Makin' It

After fooling around a bit with the tabletop press that Doug made for me, here are a few results.

I'm pretty excited, since one of my favorite people in the world, my friend, Katie, is celebrating a birthday this week and I can send her something made on my press!

I started with a few leaves from our yard. The evergreen leaves were so fragrant when I pulled them off of the press! I wish I could bottle of little of it to spray on the finished product, just to send that sensibility along with the visual.

It felt completely decadent to have a couple of hours this afternoon--kid free--to play with the press. My home-made card and letter designs are usually pretty basic. This added texture will be a great feature to play with to mix it up.

Thanks, Doug!!

Merry Christmas, Baby

I do realize Christmas has come and gone. But I finally used this fantastic present my husband made for me and I do have that over-excited-kid-ripping-open-the-wrapping-paper-and-going-bazonkers-with-that-new-toy feeling.

After taking a letterpress class last summer at Pratt with Lisa Hasegawa of Ilfant Press, I asked Doug to make a tabletop press. There's a cool instructional through ReadyMade magazine as well as Instructables, and he was game. But as many of you gals know, asking your honey to 'do,' doesn't always yield results. So imagine my shock and awe when come November he said yes, he was working on putting a press together.

He tweaked the plans a bit, combining the two. Since I want to use the press for basic print making, flower/leaf pressing and (if I'm ambitious) book making, I don't need anything complicated. As I play with it more, we might make some adjustments, but I'm thrilled that my partner in life actually made something for me-and that I, in turn, can make something for him--or somebody else.