Guest blog by one of our favourite Leeds visual magicians Amy otherwise roaring at @Tiger_tea
What comes to mind when you think of ‘printing press?’ Classic type? Heavy machinery? Old men in Victorian engraved illustrations? All of the above? You wouldn’t be alone. Even a table top press can be very very heavy and you’d be crazy to lift one on your own.
So, how about a printing press that can come to you?
‘Impossible! No such machine exists!’It bloody does, and its called The Pink Milkfloat.
Yes. Pink. Milkfloat. No, I haven’t gone crazy from tea deprivation (or is that tea saturation maybe?). The Pink Milkfloat is the brainchild of one Richard Lawrence, a notable letterpress printer from Oxford with over thirty years of experience behind him. The milk float itself is being driven by letterpress enthusiast Simon Rigby, who is seemingly not put off by what’s involved when driving a milk float – it needs recharging for 5 hours after every 40 miles!
The Pink Milkfloat has seen its fair share of action and adventure so far having been to Cornwall (exploring along the way) and popping in on Presstival. Now, its headed ‘Up North.’ Carrying a hand-operated woodblock letterpress, plus all the letters, equipment, paints, and paper, the intrepid little milk float will be making a 500 mile round trip from Oxford to Yorkshire and back again. Thats a lot of pub lunches whilst it charges up again then.
The letterpress it carries was chosen for its ease of use, allowing everyone – from kids to adults, from novices to pros – to get involved. People are encouraged to make their own typographical posters to take away and keep. Having done something similar myself at the Pop Up Print event in Leeds earlier this year, I can safely say there’s nothing quite like experiencing old fashioned techniques that give you instant results like nothing else. In a digital world, we humans are still tactile creatures. Go on, get a bit messy!
The Pink Milkfloat is totally free (although donations will go towards keeping it alive and kicking) so you’ve got no excuse for not being there to make witty posters and show off your typography skills.
The Pink Milkfloat will be parking up at the following events;
28th & 29th September – Cornucopia Festival, Low Farm, Driffield
4th October – Bingley Youth Cafe 4 – 6pm
5th October – Bradford YMCA Culture Fusion 10am – 2pm
6th October – Leeds Wharf Chambers 10am – 4pm
7th October – Bradford Apple Day 11am – 5pm
You actually make it seem so easy together with your presentation however I find this topic to be actually one thing that I think I might never understand.