Hi there
Thanks for popping in. Friday’s Blog a private peek, right? Well, when you run a family business, work and play are so often inextricably linked. As is the case here, with Dave.
You may recall that a while ago, he bought a Windmill Press – a Heidelberg Platen Press, to be precise. Did I tell you he went and bought a second one? Yep! We’ve got not one, but TWO of these huge, beautiful vintage printing machines.
We bought the first one back in January 2019, because we had a plan…
The plan was a new company called Pinky Gray. We wanted to build an art company, an online gallery-shop, where we could sell finished art, printed cards, framed pieces – the list is endless!
Then it all kicked off at Hochanda, a number of key suppliers left without warning, and we decided to park our Pinky Gray plans, step into the breach and help them keep going.
The Heidelberg Press was wrapped up in cotton wool, together with the brand new registered company, while we focussed our energy elsewhere. But Dave and I never let go of our Pinky Gray vision. Dave in particular has been chipping away at it. Quietly and without fuss, he has been building quite a formidable print room around the Platen press – walls, electric and insulation included!
When Dave figured out that they are not only printers but mahoosive die cutting machines too, he decided to invest in a second one – just for die-cutting.
What you see here, is the second one, the older, more loved one, cutting out hundreds of stocking shaped cards, to go in our Linda Williams Christmas Stocking kits. Look closely….
Believe it or not, you bought hundreds – nay, thousands – of these in the Half Price Sale! And even more Christmas Trees!! So the Windmill Press is in full swing!
I’ve got to hand it to him. Dave has figured this out all by himself. Amazing really. And after much tweeking and oiling, replacing old parts with newer parts, he has worked out, not only how to cut out shapes, but also score the folds. The potential is very exciting.
Now he’s cracked the code on this one, he’s already got his eye on the other, the better looking one. That one is for printing. And this will be epic.
Working out how these antique printing machines work is Dave’s obsession. This is to him what pottery is to me.
So when you order anything from Clarity and it comes with a cut out shape, now you know the rest of the story. Not made in China, not subbed out elsewhere. Nope. The cut out shapes all come from our little Pink Gray print shop in Edenbridge. And the best part is that they are cut out on an original, all singing, all dancing, all swinging Heidelberg press – by Dave.
Where did we get the name for our new company? Looked out of the bedroom window one morning. And there it was, in all its glory.
Watch this space. More will be revealed….
Stay safe.
Love and Hugs,
Barb xxx