Work in progress: Keep on running letterpress and silkscreen print

Here is a sneak peek of my current project combining letterpress, digital design and silkscreen printing, this is at the pre-silkscreen stage of the process.

Parallelogram

I created this poster in January 2009, then screen printed it in November 2010. Here is the screen print with blue to silver gradient, it's a shame you can't see silver on screen. I posted the original poster here.

Ich bin ein Berliner.

Last week I was in Berlin.

Letterpress printer

Me at Hand & Eye Letterpress in March, photo by Rosa De Carlo.

Here is something I found on my computer. It comes at a good time to re-read it. I wrote it as a career plan for my final project for my degree back in April. Take a read...

I am going to work in a letterpress workshop, I will learn the craft and skill of printing and the technique and beauty in good typography.

I have done a two week placement at Hand & Eye Letterpress and enjoyed it so much, I have never learnt so much so quickly and easily. I even enjoyed cleaning the windows and dissing (putting away in the correct place) tiny type for hours on end when there was no printing to do.

I spent long days standing up with short breaks and no pay whilst sleeping on a sofa, but I really felt right being there. I like the tactile type, the beautiful prints, the impression of the type on the paper. There is so much to consider all the time, there is always something going slightly wrong or unexpected which needs to be corrected. There is such a sense of achievement when something is completed, and things are completed all the time. There is no panic or stress when things go wrong, I was packing 5000 letterheads to be send to the client when Phil realised one line had been positioned wrong. We threw them in the bin and they had to be printed again, that’s two days work for one days paycheck. But these things happen, letterpress is a risky business and it is part of the process.

I have always been driven by process, and feel that one of my strengths is my interest in learning new processes and techniques constantly. I immerse myself in as much information about something as I can and I try things until I come up with something I like. My passion for traditional print techniques began in the very early days of my degree, and I feel more than ready to get into the world and start really working with print.

I’ve only been away for two days but I already miss the routine, the people and the type. So I think I’ll try and find a press to work in, maybe as an intern, maybe part-time, maybe on a casual basis, maybe in America where the presses are bigger, better and further away.

As it is very hard to find working and busy presses who are able to take on staff or interns I will be looking for jobs and internships in all areas of traditional printmaking, paper and publishing. I have a few ideas, such as London Print Studio who featured in my design investigation are a really interesting charity organisation built on an amazing ethos of community, people and printing. They have internships starting in November and are in the process of installing letterpress equipment.

I dream of having my own letterpress studio filled with tiny metal type and giant wooden lettering and beautiful colour inks and a vast array of paper stock with the radio playing and people dropping by for cups of tea.

A rather nice view of a salivary gland

Sorry for the lack of posting recently, I am stranded far far away from my bits and bobs and my own computer due to an unexpected blockage in one of my salivary glands which has taken me out of action for now. I'm pursuing some letterpress work, which was meant to start next week but shouldn't be far off when I'm all better.

I found out about a billboard campaign in America stating optimistic facts about the recession, similar to the work I was doing during my degree to encourage optimism and happiness in my community which formed the content for my book Intervening the everyday (here). As for these new billboards the design isn't good but I think the intent is. For more info read on here.

Intervening the everyday

I like helping people, and I like to help people feel better, so I set out to create positivity for the people around me. 

I wanted to steal a moment from their routine to show them that they can feel happier, better more optimistic, that there are reasons to smile. I wanted these moments to come from them, from their emotions and feelings in response to something I had given them. I did this by creating messages for them to see.

I started with a few posters that developed at a fast pace adding new messages and concepts. I had a camera by my side and a pile of posters ready to go up at all times. The initial interest in my posters inspired me to find new ways of intervening and intercepting the everyday in my neighbourhood. I designed stickers, badges and business cards. These designed pieces spread my messages to people by giving them something different and questionable. 

When my community became Barcelona I took it there. I measured and documented the intervention though photography and created a book of my photographs and the stories behind the images.

Cut it out

Here is the beginning of something new.

Parallelogram

It's true, and it's new.

I have never

An Atlas of the British Isles showing Aberdeen was my starting point.


I have never was a one day project. Using stickers and one piece of cut-out typography (above).

It is based on the idea that I have never used a lot of my household items in the way they are intended or even at all. Most of them were gifts and I felt guilty every time I saw something I hadn't used. Some where expressions of my ignorance in certain areas. I have never read the Greek Myths. Each object has a back story, where they came from, who they relate me to, how much they cost. Through making stickers and labelling these items I was able to admit to many things, my habit of collecting, regular guilty feelings, my lack of care, the care taken to hide my ignorance, my dislike to some things, small white lies and that the present giver is usually a reason to hold on to something rather than the actual object. So there it is, I've used them now, the guilt has gone. 

Harrington and Squires

Spent a lovely morning at Harrington and Squires a few weeks back.
H&S are letterpress printers and designers Vicky Fullick and Chrissie Charlton.
They shared their extensive knowledge, examples of lots of great work and an impressive book collection.
It's an amazing studio, dubbed the corridor due to it being only 1.2 meters wide. Vicky and Chrissie were very accommodating and clearly have great intelligence and witt when it come to typography and metal type.

26 Letters 2007

26 Letters is a self-initiated project cataloging 26 letters I sent to myself.

Each envelope was created to test whether it could reach the destination despite different versions of the address or stamp. These variations included a map of my address, missing information and a visual version of my address.

Each envelope had a letter of the alphabet inside, hence the name 26 Letters.

Cover of 26 Letters

Opening spread of 26 Letters

An example of the layout

Examples of the envelopes I sent