Rudiments of Letterpress

A short while ago I spent a weekend at Hotbed Press Print Studios learning the ancient (well several hundred year old) art of letter press. To start somewhere near the beginning, Hot Bed Press is an open studio in Salford that offers facilities for a wide range of printmaking techniques including silk screen, etching, Lino cut alongside book art which members can do at their leisure, they also run loads of courses open to members and the public alike.
After signing up for the course we got an email outlining the weekend - we would start by learning how to do simple book binding stitching pages together to make a notebook, followed by making at least 2 different printed articles to take home at the end of the course from the following list:

1. An address card (business card style)

2. A headed note card (postcard sized with a name, address, phone number and email address)

3. A bookmark

4. A Greetings card

5. A Short poem (four to eight lines)


I opted for a business card and bookmark with a quote from Kerouac's On The Road, because what's more bookish than a book quote?

The tutor, Graham from Incline Press started with telling us how we would be sticking examples of different types of letter press printed stuff in our notebooks along with examples of what we made - including our mistakes - for future reference. Needless to say my book was bulging by the end as I'm pretty sure I was the only one to destroy type and I didn't just do it once (lead is pretty soft, so if your type isn't lined up properly it gets squished, but it just gets put into a box for recycling). The course allows a maximum of 6 people so everyone gets enough time to try stuff and ask questions etc..
I'm not gonna go into loads of details of how everything is done, as it would be a 3 page essay, besides if you've got an interest - get yourself down to HBP to try it for yourself!
We learnt how to set the type, it has to be laid out and all squished* firmly together, then packed and locked up in a chase ready for printing
*not a technical term



We used an Adana hand operated platen press, here's mine all inked up and ready to go



Here is the business card I made (I blurred out the number because I don't want random people from the internet ringing me)



We all managed to make ourselves business cards by the end of the first day, we then got asked what special 'furniture' we'd like to add to whatever we were planning on printing the following day as Graham had a whole collection of random animals, pointing hands etc... I settled for an eagle sat on top of the world.

On Sunday we all arrived fresh faced & on time, and with much warmer clothing than the day before, as it was quite chilly in the studios.

We set about setting type for our second print item, here's the type for my bookmark - one of the difficult things for me, is that you lay the type upside down, and of course, back to front - this can become confusing.



You do a test run first, which allows you to inspect the type, I'd managed to select a box of type that had the wrong type in it, so had to take out several letters, which has to be done with really sharp pointy tweezers and is quite fiddly.
Here's the finished product



I managed to make quite a few as you can tell, this will stop me turning the pages down on my books to mark the pages in future, but should you want one of these lovely things, you can buy them on my Etsy store that I have recently set up.

I enjoyed the course even more than I thought I would, and it's made me wonder yet again why I didn't pursue Graphic Design & Typography at College (as it would've been a wiser career choice .. maybe)as I love this stuff so much but then I remember how much I procrastinate over anything remotely creative - case in point, I attended this course in January and it's taken until now to write about it. If you want to see some really good examples of what you can do with letterpress, you should check out the We Love Letterpress Tumblog

Manchester Duck Race

Good Friday saw the Manchester Duck Race down the river Irwell at Spinningfields. The entire area of Spinningfields was heaving with people especially young families all keen to enter the race which was held in aid of the Brainwave Charity which aims to "help children, between the ages of 6 months to 12 years, who have a brain injury, genetic condition or Developmental Delay.".
Starting from the bridge just near the Mark Addy pub, with the kick off due at 2pm, I arrived about 20 minutes early and squeezed my way through the throngs of people to the bridge over New Quay Street, where I managed to secure a position directly above the finishing line. The race started with the corporate ducks about 15 minutes late, where I was stood although you could tell someone was speaking into the sound system, you couldn't actually hear what was being said, so you had to guess.

But the corporate ducks were released and went on their way - very slowly. There were radio controlled speed boats that were used to keep the water flowing and pushing the ducks in the right direction. Like a lot of people I was surprised how small they were, we expected pretty hefty ducks, although by how long they took it was probably for the best that they weren't too huge!

The corporate ducks could decorate theirs as they wished, and there were some pretty sweet costumes, from pirates to artists with a palette and all manner of feathers and head dresses!
Once the corporate race had finished, the clouds had started to gather over a previously sunny Manchester, and before you had time to blink - the general public mini ducks were released by their hundreds from Bridge Street.

Unlike the larger ducks, these took no time in sweeping down the Irwell, keeping tightly packed almost the entire journey. A lot of people were wondering how they would choose a winner when the ducks were at one point travelling in a straight line,meaning about 30 would pass the line together.

Needless to say, in true Manchester fashion, within seconds of a winner passing the finishing line, the heavens opened and people left in droves to find shelter from the rain or simply go home.
I left via Carluccio's for another of Manchester's Best Coffees.

Outdoor Ice Skating

Yesterday we took Charlie ice skating to the outdoor temporary rink, situated outside Swinton Town Hall. Skating In Salford is apparently twice the size of last year's white elephant, which means last years was pretty tiny. we paid £6 for adults and £4 for the child booked online through Quay Tickets (no booking fee either which was a bonus), which includes skate hire - despite what is advertised on the council website, the sessions were an hour each, not 45 mins, although if you spend as long as we did putting the skates on you could easily lose 15 minutes. There is a small snack bar type places serving hot drinks etc..

It's been a good 14 years before I was last on ice skates, so it took a bit of getting used to, especially with the fabulously uncomfortable plastic hire skates which left my foot arches in agony. But a fun time was had by all, Charlie managed to not fall over at all (compared to the 8 times on a previous trip with school a few days earlier). There were staff on hand at all times to keep the kids/teenagers in check, which they handled very well in between picking people up off the ice.

We chose to go at 5pm just as it was getting dark and the area looked very festive with all the lights from the town hall, there are also several firs surrounding the rink with lights.
I have to say it feels very weird to be skating outdoors in the town centre with the buses pulling up every five minutes at the side, but it was a very enjoyable evening out.

Photographic Portrait Prize 2007 - The Lowry

I went to the Lowry Centre today to catch the Photographic Portrait exhibition, which closes this weekend. And whilst I found it quite enjoyable I do have mixed feelings over whether I enjoyed the exhibition or not, maybe it was my own fault for expecting something slightly grittier than what I saw, my preconceptions being led in particular by this photograph

Portrait Prize winner Joseline Ingabire with her daughter Leah Batamuliza, Rwanda, from the series Intended Consequences: Mothers of Genocide, Children of Rape, by Jonathan Torgovnik © the artist.
I suppose I was expecting portraits that told a story about the subject, but I found many were simply portraits of children who were in some way related to the photographer, that appeared to have been used for the photo as they were readily available.. or again, maybe I read too much/too little from the snippet of information on the descriptions.
The photos I did find very striking included Alex Hurricane Higgins by Michael Donald (albeit displayed in a rather odd position in the gallery) and Alice & Fish By David Stewart. A small sample of the finalists can be found on the National Portrait Gallery website.