It's hard to believe that a two-ton, two-century-old letterpress from Kansas has made its home on Cherry street. Even harder: Ana Karina Luna has two. As the owner of Miss Cline Press, Luna is creating modern masterpieces on a 500-year-old medium.
If you've never heard of Miss Cline, don't worry, only part of Luna wants to be found. With her artistic
(Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)
nature taking over any commercial desires, letterpress has become less of a business, and more of the escape that she has always wanted. A former architect and respected graphic designer, Luna became fed up with the politics of corporate design, got out of downtown, and found a new path and art form in letterpress. "I was in need of a more artistic route," she said. Her husband's family, who have had generations in the newspaper business, were gracious enough to give her the two historic machines (shipping and handling not included) that now sit inside her Cherry St. garage.
Behind the blank white door and frosted windows, Luna escapes into her own world of intricate, and difficult work for hours at a time. "Everything came very naturally," she said, showing me the beginnings of a remake of one of her first posters. Over the year and a half in her studio, Luna has created business cards, posters and stationary for local Seattle Area customers as well as personal expression pieces she sells online. However, with each project taking up to 40 hours, making a living off of letterpress has been pushed behind its function as an artistic escape, with graphic design keeping up her income.
Linocut linoleum templates hand-carved by Luna over the years. "The carving is something I got sucked into right away." (Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)
For Luna, the Central District was the perfect fit. Growing up in Brazil, Luna is accustomed to the small town feel and sociability she says characterizes the Central District. She walks to her studio, knows all the streets, and often opens her garage on nice days to greet her neighbors. "Downtown is just business, here is different," She said. "Central District is real."
I was lucky enough to witness Luna operate one of her massive machines, putting finishing touches on wedding invitations she was making for a friend. Despite it's size, the press is eerily quiet, and prints crisp, artfully flawed pieces that modern technologies can only hope to mimic. Luna said she wants to continue her hobby as long as she can keep pulling the press, though she admits to wishing it had a motor sometimes.
(Photo: Lucas Anderson/Neighborlogs.com)
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