My husband built me a letterpress machine!

A few months ago, during one of our business planning meetings, I dreamed with my husband about letterpress. Visions of decadently pressed paper danced in my head and I described the numerous ways Tabitha could serve people through letterpress: wedding invitations, business cards, pre-designed invitations for baby showers or birthday parties, happy luxury thank you and hello cards for the nice events in life, calendars to brighten up an office space. Part of Tabitha's 5 year vision is to employ women who could use those machines to make a living.

Fast forward to the seasons changing and the music jingling and the Santa hats bobbing and the trees lighting. Underneath our tree nestled an unexpected box. I had an inkling that it was a machine. I had shown him a design for one during our planning meeting. A creative and generous soul designed and published a blueprint online for one. It uses a hydraulic jack and countertop-grade wood to allow a letterpress plate to press into paper. It lacks some of the vintage appeal, but it's far cheaper than an actual machine, making it an excellent entry point for working in letterpress.

But, the dimensions of the box perched under the tree measured smaller than a machine. I dismissed the idea and, reverting to my elementary years of Christmas anticipated agony, tried not to think about it.

As you may have guessed, I did in fact get a bottle jack letterpress machine. My crafty husband didn't want to give away the gift, so instead of wrapping the machine, he placed only one small part in a large box then filled it with bricks. I could barely pull it out from under the tree when it came time to open it. He had snuck the machine into my office the night before and the next morning, all it needed was the piece I was holding.

Now with my letterpress sample plate from Box Car Press, I've been playing with new ideas and experimenting. I'm letterpressing blind (without ink) just to get a handle on things. Unfortunately, there was a small snafu in the construction process, so I've delayed experimenting more until we get the problem fixed. But for now, I'm admiring and dreaming and planning of letterpress delicacies.

Anything you'd like to see?