As the bright Fall sunlight poured into the Nomadic Press this morning I set about mixing some ink and thought again about how important it is to have an understanding of the whole project before starting the work. Mixing ink brought this to mind because I never send out for a pre-mixed can of ink to match a PMS color. Depending on the color or tone of the paper to be used in the project the ink could look very different when printed on the final stock. Mixing ink with a specific project in mind allows subtle changes in the recipe to be made so that, in the end, the color looks correct regardless of the color of the paper and the amount of coverage required. Plus, its just fun to mix ink.

If you have visited this relatively new Nomadic Press website a few times since it was first built 6 months ago then you have noticed that the blog page has, here-to-fore been silent.

Although I have been producing letterpress work at The Nomadic Press for more than 20 years and though I know my way around a press better than the back of my hand (as I have spent thousands of hours paying close attention to the setting up and running of printing presses and , understandably, not nearly as much time looking at the back of my hand) the processes of setting up and maintaining a blog are new to me.

So this is a first attempt at writing and posting a Nomadic Press blog and the plan is to have regular posts follow close on the heels of this one. I hope that you will visit this site now and again to see what has been added to the blog page and to share your comments and questions about letterpress printing.

(signed)

Kent Aldrich
Chieftain, The Nomadic Press