.oh, gee.

Our first poster assignment in my letterpress class was due this Wednesday. The critique was great, and there were so many great posters and photographs. I really love this class. It's great to be around people who aren't in crafts (not that I don't love my fellow craftspeople, I do). It's just really refreshing.

I love the process. I knew I would, and I do. I love that everything involves my hands, my fingers, my whole body. It's like weaving. Everything must be done in a certain order, in a certain way, and once you get that, it's very calming.

Carving this block was a painful process, but so rewarding. I just have to take it much slower next time...

I love the little ornaments we have!

Because I was swiftly running out of time with my first run, I used the proof press. It's not so great at printing a block like mine...

Inking up the big Vandercook. It's self-inking, so you don't have to spread the ink out. Yay!

The rollers are spinning furiously! I love this moment between empty rollers and fully inked rollers. It's like putting cream in your coffee. Or pouring dye into a dyebath.

All inked up and ready to go.

My teacher pulled the first couple prints to make sure we had it set up correctly.

I love them! I can't wait to print this again. This time, I'll get the packing under the block right. It would be so cool if I could sell the pattern alone as prints.