Letterpress Holiday Card

My good friend Lys Chuck of Carp’ Diem Press rang me up in October and asked me to meet with her to discuss a holiday card she wanted to produce on her press.

I looked at her drawings with some reluctance about whether we could hold the tight register the many colors on the card demanded. Being somewhat of a Vandercook novice, I did not know if the press could do the job. My past experience had been mostly with cylinder presses I owned like the Miehle Vertical and Heldelberg KSB. They can print anything - in register. I happily found that her Vandercook was as worthy as those machines, just a wee bit slower.

17 passes later through her trusty and faithful Vandercook Universal II, we squeaked in and completed the card for a pre-Christmas delivery… Along the way I decided we should maybe document some of this for friends to see how creative or crazy…. we really are. You be the judge.

The good folks at Boxcar Press did a wonderful job making the stack of plates we used for this endeavor.

Lys’ Carp’ Diem Press is nestled in an avocado orchard located in the foothills of Carpinteria, California. A special little coastal beach community that I have many fond childhood memories of. Carpinteria State Beach was our place for family summertime beach outings and camping.

The quiet and solitude of the trees, views and surrounding canyon, made the work on the card a joy. I commented to Lys that this reminded me of Topanga Canyon back in the 1960’s where we visited as teenagers to hang with artsy types and hippies. History sometimes repeats itself.

Here is the youtube link to the little video we posted.
Just copy and paste in your browser.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yez38vozlNQ

Happy New Year to All!

Lys Chuck, Carp’ Diem Press
Frank Boross, Toxic Coyote Press

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