the journey to retrieve ‘Martha’

 Letterpress has- for many years pulled at my heart strings.  I have always been a maker, and as a graphic designer - letterpress has always been that elusive interest that had never really materialized itself in a practical way in my life.  

After leaving my full-time graphic design job to become a stationer, I had built a rapport with print-houses for my letterpress printing needs- and then one day, after talking through the logistics of shipping letterpress orders - I decided that maybe this was the time when I could finally take the plunge and look for a press of my own.    I created a Briar Press account and searched the classifieds endlessly without reward in an attempt to find a letterpress of my own.  I was left searching and searching and searching-only to find presses thousands of miles always from me, and inevitably not in ideal working condition. 

And then, late one night after finishing some design work in my office, after my young son had long been asleep, I decided to quickly pop on Briar Press and just take one little look, it had been about a week since I had looked. And then …..there she was, behold - a beautifully cared for Chandler and Price platen press pictured in the hallway of a screen printing shop.  

There she sat in the photos, looking back at me, with boxes of assorted letterpress tools and type, kind of saying “hey, here I am!” - And even better, she was close, or at least much closer than any other presses I had previously found-only one state over! Only a 10-hour drive to the East - Emporia, Kansas.  

So – after a little convincing the husband-we were Kansas bound- to spend our Thanksgiving break on a recovery mission for my at-long last letterpress.  

-kate