Some presses in the Hatch studio.
The “Pure Coffee” block, locked up on one of the Vandercooks. You can see examples of the end product on the Prints page.
This C&P isn’t operational but it is impressive, and utterly gorgeous.
The Miehle.
Jim, making enormous prints on his enormous press.
The copies of Human Parts of Me Want to Eat the Flowers off of Trees have arrived! You can purchase them from the am i human website. The book is $12, shipping is $3 in the United States and Canada and $5 overseas. You may send checks or cash - a total of $15 for domestic and Canadian orders and $17 international - to:
Jessalyn Wakefield
1628 Bellevue Avenue
Apartment B2
Seattle WA 98122
This is a collection of stories I’ve been working on over the past year, centering on themes of God and women.
Special thanks to everyone who preordered, your financial support has been invaluable
Your anger is a gift.
O! I have been wildly busy enjoying summer and not on the Internet very much.
These are some photographs of the press I use and the island on which I use it. I don’t know anything about the history of the Asbern proof press, other than than it was manufactured in Germany. I’m supposing it’s a post-war creation. It’s a very pleasing proof press to work with. The packing is adjustable! In a Vandercook, one of the most common proof presses in use today, you have to go through a fairly complicated and time consuming ritual of packing and and repacking the tympan* to change the strength of the impression, involving latches and wrenches and twirls and locks. But with the Asbern you just turn a little dial and voilà! You have adjusted your impression. Love love love it. There’s also a ruler on the paper feed that corresponds to a ruler in the bed of the press, which is an incredibly brilliant innovation.
PS I’ve also added some books and prints to the site, if you’d like to take a look.
*The tympan, by the way, is the oiled manila sheet that covers the sheets of packing which change the strength of the impression (more sheets give a stronger impression, fewer a weaker one). The paper on which you would like to print is held on top of the tympan as it passes over the form. In a cylinder press like an Asbern or Vandercook the tympan is stretched tight over the drum of the cylinder. In a hand press, like the Albion, for example, the tympan lays flat and is lowered onto the form. At the San Francisco Center for the Book the tympans are covered with wipeable clear plastic which keeps them clean, a detail which I appreciate.
