An Extremely Pressing Matter

OK, I have something that I think could really add up to a good thing. It's that

THIS












PLUS THIS











EQUALS THIS












Now you may ask: "what the bleep is she talking about??" But it's that I VERY recently acquired a dry mount press. And that said dry mount press not only laminates and/or presses documents or transfers on t-shirts.... if you leave the heat off and insert a lino cut and some cloth it makes fairly good block prints, too!! Up to 1200 lbs of pressure is something this tired old body could never dream of achieving on its own with a baren or brayer.

The green print is my virign piece - a hastily cut lino (wonder-cut material) on plain cotton with setacolor emerald. Now, THAT really is a virgin. I don't like emerald, and I'm not crazy about the wondercut or my design, or my lack of registration, either, so here's hoping my next foray will be exponentially better. Can't be much worse, right? In the next few days, I'll run prints of a couple of collagraphs I have already made up, but have never had decent muscle power to print effectively. It will be so interesting to see how they turn out with a "real" press.

But as for my machine - It's a wonder to behold. The platen is 15X18", so a 12X18" lino plate can be inserted and used as a two-across image repeat to print a whole fat quarter. I also will be able to print 12" plates onto cloth (I like square formats better than rectangular). And if I ever feel the need to transfer my own t-shirt design, I'm all set up. I could also use the press for sublimnation (disperse-dye) prints if I want, and I have a hunch I could even fuse with it, as it gets up to about 350F. So that's my newest cool tool - for $40 at a rummage sale, it's not too shabby!