Painting an Adana 8x5
I bought an Adana 8x5 on ebay recently. It moves very smoothly and although I haven’t got all of the necessary bits for printing yet, I’m confident that the machine itself is in very good functioning condition.
However the main body (the red) is a bit of a scratchy mess, and as it’s going to be a birthday present, I’m keen to make it as aesthetically pleasing as possible. I’d like to paint it, but I’m unsure. Is it wise to repaint a letterpress? Can anyone suggest a good type of paint for the job?
Also, it seems from the many photos of Adanas online that they came various shades of red, is this true or is it a trick of the light? My one’s more burgundy than red.
p.s. This site has been really helpful to me, I learned all I know - admittedly very little! - from looking at other people’s posts and responses. I thought it was high time I actually joined in..
cheers,
David
It’s not unwise to paint a letterpress…. IF you are careful in how you disassemble / reassemble it. An Adana is quite simple, so it should not be too big a problem. I’ve painted several Kelsey’s, which are similar to Adanas, through the years and they all turned out fine.
As far as colors go….. I’d paint it whatever color you like. Adanas came in several shades of red through the years and as far as I know there is no official “Adana Red”. Even if there were, it wouldn’t reduce it’s value to paint it some other color. It’s you’r press….. don’t let anyone else dictate how it should look.
Quite right! I was thinking I could go wild, do any colour, but then realised that I was quite taken with the colour it once was…
Thanks for the encouragement, I’m glad to hear that it’s not too big a job for a beginner to attempt.
Cheers!