After years of admiring stationery and letterpress, we decided to buy a printing press. We went to the Museum of Printing in Andover, MA to learn a little more about what we were getting ourselves into. We originally wanted a smaller table top press but quickly learned that we would be limiting the sizes we would be able print. We had the space for a larger press so we decided on an 8 inch by  12 inch Chandler and Price platen press.

After getting it home (and having a tow truck take it off the trailer for us) we began the messy process of refurbishing it. We stripped off all of the old paint and about a hundred years of old ink before we repainted the original black. We took the entire thing apart so that we could learn exactly how it worked and to replace a few of the parts. Every time a piece came off we became more and more certain that it’d never go back together, yet about two weeks later we put the last piece back in place. 

It is now the focal point of our Union Square store and is where we print all of our business cards, greeting cards, and the occasional wedding invitation.