Pencil Alphabet

While rooting through a tub of my little son's school supplies last night I came across this collection of new pencils. Just what I needed for my "big plan".

Back in September we found ourselves in the town of Mainz, Germany. The home of the Gutenberg museum. http://www.gutenberg.de/

What an enthralling 3 hours we spent in there! Five hundred years of printing history. Of course the Gutenberg Bible was the major attraction but I was just as excited to find a display of books from the Kelmscott Press http://www.library.ubc.ca/spcoll/middleages/case5.html with the wonderful illustrations by William Morris.

I got to thinking about the possibilities of buying an old hand operated press similar to one we had back in my art college in England. After scouring the internet for more information I quickly shelved the idea. There are some affordable ones out there but with the cost of shipping (cast iron!) plus the cost of metal type and all the other equipment needed there's just no way.

So then I found all these pencils with the pristine little erasers on the end and decided to carve an alphabet.

This is the beginning of The Ikki-Pokki Press!