The Print Shed, Madley, 20:20 Art Exhibition

A great exhibition at The Print Shed in Madley.

It's an art exchange, where members of print studios each make an edition of prints, 20cm x 20cm, and then there is a massive exchange between studios and artists! If you take part, you receive a lovely little box, filled with a wide selection of prints from a variety of people and places.
The walls of the The Print Shed are completely covered with prints.

It's impossible to give a clear idea of how much is on the walls,

 and there are lots of little boxes with more prints in to look through as well. It's an amazing experience, to see so much stuff!

Here is one of my favourites,

and this caught my eye as well,

I didn't take a photo of my own print, but it has a poem letterpressed on it, of course.
Here's Jill, relaxing after putting up this massive show. She's with Kate Dawson, who makes wonderful ceramics.

Worth a visit, for the huge range of styles and ideas, and Jill's warm welcome.
http://www.theprintshed.net/
http://www.ceramakate.co.uk/

Loving Letterpress. Wooden alphabets saved from the skip.

There is something so seductive about wooden type. This is one of two type trays I brought home from a print shop in Eccles, Manchester. You will notice at the top of the picture a rather robust table top proofing press that also found its way into the boot of the Ford Fiesta.

I went to a printing firm who are moving premises having been in the same place for a very long time, and had not thrown anything away. So all the letterpress and everything to support it was still there, having been put to one side as technology progressed, and then forgotten about.

There is so much of it that the owner is having difficulty finding ways to shift it all, and he's very concerned that much of it may have to be scrapped. However, I have been able to give him a couple of names of enthusiasts who are probably better resourced than me, and with luck the type and all the letterpress and printing treasures will find new homes. I certainly wish I was a lot wealthier!

The letters are grimy with the dust of decades, so I have been gently cleaning them, and looking forward to printing. There are four full upper case fonts, and I fully intended to have more, but the proofing press caught my eye.

Aren't these letters beautiful? I am planning a series of Shakespeare cards with collage and letterpress, and these are going to be perfect. There are so many other possibilities as well!
As always, my black and white cat is very interested in all that happens, particularly on the kitchen table.

Butterflies. Haiku. Printing.

I found a beautiful scruffy book, published in 1945, with wonderful prints of butterflies, and decided to give them a different life. I've been looking for a way to present some haiku, and the butterflies looked ideal.

First, to decide, from the 12 plates in the book, which butterflies best represent each season. Then I printed the name of the season in gold, and my haiku in black. I am very pleased with the result. Here's summer

and autumn

Printing on old paper gives a really lovely impression. Paper from the 1940s is rough and very nice, and the colours fantastic. I also like paper from the early 20th century. Here's my washing line, which is transformed into a flight of poetic butterflies.

So now I have two sets of four seasons, and will put them in frames to take to craft fairs that are coming up in December!

The camera lies. I have proof.

During a visit to the reclamation yard I saw this magnificent chance for  photo. A reflection in a big mirror which stood behind some open backed shelves. I love how our bodies just disappeared! And how our heads are resting on shelves.

I was looking for some random pieces of wood to bang nails into, to hold my latest series of poems entitled The Keys to Love. Here they are hanging up in my shed, printed on labels, with letterpress label titles, and little keys.

As the scrapyard is now a reclamation yard, which means everything there is  tidier and more expensive than it used to be, I  couldn't find the scruffy old bits of wood I was hoping for.

But I did see myself pictured, alive , but with no body!

letterpress printing. love.

Blissful in my shed, printing with my beautiful de Little of York wooden font.

Look at the lovely black ink gleaming.

I made words that just came into my head.

I printed LOVE and OH YES

and then

DON'T FALL and NO!

I don't know if the four are related. I was too busy enjoying the process to ask myself!

haiku. alphabet trees

alphabet trees

seed, sapling and tree -
every season, stories grow
letter by letter

 There is something magical about wooden type.

And how it prints.

Haiku, ampersand obsession

I am absolutely devoted to the ampersand, and can't stop printing, drawing and thinking about them.
I am also amassing an impressive collection of letterpress ampersands, a small selection of which are pictured here. My camera lens isn't large enough to photograph them all in one place.

ampersand obsession
and ampersand and -
devouring fullstops, endings
there are no last words