All the other bits....... — William B Ritchie

After coaxing the Vandercook 14 out of Studio 1, I took stock of what else was in storage. I opened two large and very heavy carving boxes full of wrapped objects. I dragged the two boxes into the warmth of the litho studio and began to unwrap everything.

Everything but ink but I found that later in the other box. This is three pictures stitched together to show off the hoard.

Back in the 90's, we brought John Pufhal up from the University of Windsor Printmaking Department. I wanted to explore the possibility of using wood engraving and lino printing on the Vandercook 4. He brought keys and coins that could lock up the forms on the press. We didn't have a lock up bar, so I bought one from Don Black's in Toronto. Little did I know we had one already, stored away in the stash along with quite a few keys and coins.

Wil must have eaten a lot of sardines! Then again, he did have two cats and I don't expect the Co-op store sold cat food back in the early 70's … They don't have any now!

Everything needed to print letterpress was here in Cape Dorset. It just took me two decades to realize it! The one bit of kit that I did remember, that is now gone, was the paper cutter. I remember the day when it was removed from the lithography studios and put into a sea can for "storage". It is now no where to be found. I suspect it's in the dump, or used as an anchor like another paper cutter that used to be in the Tors Cove print shop back home in Newfoundland. The only evidence of a cutter ever being in Cape Dorset is the spare blade and the orange cutting sticks (see photo above).