On the Sylvanian Families Collectors Forum, the Creative Challenge prompt for March was "Village News". For my contribution to this, we are going to take a peek into the basement of the Pennypress family home.
Mr William Pennypress is the editor and chief reporter of The Macadamia Times newspaper, his wife Sacharissa is also a reporter, and the basement under his family's cottage serves as the press room.
Of course there are several critters who work for the newspaper in various capacities, such as investigating stories, writing reports, taking photographs, setting the type, and of course making the late-night coffee! But everything must be finally approved by William, and he also shares in the actual printing.
Once the articles have all been written, approved, illustrated, and type-set, the printing can begin. First, William collects a piece of paper from the paper box. (The door behind him opens on a staircase up to the house),
The paper is then placed carefully on the tympan...
... and the frisket is folded over it to hold it in place.
Next, William carefully inks the type on the forme. Behind William, in the corner, we can just see a black cabinet which contains trays and trays full of movable type. The largest letters (for front page headlines) are in the tray on top of the cabinet.
The inking takes experience to get just right, as the type must all be inked evenly. It is done with a special padded tool.
Then both tympan and frisket are folded over the inked forme...
When the bar is released, the screw and platten raise up again, and the frame can be slid out. The freshly printed page is then removed, and moved to a long bench to dry. While they are there, William inspects them quickly, to make sure the print is good, with no smudges.
Of course, all this is a lot of work, and Mr Pennypress could not do it all alone - he has already been working all day getting the paper finalised for printing! Luckily, Mr Prickles has arrived for the night shift - it is his job to continue the printing of the Sunday issue into the wee hours each Saturday night. With his excellent mechanical skills, Mr Prickles is the only other person William trusts to ink the presses perfectly every time, and deal with any mechanical issues that may arise. It is a good arrangement for everyone: Hawthorn is quite a night owl anyway, and appreciates the regular work, while William and Sacharissa both take Saturday nights off to spend with their family.
"Any problems with the press this evening, William?" Hawthorn asks.
"No, it's all running well, Hawthorn," William replies. "I'll leave you to it, shall I? Give me a yell if you need us - we're staying in tonight. Verity wanted to help Sacharissa cook dinner."
"Well, you have a good night with your family. I should be right," says Hawthorn, waving William upstairs.
And that is how it's done! Once all the pages have been printed and dried, the paper is put together and placed in two piles: the biggest pile is for delivery to the Supermarket, where it will be sold the next morning, while the other is for papers to be rolled up and tied with a piece of twine.
Finally, it is Verity Pennypress' turn to contribute to the family business. Very early on Wednesday and Sunday mornings, Verity hops out of bed, dresses quickly, and loads the tied newspapers into the basket of her bicycle. She then heads out to deliver the paper directly to any customers who have paid the weekly fee for this service.
"Thanks Verity!" calls Mr Appleblossom, the baker. He also starts work early, and is one of the few people Verity often sees on her round. Sometimes she will stop and buy a currant bun from him to eat on the way, but today she is in a rush - her mother is making pancakes, and Verity can't wait!
