Press Dream

This is a picture by Karl Larsen, from 1910, of his workshop. I'd really love to get back into intaglio printing, but I don't have anywhere I could keep a full-sized press. Something like that little one he has mounted on his table would be fantastic though; I've never been all that bothered about doing large images anyway.

There are people who make presses in that sort of size range, and from what I've seen of them, they look pretty good. However, even a weensy press like that costs two or three grand to buy brand new, and that's way more money than I could swing.

I do wonder if it would be possible to make one oneself. They're not mechanically complex, and the biggest issue would be cutting the heavy-gauge steel one would need for the frame. I suppose one might also need access to a lathe to smooth and polish the rollers, but maybe not.

I'm becoming increasingly frustrated by not having a decent workshop space. Grr.

But will it do the Kessel run in under 12 parsecs?

For the first time in my life, I have a car of my very own. And for almost the first time in my life, I'm driving a car to get myself from place to place. I've been a motorbike boy pretty much forever, but now that I'm getting geriatric, riding a bike in the freezing cold sleet and rain is a lot less appealing, and I also now have a need for more cargo capacity than a motorbike can provide.

It's an automatic 1995 Nissan Lucino (which is, as far as I can tell, just a foreign name for a Pulsar/Sentra).

Within 30 minutes of buying it, I had already smashed in the front left guard, owing to my extreme incompetence at reversing in anything other than a straight(ish) line. Fortunately, a replacement panel from the wreckers only cost about fifty bucks. Unfortunately, it's a different colour — about as different a colour as it would be possible to be. It's white, and I'm thinking that rather than try to match the existing paint I might just paint it plaid or paisley or something. Frankly, I very much doubt that it will be the last dent-replacement this car will have.

I've always been faintly (sometimes not-so-faintly) contemptuous of cars, calling them "street zeppelins" and the like. But I have to say, I'm rather enjoying driving this one.