more pictures of the motor setup or hookup, just let me know.

Share your problem-solving stories in the comments below!

Wacky Weddings? Promo Opportunity!

This came through the grapevine yesterday:

Newsweek is looking for a few fun brides who are loosening up the reins of tradition…wearing gowns that are sexier, hosting epic, just-like-the-boys bachelorette parties and booking boudoir shoots as gifts for their hubbies. If you know of any, the editor would love to chat with you!

If you're working with any clients who you suspect would be a good fit, send me an email or message and I'll forward along the editor's contact info.