Kittys Drawings

Hi all!
If you’ve been reading this wee blog for a while you would know I was nominated for the Lithographic Institute of Aus, Graduate of the Year award. Last night was the dinner for the announcement of the Victorian winner….sooooo…..
No use beating around the bush – I didn’t get tha big prize last night

BUT not all is lost! I got a heap of great contacts…the sales manager for Heidelberg Aus. gave me his business card so I could call him about letterpress parts. My friend’s father who owns a couple of newspapers said he has a bunch of stuff for me down in Franklin which isn’t far from Dover where my press is. He’s got a heap of type and even a man who can teach me to use the press! How convenient! So stoked. Everyone was mighty impressed that I had an interest in such an antiquated form of printing. Keeping the dream alive I hope to be!

Now I just have to get cracking and make some calls!

So who won? There were only two girls nominated out of seven and my friend (who’s father has the newspapers) won it. The same girl I mentioned in my original post about this comp who I hoped that if I didn’t get it, she would. And she did! I’m very happy that a CHICK won it, in such a male dominated industry! She is very deserving too – very accomplished and super motivated.
It was kind of obvious she would get it, being a fifth generation printing family. And little ol’ me always the underdog in a way…I wasn’t going to tell lies about what I want. I don’t want to take over the printing industry – or be some big wig going to lots of meetings. That’s not me at all.
I’d rather do my own little thing, and do it well.

And that’s that! Got home last night and today back straight into work. I got a plaque for my efforts and a cheque for $100 which is wonderful. It’ll pay for the lovely vintage dress I just bought. I should really try and get some photos of my awesome new clothes I’ve bought lately to show you all. Must hassle Jonny!

We’re really really busy at work right now. One of the women has left our end of the office to do more admin work. The other has been sick the past week so despite being two people down, no one minds because it’s been beautifully quiet!

About today’s drawing….This one is an unplanned piece. It started with me trying to draw a picture out of my LittleSnapper inspiration folder (fantastic app by the way!) which wasn’t working in the slightest. So I started again and just drew from the top of my head and this is what came out I’ve been wanting to draw a girl with her eyes shut and chin turned upward for a while and it never really worked. Think it might have been the hair issue – but that dilemma was easily resolved in this drawing. This choice just seemed logical.
This took about 1.5 hours. I made dinner in there somewhere so I’m not sure of the exact time

Until the weekend…ciao!!

…. That needs a little love – but the few things I have to fix won’t be too troublesome I hope!

In all her glory. Whatever shall I name him/her??

The rollers that need replacing. See the big grooves in them? That’s not meant to be there.

Where the ink gets deposited onto the forme rollers – From the tray in the left there, across a bunch of metal and rubber rollers and then finally onto the plate.

I am missing a bolt that holds this oscillating roller in place. At least I think this is where it’s meant to go!

The press from the side on. So many levers and wheels and bits that move!

More of the ink system – there should be another metal roller and 2 rubber ones in there somewhere.

The paper feed – I removed the yucky green card shortly after taking these photos. It served no purpose.

The other side of the ink system. Hope I’m not missing any bits here!

I think this is the serial number and model number.
It says:
Type – H222
Nr – 34635

If this is the real serial number, then according to a list I was given on BriarPress, this press was made before 1950. Much older than the mid 60′s I thought it was going to be!

I would be especially happy if someone knowledgeable in letterpress reading this blog would be able to point out any glaring problems which I don’t already know about!?

I’ll be heading down to Tassie again in early June – only weeks away – so I will see if I can get some rollers by then and get this baby running. Though I’m not liking the look of the timeframe I have to get these things.

Update on the new blog – I now know what it will look like….but it involves a bit of CSS knowledge which I dont have. If anyone would offer their awesome web coding services I would happily draw them something original and unique in return
Until then, I will play with the local version of WordPress I’ve got running on my work computer and see if I can suss something out.

Well – I promised my boyfriend to add some more to the Cult-of-Pop skull so I’m off for tonight!