Presses: the Heidelberg Windmill (mainly). The Kluge and the Vandercook (occasionally).
Learning: Rob Coy taught me how to print here at Boxcar, about 5 years ago.
Experience: 5 years letterpress printing. 3 years printing generally.
Print shop essentials: ink knife & line gauge.
Hometown: Lowell, Massachusetts.
Best letterpress trick: feathered packing — it helps even out the impression. To create feathered packing, use tissue paper arranged in successive, gradient-like layers and glue the layers together at one end with a glue stick.
Favorite part of letterpress printing: I like seeing the piece after it’s trimmed — it doesn’t become a finished piece until then.
Least favorite part of letterpress printing: washing up, especially with dark colors.
Music of choice when on press: I listen to books on tape. Currently, I’m listening to The Book of Job.
A fact about Boxcar Press: when I first started working here, it seemed like half of the employees were vegetarian and a third were left-handed. There were only 17 people here at the time though, so it was a lot easier to notice differences like that!
Extracurricular activities: urban homesteading — gardening, sustainability, self-sufficiency, animal husbandry. Reconnecting with life on earth.