Imperial Press

This morning I drove over to the PrintShed and finished off printing all the linocuts for Sir Patrick Spens. I am pleased. I have four complete books plus a complete set of printed linocuts minus the verses which I will scan into Photoshop and place with the text of the verses, then I can  print off a copy when ever there is a need.

 This is the vertical press, an Imperial Press dated 1834. You can see the inked linocut (black) on the platen. The paper is placed on top, then covered with a sheet of felt and then with several sheets of card to get the pressure right.

And here is the press closed, with platen moved forward to underneath the vertical press. To bring down the top on to the platen, you take the wooden  handle sticking out to the right about one third of the way down the photo. This is brought right across the press until it sticks out on the left side. Then you put it back in place, move the platen back to its starting point and extract the printed paper.

That all took up most of the day. The only other thing I have done is to retie the double weave Tencel on the Louet Kombo and weave the first couple of inches. Tomorrow I have paperwork to do which will occupy the morning. Bah!!