checking in...

Hello dear readers.  It is with a full heart, that I tell you, I'm almost back!  We're due to move into our house in a little under 3 weeks, presses to be moved in a few days after that... and it's time to finally introduce you to our newest addition:

Yeah.  I know.  I'm stoked.  Rather, I'm 'sucked' right in.  I barely know how to turn it on, and I'm still waiting to have it hauled out of another studio & into ours, but... I couldn't sit on the secret any longer.  This incredible machine is self fed- called a Heidelberg Windmill- and literally picks up the paper from one feed tray and self feeds it into the press, then takes it out again... about a thousand times faster than I could ever do with hand feeding my other 2 presses. 

I found my press from a really great guy moving to another city- he just didn't have the space to bring his press with him & couldn't imagine putting it in storage for the near future.  He gave me a few tutorial lessons about running the press- we're talking bare bones here- cleaning, how to turn it on with the power source at the wall; I made no less than 10 videos on my iPhone to remember every last detail and through all of them, you can hear my ridiculous giggles of delight.  So no, I won't be posting them here.  You're welcome.  Anyway, I basically threw myself at this opportunity and before I knew what I was doing, we agreed to a price and shook hands on it.  Yeah.  I mean, I felt like a baller talking about spending a few thousand bucks on a press I have no idea how to run and all, but whoa; I didn't even know how I was going to get it into the new printing studio and ohbytheway, we don't even have a house yet to call ours.  Details.

I've been thinking for a while that I needed something 'new' with the studio.  I've been thinking about where I want to be with the business.  I've been thinking about the future.  Call me a romantic, but doing what you love for a full time job is something to be admired, not feared, and for a lot of people, it's not a reasonable alternative.  Well, it's still not for me, not yet, anyway, but I want it to be.  So I'm going to bust my tail to make that dream a reality.  This press will help me reach for more of my goals, and I am so excited to share this all with you. 

We have a lot of work to do before I can show you the fruits of this labor, so be on the lookout for more posts about this newest addition.  This post was meant to be a check-in and I turned it into a love fest for the new press.  Oh well.  Forgive me?

Up next: building a new home, studio, concrete jungle & what not to do...