I think I smell a ra…..opossum!
12
I was a little taken aback yesterday when a box arrived on my doorstep. My aunt in VA is clearing out her house, and she sent this piece to me. She had it made for my Papaw, when I was a wee lass, and I was obsessed with it for a great deal of my life.
I always loved the way original prints were made, and the stamps were just always fascinating to me. I’d sit in a rocking chair for hours spinning round and running my fingers over the plates. When he passed away, it was one of the few items I requested. It was sent to my aunt since she originally gifted it to him. I was gutted but understood.
So I may have gasped like a tv soap opera character when I opened it yesterday. It was much akin to the feeling Charlie had when he saw the sliver of metallic wrapper in the chocolate bar. So many feels. She even added a small plaque at the top as a nod to the nickname he gave me and I still carry. Just wanted to share something positive since so many things feel so heavy lately.
- 4 comments, 7 replies
- Comment
That’s VERY cool.
Congrats on “inheriting” a piece of your heritage.
Definitely cool, 'possum. Quite a variety of stamps there. I’m curious what were the stamps mainly used for? I’m especially wondering about the corporate ones such as for Nipper and Shell and others that don’t seem to be something related to family matters.
Also, how is that PAPAW stamp used? Isn’t it backwards or something or is my brain facing the wrong way?
@phendrick
I could be wrong (it does happen) but I think those are individual letters, so you would stamp them left to right by flipping each letter over individually.
@chienfou @phendrick it is backward. You m pretty sure that the letters were rearranged. It made me giggle. It was the first thing I noticed. Then I saw the plaque. I’ll rearrange the letters at some point. Or I might not because it makes me laugh that they’re out of order. I’m just so bloody giddy to have it. I’m going to be making a desk or floor lamp that will be somewhat abstract with one of his pith helmets and a pair of his cowboy boots in the somewhat nearish future and will be somewhere near this.
@phendrick yes your Brain is facing the wrong way. It is reading it backwards then you are seeing it correctly… in otherwise your mind is playing tricks on You.
@mycya4me @phendrick @sillyheathen
I guess it would depend on how you view set-up. I think typically you would pick up the individual blocks and place them in order right to left as you were setting the page. Since these are (I believe) individual blocks they would actually print correctly when you place them in that manner. But yes… It does mess with your head.
Those are really nice. The “stamps” are for letterpress printing; printers call them “cuts.” I have a bunch but you’ve got some nice ones there! I especially like the pixies & the strawberry. The RCA Victor dog is cool too. It looks like they’ve been polished so I don’t know if they’d still work for letterpress, but you could certainly use them just for pressure printing.
All the stamps are connected to papaw in some manner. @Kyeh, once I have the ceramics side set up, I’m going to make a small batch of McMichael mugs for family Christmas gifts. I’m going to see if I can make transfers with them so I can carve and paint the mugs accordingly…
@sillyheathen That sounds wonderful!
@Kyeh @sillyheathen
What a thoughtful project!
; )