My name is Sophia Dohmen. I am a sophomore Creative Writing major and the Van-Etten Lacey house is a very special place to me. In addition to just finishing the Novel Writing course, which met there, I also spent much of my free time there last year. I took an adjunct course called Book Arts and learned how to use the printing press among other book-making techniques. When I am able to, I like to come back and put some of the skills I learned to use on the print press.
I spent a Sunday afternoon in the basement of the VEL, composing my galley—a trey used for holding any equipment I may need during this process—with papers and steel. One by one, I picked up a letter and added it to the composing stick. I placed each individual letter down, forming the phrase I wanted to print. Sometimes I use long passages of text, but on this particular day, I wanted something simple. I used the bible verse 1 Corinthians 16:14 (Do everything in love) to reacquaint myself with the printing press.
I continued the printing process on that very Wednesday, when I returned to the VEL to roll my ink. My hands were stained green while I worked. I’d already locked the type set onto the press. I chose to use silver ink, which I added a dash of purple to. Mixing the ink is my favorite part. Getting to spread it out across the table is such a satisfying feeling, accompanied by scraping it back up, then repeating the process until the ink is mixed and at the proper consistency. Then, I rolled it onto the letters. Using the press again was soothing. I cranked the knob, sending my work straight under the flat canvas. I only need to allow the silver ink to press into the paper for a second before I crank the canvas back out. As I lifted the dark purple paper, I hoped for a clean print—it often takes multiple tries to get everything even. To my pleasure, the first copy turned out nearly perfect. Satisfied with the letter and line spacing, I started experimenting with other papers, seeing what looked best. Ultimately, my favorite combination with the silver ink was a piece of textured black paper. Once I’d made enough copies, I cleaned up, placing the type set back in my galley in order to make room for other people to use the press.
This entire process reminded me of my time in Book Arts last year. I spent long afternoons, learning as much as I could from my instructor, Katy Stavreva. I worked on various projects involving the press. It is a space I’ve come to cherish, as if it’s a little secret most people on campus will never get to know. It very well might be, I’ve realized, as I’ve mentioned the VEL to kinesiology and engineering majors and received blank stares in return. They are
missing out on something quite special.
The next time I use the printing press, I have much more exciting ideas in mind. With the holidays coming up, I will be purchasing blank card stock and making holiday cards for my friends and family. I have yet to decide what they will say, but I know I’d like to use some of the holiday stamps held in the printing room to make the cards more fun.
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