From Cari!!

Cari sent this email to everyone but I thought it would be nice to have all the info in one place. So I'm cutting and pasting it here, you know, like I do. Cari wrote:

Hello friends!

I can't believe it's July, and I haven't written a word to congratulate those of you who have gotten presses or are generally doing well! I think about our class at Penland very fondly and it has been inspiring me to create and explore more in every aspect of life. Thanks to everyone for making our class such a wonderful, creative, and incredibly fun experience.

On my way back to Wisconsin, I met up with Alex in Nashville and had a fantastic time! The highlight of the trip to Nashville was Hatch Show Print. They had beautiful presses and LOADS of cool woodcuts and blocks. Seeing Hatch fed my hunger for letterpress until I got back to Wisconsin, but shortly after I returned I started calling up local newspapers looking for a press. I managed to track down a C&P about 30 minutes away,but in the last decade a wall had been built around it. The owner didn't seem to have any interest in it and seemed willing to give it up if I wanted to put the effort into taking it apart and moving it. I decided to keep looking and the next day I mentioned I was in search of a press to someone in town (population 1468). She led me to someone I knew, but had never associated with printing. He has cases of type, slugs, leads, galleys, and a linotype which he had purchased from a printer going out of business a few years ago. Unfortunately this was all packed away in his mother's barn with no place to go. What seemed like another hurdle turned into bliss when he directed me to the previous owner of the local newspaper. Jackpot! I don't believe any of the presses were original to this particular newspaper, but the previous owner had kept all of the letterpress equipment from the other 5 newspapers he owned. This includes 16 cabinets of type, a huge Hamilton composing table, a Challenge proof press, Two C&P presses, a Heidelberg Windmill, and a Kluge. I don't believe Bill will ever part with his collection (even though it hasn't been used in at least a decade), but he's letting me clean, move, and use the shop as much as I please. It's been quite the project to clean and move 10 years of neglect, but the potential here is great. I've already found troves of treasure including at least a dozen brass galleys of different sorts and beautiful wood type. Hopefully now that the theater season is through the initial push to get things rolling I'll be able to spend more time in the studio.

Summer is in full swing here in Wisconsin, so come up for a visit if you please!

Hope everyone is well,

-Cari

P.S. There are some pictures of the presses and cabinets here.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/carimyong/3568561579/