My love affair with type began in grade school. My dad gave me an old type specimen book. I spent hours pouring through it, copying the fonts by hand. In high school I took a printing class and worked after school, and for a little while after I graduated, as a printer. Fast forward many years to when a friend called me and asked, “Do you want a letterpress?” I leaped at the chance. I would get to play with type in it’s physical form. He bought it at auction from the UW, and I slowly started to put together a print shop in my basement. Fast forward a few more years, and my little print shop, languishing in my studio space, needed to find a new home. We had sold our house, and rather than move the shop and ignore it for another decade, I decided it was time for Adele, my printing press, to get back to work.
Enter Lynda Sherman. She connected up with me through the printer’s grapevine and she needed a print shop. She fell in love with Adele, set up her shop, Bremelo Press, and best of all, she is sharing this joy with others.
Northwest author Mark Holtzen has written a fabulous essay on the joys of working with this beautiful machine, Adele. Please read it. I realize now that my role in Adele’s life was that of the caretaker. I cleaned her up, refurbished her motor, gave her some new toys. I waited for the day Lynda would arrive and people like Mark would get to experience the ‘dance’.
Thank you both.
art, writing, and geeking out 