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Sunday, January 24, 2016

A little Australian history lesson! Around the time my little press 'Mavis' was manufactured

A little history lesson!

'Mavis' my Golding Pearl Old Style #3 was manufactured in 1893, Boston, USA.  It was shipped to Sydney where it remained until I dragged her over to Perth. I thought it would be nice to research the events that were shaping Australia during the 1890's, when my little press would have been 'brand new' and in full operation!

'An Australian Native' By Tom Roberts, 1888

The 1890's

The British had only been colonised in Australia for just over 100 years!

1890
26 April - Banjo Patterson's The Man from Snowy River is published.
1891
5 January - The 1891 Australian shearers' strike begins, which leads to the formation of the Australian Labor Party.
1893
14 June - Gold discovered at Kalgoorlie, Western Australia by Paddy Hannan and two others.
1894
18 December - South Australia is the first colony to give women equal franchise with men. (See below)
1895

6 April - The song Waltzing Matilda is first performed at the North Gregory Hotel, Winton, Queensland.
 

The printing industry and its role in Australia's women's suffrage movement

Wouldn't it be awesome if my Golding Pearl (Mavis) was a press during the women's suffrage movement and it had a hand in printing 'The Dawn"? It's easy to imagine this elegant press (pictured left) being operated by suffragettes!

The Dawn: A Journal for Australian Women
was an early feminist journal published monthly in Sydney, Australia between 1888 and 1905.


In the first edition, Louisa Lawson, writing under the name of Dora Falconer, wrote:
"Every eccentricity of belief, and every variety of bias in mankind allies itself with a printing machine, and gets its singularities bruited about in type, but where is the printing-ink champion of mankind's better half? There has hitherto been no trumpet through which the concentrated voice of womankind could publish their grievances and their opinions ... Here then is Dawn, the Australian Woman's Journal and mouthpiece." —Dora Falconer, (Louisa Lawson) 15 May 1888 "The Dawn"
The whole journal was printed by an all female team of journalists, editors and printers. The unionists in the New South Wales Typographical Association, dis-allowed the Dawn printers membership into their all male union, in part because the women were paid substantially less than men. The association argued that the discrepancies in pay were such that men would be unable to compete, as well as arguing that the work was too dangerous for women to engage in. At one stage a member visited their offices to "harangue the staff" – only to be removed after having had a bucket of water thrown on them by Lawson. [http://en.wikipedia.or/wiki/The_Dawn_%28feminist_magazine%29]
'The Dawn' January 1895

Tuesday, January 12, 2016

Wedding invitation digital plus letterpress - 'Off the rack' range


I designed these Letterpress invitations to be suitable for wedding, engagement, or save the date invitations even a special birthday! The product is an 'off the rack' item, meaning while it will be letterpress printed with your details, the image and style of text is left as standard to keep the costs down. There is no design or set up cost as it is template based.


The invitations are available as C6 (medium) or large 125x175mm (Large invitation size)

There are 4 different designs in the range. The digital top portion features
1. Australian eucalyptus leaves or gum leaves from a variety of Australian native flora.
2. Tropical palm leaves
3. Colorful peonies - a pretty peony bouquet
4. Elegant soft pink roses

You can purchase a Molly and Charlie SAMPLE over in our ETSY shop which allows you to see and feel the quality in real life. ROSE sample, GUM LEAF sample, PEONY sample, PALM sample.

The text below can be customized to say anything you like and is printed letterpress.
STOP PRESS - NEW ADDITION! - Also available as all digital (no letterpress)  for a super cost effective invitation!






SPECIFICATIONS: (Medium)
SIZE: A6 - 105x148mm
300gsm
100% cotton rag paper
Full colour - top illustration
1 colour - Letterpress text
1 sided

SPECIFICATIONS: (Large invitation size)
SIZE: 125x175mm
300gsm
100% cotton rag paper
Full colour - top illustration
1 colour - Letterpress text
1 sided

Samples are available for purchase in my ETSY shop HERE