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| Davina - owner operator - me! |
It is the graphic design equivalent of slow food - incredibly labor intensive and demanding of skill and patience.
When you discover a letterpress piece, there’s something different about it. It was touched by human hands, it is tactile, you can see and feel the indentation the letters and ink leave in the paper and you will fall in love with its quality.
Its hard to explain why, but the vintage machines that churn and turn quietly in perpetual motion powered by a magnificent fly wheel and treadle, with multi functioning gears and levers that interact seamlessly; is a huge part of the appeal to me. An obsession with vintage was kindled by my parents’ similar fascination with vintage machinery and automobiles. My first car was a 1959 Austin Lancer- ‘Ralph’ - which I pulled apart welded together, degreased, re-bored, cut new gaskets for and lovingly restored alongside dad. The engine was a simple combustion engine. Nothing high tech and I could care, service and fix it with little assistance.
My presses posses the same simplicity. The gears are scary. The shutting of the platen can shear fingers off. The flywheel can snap off arms. In fact I read somewhere that after the closure of Chandler and Price (the manufacturers of some thousands of platen presses) They (C&P) sent a memo out to all that had purchased one of their ‘machines’ stating that they are extremely dangerous and should not be used – in an attempt to stave off law suites!
They say that they (the vintage presses) are only dangerous if you consider them your friend. I view them as cranky old codgers that need a lot of coaxing and care.
Letterpress platens are temperamental, fiddly, greasy, frustrating cumbersome machines and it seems almost impossible that they are capable of such finery. But that’s what I love. The paradox of greasy machines and fine crisp white paper, centuries old printing technique matched with computer generated and modern designs - is highly amusing to me.
My methods are not traditional, nor perfect. Every day I use my press I think of new unconventional ways to tackle the art, but there are no short cuts, every press has its own special quirks so it seems, and part of my process is learning how my press works best, where her 'sweet spots' are and when to ditch and idea and attack a problem from another angle!
Our little lady letterpress "Mavis" is a 1893 Golding Pearl saved from a barn, and restored to her former glory. Our big brute "The Admiral" is a 1892 Chandler and Price old style recently recommissioned and is our main press.
Mini Ink Custom Baby Photo Cards (www.miniink.com.au) is our sister company which has been in operation for 5 years.
