How does a drawing become a finished design that can be printed on an antique letterpress?

The little unassuming scraps of life carry so much information and so many memories. 

This post was meant to be about floral designers, but it also turned out to be about the stealthiness of hobbies, and childhood and its echoes. 

How does letterpress printing happen, you might wonder. How does it work?

Most of us only see printed images appear fully formed, sliding smoothly out of the 'black box' of a printer or copy machine. The physical process of any kind of printing can seem mysterious, so here's a little intro into the dark arts of letterpress.

I thought I'd tell you about a few of the little curated shops I love to visit, in person and online. Running a shop like these requires expertise and a strong point of view, and that's what I go there for.