Chandler Price Press 1905 January 06 2014
It all started with a Christmas present... My love gave me an old vintage letterpress from 1905. I had been dreaming of owning my own press one day but had no idea how beautiful this machine would be. In January we prepared my studio, ripping out the carpet down to the concrete which I decided to paint white. I had a vision of this beautiful black letterpress on a white floor. I was receiving updated photos of the press. I will have to say I was a bit intimidated by how this was all going to come together. The press was found in a junk yard in Indiana by two bothers who find old presses and restore them. Their company is called DeFelice Engineering (defeliceenginc.com). My husband Rob knew I really wanted an old style curly spoke style. The brothers went off on a search and found exactly what I wanted. Every week I would get emails sent to me of the press in progress. They restored the press all the way down to the nuts & bolts. It was an exciting process. And... it was all being created for me!
The Press arrived on February 25th in a massive wooden crate on a huge moving truck. I was so excited but also really nervous how this massive machine that weighs 1800 pounds was going to get into my studio. Rob was planning his strategy on how to get it out of the garage, around to the other side of the house, through sliding glass doors, off the wood pallet, onto the wood ski’s and into the studio. Rob used a pallet jack and a car floor jack. The move went very smoothly. There was a break in the weather so Rob decided to just go for it and move the massive 1800 pound beauty into the studio. With the help of Craig and our friend Butch they got the press in the studio and off the wood pallet in about 1.5 hours. As soon as the press got into the studio it started to pour rain. Awww perfect timing!
Rob made my dream come true. I feel very blessed to have such an amazing and supportive husband and very lucky to have such a beautiful and functional piece of history. I can't wait to start digging deep & creating my work on it!!! Stay tuned, there will be many inspiring & creative posts to come.