This very pretty and very strong 20 inch antique press was bought by Saint Kentigern College's Art Department as their Shin Nihon Zokei 16 inch table top (very good presses) was a little too small and also looking shabby and with a pitted print roller. Some years ago I was hired for a day by Saint Kentigern College to give a lesson to an art class full of young girls on how to design a mural.
Saint Kentigerns is an expensive private College in a lovely seaside setting in East Auckland.
Good to see one of my presses going to a good home.. :)
Finished and on display at the annual local Waikino Labour Weekend Art Exhibition.
This press has a 20 inch by 34 inch bed with felts cut to match. It is made from a restored and modified antique mangle about 110 years old. Built to last..
Enquiries; johnmulvay@gmail.com :)
I have two of these to build. This one has 20 inch wide rollers and bed and is here having final fit and finish in the studio. I have had the original antique for a long time and at last it is being transformed into a useful machine again. It is well over an hundred years old. It was working three generations before I arrived and will be working in a print studio somewhere long after I am gone..
Sue Marshall's new press at her home in Arrowtown, Otago. Below, at my studio prior to shipping to Sue in the South Island. Crating it up and finding a courier was a big job in itself but all part of the fun..
This press was bought on an online auction by Jo, a graphic designer, who arranged for me to pick it up for her and restore it. She lives and works down in the Wairarapa and the press was in Hamilton not for from me.. So here it is, safe and sound at Classic Etching Presses casualty word getting Dr John's TLC. She is dirty rusty and missing many bits and pieces. A couple of weeks in Classic Etching Presses casualty ward and we have a complete recovery.. Posing for a pic in the studio and then working in Jo's studio
To be continued...
This press is being created for Sue Marshall, an Arrowtown, Otago print maker. Otago is at the bottom of the South Island of New Zealand so a long way to go. It will have to be dis-assembled and crated for the journey when Sue is ready for it.
