The new rollers arrived for the tabletop press I picked up this summer, and though I am not too familiar with how to use one, I decided to jump in:

I felt like I was on the right track, and even printed one card with the word “hope.”

But then things started to go downhill. I have several magnesium cuts, so I tried printing one of those. If you look closely, you can see spots where the ink isn’t covering well.

Next I tried a line of a cut, thinking that the one above was too big for the press (5×8). The line didn’t work well either :(

Finally, I set some type– and as you can see– disaster

Well, maybe disaster is too strong. But the ink isn’t covering well. And from what I understand, this can be for a multitude of reasons. So I need to tackle them one by one. I’m excited, actually. I love problem solving:)

1) too much ink? too little ink? 2) type from different families needs “make-ready”? 3) paper? 4) roller adjustment? 5) ink on cut after cleaning with mineral spirits?

Instead of jumping around, I am going to start with one line of set type using my Caslon with one kind of paper. If I can make that work, I’ll go to a cut and work with that until I have success.

Despite the issues yesterday, I had so much fun sharing my experiences-the successes and failures– with people who visited our studio for First Friday. My partner, Elizabeth, actually had to drag me out–and that’s unusual. So, onward. More posts to come….