today we bought a letterpress.

this morning we drove east two hours to chicopee, to john barrett's letterpress things. we arrived around noon and we didn't leave for another five hours or so....john first lectured us gently, saying slow down, slow down. and then took us (and another couple, also first-timers) on an impromptu shop tour/letterpress class. we did our first impressions on a c&p in his shop, it was a heady feeling; he kept saying he wished he had a camera to show us our faces, that it was a moment we'll remember forever.

at the end of it, we left in a dazed state and with a trunk full of everything we'll need to get started. he made us promise to send him a copy of our first printing (he collects them), and also not to touch the type until we've practiced lots with a little cut (small image, like a stamp). i am so excited -- if a little exhausted, bone-weary from standing in a cold drafty warehouse all day. but so happy.

( don't you want to see? )