Letterpress chain letter

If you own a press or even borrow one and are in the UK why not join the UK letterpress group on Flickr and post some photos of what you've been up to, it's a great way of meeting new printing friends who you can share your letterpress experiences with. Doesn't matter wether you own a Adana 5x3 or a Heidelberg, professional or just print for a hobby, we can all learn things from each other and for all you just starting a letterpress adventure you just might meet someone who lives close by who's willinng to offer a helping hand :)
Add me as a contact on Flickr and I'll send you an invite!

A letterpress chain letter's been set up if you feel like joining, (info on the Flickr group discussion) first yellow layer done by Carl followed by PrintMonkey then it was my turn, so here's my contribution, printed on my mentors Farley proofing press, and for those who don't get it when your ink goes over the edge of the paper it's called a bleed :)

Milliooo,ooon thanks!

All these wonderful Christmas gifts my family have received need some thank you notes!
Experimenting with different colours, thinking of putting them in my shop as sets, what do you think?

Card Swop

The weather has held the post up on the Christmas Card swap but I'm sure they'll all reach their destinations, I received two letterpressed cards from Letterpressed with a Smile, one Karl had a doodled on and another blank one for have a doodle on :) An emergency chair, I needed after all that shopping! Merry Christmas Karl!

My cards ended up a bit of a rush but I found some wonderful recycled banana card in my supplies that reminded me of snow so I did a trifold design with Ho Ho Ho printed with wood letters in silver on the front...

...also had a bit of fun trying to lock up the form for Rudolf, not a good example of how it should be done, but it worked!

in the middle I used an old Christmas greeting block in silver...

Hope everyone has had a very Merry Christmas and may all your dreams come true for 2010!

MY NEW PRINT

My first proper linocut! This was designed to be an A4 pull out poster for my letterpress zine, a uni project. On Saturday I did my longest print run yet and went and borrowed my mentor John's Farley proofing press, 105 pulls and 5 hours later with an aching back I came home and printed the 3rd colour on the front cover of my zine, purple! Another 30 runs through my Adana then I sat down and had well earned glass of red wine :) Now to finish the back cover....

I have finally opened a shop in Folksy but still lots more to do to get my shop stocked up and then I'll open my Etsy shop. Let me know what you think please - any critique welcome, good or bad! :)

Letterpress Zine

Working on a A5 Zine for a uni project, mine's based on spreading Letterpress Love! We have to produce at least 22 copies - arghh! for this Tuesday! Front cover is in 3 colours, final colour goes on tomorrow. Hand inking each one on the Adana QFB as they won't fit on my Kelsey 8x5 - just hope the ink dries in time :) better get the hairdryer out!

BOOK COVER

Click on photos to supersize

Back at Uni now, first week back me and and another student did an exhibition for The Early Years programme, children were basically given paint, tools and a huge canvas and let loose with no interference from adults, we did the photography, invites and display boards and I did a book showing the process and theories. What a good excuse to use some wooden letters and have a play myself, used rubber based ink on grey board, can't show you the rest of the book because it contains pictures of the children - who looked just as messy as my print!

Messing around!

I just love the POINTING FINGER, PRINTERS FIST or for the correct terminology MANICULES so just resist printing some A6 note cards while messing about and mixing inks. I've haven't got a Pantone Guide at the moment so it's just a case playing around and getting very dirty, should have taken a picture of myself I was covered in ink! Mixing Van Son Rubber based inks in large amounts isn't as easy as I thought but managed to get a nice duck egg blue (my favourite colour!) which printed nice on some recycled Hairy Manilla but was too dark on some Fabriano Rospina. I'm hoping to sell my letterpress wares but need a name for myself which is driving me crazy!