THE PRESS

These are the pictures I have from the folks who sold it to me. It still won't arrive in Brush Prairie until closer to the end of the month.

I think I should probably name it. Any suggestions?

ABOUT THE NAME: MARZIPAN & MARTHA

Getting this letterpress starts to fulfill a little bit of a dream I've had since I was a kid. I have always had a love for all things precious and thoughtful.

I'm not talking about tea party doilies or those Ann Geddes pictures from the '90s with the babies dressed up like woodland fairies. I'm talking about attention to detail, like when you buy something at a shop and leave with it wrapped in special tissue paper and a cute little bag, or when you get a card in the mail that has a wax seal on the pattern-lined envelope, or even those little fruit-shaped molds of almond-flavored marzipan that have been individually painted with food coloring... I could go on and on....

It's the little details that I treasure and appreciate. And the person I think epitomizes that above all others would be the queen of over-the-top details, herself, Ms. Martha Stewart. I went through a long period of hanging on her every superlatively crafty word, hoping I could someday live in her world of organization and perfection. And while I no longer idolize her in that obsessive teenager sort of way, I still think she defines for me what it means to pay attention to the little details of the every-day.

So, to me, Marzipan & Martha summarizes that feeling of finding that little extra touch someone took the time to put on something to make it special just for you. Whether it's a handmade note for someone out of the blue, or the details of a personalized wedding invitation set, this is the goal I want to accomplish with any letterpress projects I set forth on.

BACK TO BASICS

I spend all day working with the most current technology available to designers at my fingertips. Give me just a few strokes of the mouse and throw in a couple key commands and  I'll pump out corporate collateral at double the speed I was able to produce at a mere five years ago. Really amazing stuff. But as a designer, there's something I find lacking. When I am able to create that quickly, I miss out on building an attachment to each of my designs. Maybe I'm being a melodramatic 'artiste,' but I have always loved the blood/sweat/tears element of creating art. I love the problem-solving, the construction, the steady hand and the patience involved in art. It makes you care what happens to each piece once it leaves your hands and helps you remember it when it's gone.

Earlier this month, I took a step to reconnect with that slowed-down pace of creating. I bought a completely antiquated heap of iron and lead in the form of a Kelsey tabletop letterpress. These "hobby presses," as they were called, were manufactured and sold for the better part of the last two centuries. My particular press was made in the 1930s. Since the 1980s, all manufacturing of new presses has been ceased, but interest in these now antique presses remains strong. My press, the Excelsior 5x8 Model Victor has no duel processor, no apple cinema display, no auto recover. There's no CTRL+ALT+DEL in letterpress.

This blog will stand as a record for my progress in dismissing technological progress and getting back to basics.