1203lab:

A couple weekends ago we finally moved the press from Rocky Mount VA to Thousand Pound Press here in RVA.  It’s an amazingly fun and creative space, which Jason built himself with his own two hands.  

Needless to say, I am really looking forward to spending a lot of time in here this summer…  (This is where our wedding invitations will be made!)

Oh and check out my very first print job.  It was a balloon that Jason already had handy around the shop so I pressed about 40 note cards.  To say that I’m excited is a gross understatement!

(Source: 1203lab)

This weekend we moved another press to the shop!  Emily’s been trying to get her press to RVA for almost 3 years, and after the new TPP shop was built we decided to make some room for her Chandler & Price 8x10 old style.  Check out the photos from the weekend!

Here she is all loaded up and strapped down on the trailer… at this point we were praying that it wouldn’t pour the whole trip to Richmond!

Here’s Brett making some final strap adjustments…

After the 220+ mile trip from Roanoke, it was a huge relief when the press arrived at TPP!

Moving the press inside the shop was complicated by the realization that a 9-10” steel projection made the press wider than the door.  The giant metal rod is a continuation of the fly wheel which at one point allowed this C&P to be hooked up to a serpentine belt on a production line.  Pretty cool tidbit, but not-so-much an asset on moving day.  After some surgery we removed a 5” portion of the rod and we were able to roll her right in!

Here we see Jason and Cy using brute force to wiggle and wrangle the press into place-  good job guys! 

And there she sits! 

Stay tuned for more TPP updates as we continue to add and refine the shop….

Now it’s REALLY starting to look like a shop!

This is what we like to call 50% done….

The windows and doors are reclaimed from older structures and reused to bring light into the shop!

Walls are up!

Now all we’ve got left is adding the roofing, siding, and moving in!

Stay tuned for Part 3!

Here’s Jason working hard on digging footings back in November…

This is how you level floor beams by yourself.  Note: do not try this at home.

Look!  A floor!  ( One that will hold a thousand pounds of letterpress! )

Jason’s behind bars.  No surprise, really.

starting to frame out the roof…

Stacked up roof joists…

Just look at that mess!

Stay tuned for Part 2…! There’s so much left to be done!

It’s already happened, but we thought it would be fun to share some photos of the old shop during the moving process. 

out the door she goes! 

loaded onto the trailer….

and we’re off!  stay tuned for updates on the NEW shop… Its almost finished and TPP is all moved in!