Wooden Letterpress Alphabet and Printers’ Tray Paraphernalia

I recently bought a vintage wooden letterpress alphabet.  Primarily  because I wanted to be able to stamp big letters on to things, as you do,  but I also thought they would look good displayed somewhere around the house.  On one of my recent rummages, I found an old printers’ drawer and persuaded my husband to attach it to a wall after giving it a coat of  linseed oil  as it looked badly in need of a drink.

Starting to Fill Up

Of course, so far, I only have one alphabet which is an old Stephenson Blake one (mostly!) and so have lots of room in the teeny compartments for other things.  Then began my quest for miniature bits and pieces to put in the other compartments.  Amazing what you can find when you really look.  So far, I’ve put in some sharks teeth from Florida, a vintage British plastic pig, an old cotton reel, a seashell, an old key, a vintage typewriter key altered to say ‘Lush’ (which is my favourite word) from my friend Ann, a terracotta button, 2 little wooden houses, a ‘heart’ shaped stone my daughter found for me once,  a vintage French card with elastic and a Champagne cork with a euro stuck in it which the Estate Agent gave us when we bought this house (as, of course, he could then afford to open and share a bottle – Estate Agents charging an outrageous average of  8% of the sale here – but I digress).

A Quarter View - Must clean up the letter 'E'

Sorry about the photo quality but I had to use a flash as it is hung in a fairly dark hallway without much natural light.

Anyway,  I am now obsessed with searching my house for other tiny things – I know I’ve got my daughters’ first milk teeth somewhere!  Also, I have been browsing Etsy and finding some interesting items.

Miniatures on Etsy

1. Ladies Mile Miniatures http://www.etsy.com/shop/LadiesMileMiniatures

 2. Fiona MacNeil http://www.etsy.com/shop/fionamacneil

3. TwoStringJane http://www.etsy.com/shop/twostringjane

4.  Roommate http://www.etsy.com/shop/roommate

5.  Merry Sunshine http://www.etsy.com/shop/merrysunshine

6. Mamasclay http://www.etsy.com/shop/mamasclay

At the very least, I’ve got to have those chips!