hydrangea + clematis

It's early Monday morning with a cup of tea. Yesterday I dampened the paper for my next limited edition print. This means that today I must print the clematis. I'll hand mix the inks for this print - an olive green for the leaves and a deep burgundy red for the flowers. This is my second limited edition print; I'm hoping to design and print these limited editions about 8 times a year. I've thoughts of taking elements of each one, plus a few stationery designs perhaps, and creating a letterpress calendar for next year.

Here's a little bit about what I love about letterpress printing, without fail. I like the rhythmic pace to cranking the press, the forward and backward steps as I feed the paper and release it once printed. Even though I know how my designs are meant to look, there's a little bit of surprise and wonder each time.

I like mixing the inks by hand. It's much less precise than I would have thought. It's like cooking, which I also love. A little bit of this, a little bit of that until it tastes just right. I don't measure very well when cooking and I don't think I do it very well when mixing ink. I read cookbooks like novels; I use my Pantone recipe as a guide. A little bit of rubine red, a little more perhaps...

I will post a few photos later today of the clematis limited edition. I was never a diligent journal writer so I'm not sure I'll be a daily blogger either, but I will do my best. And, plus, I don't like that word -- blogger -- very much at all. It just doesn't sound very pleasant, does it? My first limited edition print of hydrangeas is available here and the clematis will be there soon, too.