finally, a video on my press with the motor in action! My press, which is a Golding Jobber No. 6 from 1898 is 1,000 lbs of solid cast iron. In 1869, William Golding (1845 - 1916) began manufacturing printing equipment in Boston, MA. From the best of my knowledge the press spent most of its life in Portland, Maine and the surrounding area. I got it in an old textile mill-turned-studios in Biddeford, ME in 2007. When the press was first made it had a foot treadle, which you pumped with your foot/leg and everything moved. Eventually, the treadle was removed and the motor was attached. Before Rich reattached the motor I had to turn the flywheel by hand. The flywheel is nearly 100 lbs. by itself, so needless to say my left arm has been suffering and the process was very, very, v-e-r-y s-l-o-w. Now that the motor is attached, I no longer have to turn the wheel. You will see I put the blank piece of paper in with my right hand and take it out with my left hand. You will also see I am turning the round disc at the top of the press. This is the inking plate which rollers go over to re-ink. Back in the day, this was attached to the press in such a way where it turned automatically. The necessary pieces have since been lost so I must turn it to keep the ink evenly distributed. It takes some coordination to get this all done without smashing a finger....but it is a small price to pay for pretty pieces of paper! p.s. ignore my awesomely stylish flannel pajama pants. It was a Sunday afternoon!

Ok so this isn't really crafting...I didn't feel up to it today. But here are some flannels that I recently purchased to make doll pajamas. Once I feel a little more confident I hope to work on them. I can't decide if the solid blue at the far right works with the acorn fabric or not...I think it is maybe a tad too bright, I'll have to see.