The Brunswick Prison Camp Map Printers

Next week, there is a wonderful opportunity to hear a talk at the St Bride Foundation about a fascinating subject...

This is the little-known story of how a clandestine press was made and run by a group of industrious British prisoners of war in a German camp (Oflag-79) in order to mass produce escape maps, towards the end of the second world war.

With Mark Evans’ knowledge of his father’s experiences as a prisoner in the camp and Ken Burnley’s life in printing, together they will bring this incredible story to life and shed light on the background, context and the circumstances in how these maps – all to scale and printed in three or four colours – were produced in secret, including the technicalities of their hand-made press, making of inks and printing.

Mark Evans is an artist, sculptor and trained stonemason; son of Brunswick Prison Camp map printer, Philip Radcliffe-Evans. Ken Burnley is a compositor and letterpress printer.

 

The talk is next Tuesday, 3rd December and tickets are a bargain at £12.50 and are available here.

 

https://billetto.co.uk/e/the-brunswick-prison-camp-map-printers-tickets-385910

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.11.2019

Pergraphica at St Brides

Yesterday evening,  I jointly hosted a small event together with Mondi, the manufacturer of our new Pergraphica range of text and cover papers. We invited a small group of designers from a variety of different studios to spend the evening in the print workshop at the St Bride Foundation. There were about twenty of us in all and the evening started with an introduction about the Pergraphica range by Isabel Bernd (below) from Mondi.

We then moved to the Letterpress workshop and were given a history and briefing by the technicians, Bob, Barry and Andrew.

Then everyone was encouraged to have a go at inking up and printing...

For those not familiar with the St Bride Foundation, it was established in 1891 to fulfil social needs in the Fleet Street printing area. Facilities included a library, baths and a swimming pool (as hygiene was poor) and a printing school which was the forerunner of the LCP. Nowadays, this historic building houses a world renowned printing library with a large letterpress collection, a community theatre space, a bar, print workshop, conference rooms.

Everyone had a go at  lino-cutting, Andrew had selected the letter E from a Pouchet engraved alphabet which was divided into 16 pieces which were individually cut by different people over the course of the evening.

...just look at the concentration!

When each of the panels was finished they were assembled and put on a proofing press, as you can see below:

...and here is Andrew Long with the first print:

...and here's the finished result:

Thanks to Mondi for sponsoring the event and for providing the Pergraphica paper used throughout the evening.

My personal thanks to all the staff and friends at the St Bride Foundation with special thanks to Bob Richardson, Mick Clayton, Andrew Long and Barry who made the evening really good fun.

www.sbf.org.uk
https://www.mymondi.net/ufp/en/brand-group/pergraphica

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.11.2019

Atelier Augé - Moon Daisy

This is one of collection of new range of greeting cards produced by Bath based artist Lucy Augé. Known for producing large bodies of life work, her collections are exhibited internationally and Lucy is attracting a loyal following. This new collection of cards is from her Botantical archive and is based on her own exhibition invites which proved extremely popular.

The 4pp cards are 148x105mm (A6) portrait and this card is printed on our Crush Grape 350gsm from Favini. Crush Grape contains 15% residues from the processing of grapes for wine and food combined with 30% post-consumer recycled waste and FSC certified virgin fibre. The paper is produced with 100% green energy.

Click on images to enlarge

The above image shows the credits printed on the reverse of each card.

The cards are beautifully and simply printed in just one colour and using Letterpress resulting in a slight indentation giving the cards a tactile and engaging feel. You can just see a little of what I mean in the detail image below...

The cards are printed Letterpress by Opal Print based just outside Bath and below you can see the letterpress printing plate together with the inking rollers on the press.

Image courtesy of Lucy Auge

...and you can buy the cards here!

https://www.atelierauge.co.uk/

http://www.opalprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.08.2019

The Burns Series

The Burns series is a range of greeting cards produced in Scotland by Solway Print who are based in Dumfries and Galloway. The cards feature quotations by Robert Burns accompanied by a small illustration. What makes these cards extra special is that they are printed letterpress.

Here are two cards from the series. The cards are 125mm square and are left blank on the inside. The outside of the cards is letterpress printed in 2 colours, black and deep red. Each of the cards has an explanatory note about each of the quotations on the reverse of the card.

Click on images to enlarge

The cards are printed on our Pure Cotton 350gsm, which is a range made using 100% cotton fibres. The board has a wonderful feel and prints letterpress superbly as cotton papers have a wonderful compressibility, allowing the type to sink into the paper (without having to crash/bash it!) You can see from the image below, just how good the crease works.

The cards are designed by Miranda Cloy who is a designer and illustrator at Solways. Many thanks to Miranda for giving these cards to my colleague Kerry and allowing them to be shown.

https://www.solwayprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.06.2019

Letterpress on Shiro

A few weeks ago I received an email with some pictures of a letterpress printed invitation from designer Joe Hales on our Shiro Echo, saying "thought you might like to know it prints wonderfully in metal!"

The invitations were printed at Kingston University, where they have newly cast Univers in all composition sizes. The technician who helped Joe print them is Freddy Williams. 

The 99x210mm invitation is printed on our Shiro Echo, White 160gsm. The private view invite was sent out with an A2 poster which was folded to A5.

Shiro Echo, White is a natural shade recycled paper made from 100% Post Consumer Waste (PCW) and carries FSC accreditation. 

Thanks to Joe for sharing.

https://royaldrawingschool.org/lectures-events/sargy-mann-late-paintings/
www.joehales.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.03.2019

Beyond East West Street

East West Street is a book by the author Philippe Sands QC which was the winner of the 2016 Baillie Gifford Prize for Nonfiction.

Beyond East West Street is a publication based on the Baillie Gifford prize lecture delivered by the author at the Edinburgh International Book Festival.

This small booklet is published by Edinburgh International Book Festival and printed in Edinburgh by Stoneberry Press.

 

The size is 198x128mm, portrait. The cover is printed on Remake Smoke 380gsm and the 24pp text is digitally printed. Remake is a range from Favini made using 25% residues from leather processing.

The cover is letterpress printed in grey and looks just wonderful. The 'Singer Sewn' binding is just perfect.

Below image shows the detail on the back cover...

Published by the Edinburgh International Book Festival. Design, print and production is by Evgenia Kochkina at Stoneberry Press in Edinburgh.

http://stoneberrypress.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 26.02.2019

London Centre for Book Arts is Five!

This week I received a lovely invitation to an Open Studio event celebrating 5 years of the LCBA which takes place this coming weekend on Sunday 23 September...

The London Centre for Book Arts (LCBA) is an artist-run, open-access studio based in East London. The studio provides education programmes for the community and access to resources for artists, designers and makers. I visited and wrote about LCBA in 2013 here.
 

The LCBA mission is to foster and promote book arts and artist-led publishing in the UK through collaboration, education, and by providing open-access to printing and binding facilities; a space for hands-on experience, knowledge sharing and skills exchange.  

It was lovely to receive a personal note, and it was great when I realised that the card was printed letterpress on our very own Colorset (100% Recycled) Lemon 270gsm.

It is free to attend but it is recommended that you register HERE.

With thanks to Simon Goode and Ira Yonemura.
www.londonbookarts.org

Posted by Justin Hobson 17.09.2018

St Bride Foundation Wayzgoose

The Annual St Bride Foundation Wayzgoose takes place next month on Sunday - 20th May

Wayzgoose is a term (unfamiliar to many people) that used to refer to an annual holiday in a printworks and was often an away-day to the coast or some other sort of day out, more often than not, paid for by the firm.

 

However, in this instance the St Bride's Wayzgoose is a kind of letterpress 'bring and buy' sale. There are companies selling type, letterpress accessories, ink and lots of letterpress printed books and cards and the proceeds from the event go towards the St Bride Foundation.

Why not come along... ?

 

For interest, this is what it was like last year:

http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2017/05/the-3rd-st-bride-foundation-wayzgoose.html

 

http://www.sbf.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 13.04.2018

St Bride Foundation Wayzgoose

The Annual St Bride Foundation Wayzgoose takes place next Sunday - 21st May

Wayzgoose is a term (unfamiliar to most people) that used to refer to an annual holiday in a printworks and was often an away-day to the coast or some other sort of day out, more often than not, paid for by the firm.

 

However, in this instance the St Bride's Wayzgoose is a kind of letterpress 'bring and buy' sale. There are companies selling type, letterpress accessories, ink and lots of letterpress printed books and cards and the proceeds from the event go towards the St Bride Foundation.

Why not come along... ?

 

For interest, this is what it was like last year:

http://justinsamazingworldatfennerpaper.blogspot.co.uk/2016/05/the-annual-st-bride-foundation-wayzgoose.html

 

http://www.sbf.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 12.05.2017

Strawberry Sorbet

Strawberry Sorbet is a studio which crafts beautiful letterpress wedding invitations and stationery, based in Ayelsbury Bucks. They describe themselves as "Letterpress Geeks" and have three printing presses named Charlotte, Hendrick and Henrietta!

This is an example of their work - a beautifully simple card, hot foil blocked in copper foil produced on our Colorset Nero 350gsm.

 

The card is A6, portrait and is just hot foil blocked with exceptional precision and in very fine type.

...and here's the credit printed on the reverse of the card, where they profess their geekery!

They don't just do wedding invitations, so certainly worth getting in touch if you want some fine stationery produced.

http://www.strawberrysorbet.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 18.04.2017

Caught by the River Teifi

Click on images to enlarge

Caught by the River Teifi is this wonderful poster, printed letterpress.
It was designed for a little festival in Cardigan run by fforest, a camp and events company in West Wales and Caught by the River, who organise music based events at lots of festivals and run a lovely website around music, countryside, writing and poetry.

The size is 1000x350mm - which exactly half the B1 sheet size (700x1000mm) cut lengthways. The illustration is by Bristol-based illustrator Jon McNought with words by Ben Myers.

Printed letterpress in three colours and here is the description by Nick Hand: " It was printed on a FAG Swiss proof 40, a letterpress proofing press. Ink hand mixed (until it looked right). The background image is printed in two hits and then the darker image around the boat a third colour and the lettering all printed from wood type printed in two further passes. The illustration printed from zinc blocks."

You can see the colour overprinting colour in the above image. The poster is printed on our Colorset (100% Recycled) Natural 120gsm and it looks just beautiful.

Design and print is by Nick Hand at The Letterpress Collective in Bristol.

 

This Letterpress Collective started a couple of years ago after the last letterpress printer in Bristol quietly closed it's doors. They now have a  Heidelberg Windmill Platen, a Stephenson Blake proofing press, various Adana's together with a collection wood and lead type. Put this all together with a lovely workspace and experienced compositors and printers and you have a thriving environment for creativity - and education, as they run courses as well!

 

Do have a look at their site:

www.theletterpresscollective.org
The Letterpress Collective, Studio 31 Centrespace, 6 Leonard Lane, Bristol BS1 1EA

You can buy these beautiful posters here: http://theletterpresscollective.org/shop

 

www.theletterpresscollective.org
http://www.departmentofsmallworks.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.09.2015 

Run & Achieve

Run & Achieve is the creation of Lily Mo, an Edinburgh jewellery designer. They are bracelets for half-marathon and marathon runners with the distances engraved – each bracelet is handmade in Edinburgh using sterling silver and cord that is water resistant.

This elegant packaging was designed and produced by Evgenia Kochkina, based in Edinburgh and is a brilliant piece of packaging design.

Click on images to enlarge

The card is 95mm square and is letterpress printed in two colours - a metallic silver halftone and dark orange and dark orange on the reverse. It is printed on our Matrisse 350gsm, which is very bulky, and is then duplexed making this 700gsm and 1mm thick. There are die cut notches for the cord to sit in and the cards are also 'round cornered'. The card gets inserted into a wallet (115mm square) made from Matrisse 350gsm which is letterpress printed in the same two colours on one side only.

If you click on the image to enlarge the picture, you'll be able to see the coarse screen of the halftone in silver - wonderfully effective use of halftone and letterpress.

You can read more about the project here:
https://www.facebook.com/stoneberrypress#

Design, print and production is by Evgenia Kochkina at Stoneberry Press in Edinburgh. Her email says "I only discovered Matrisse qualities during this job. Very elegant paper and good for colours!"

This is a very simple, elegantly produced packaging solution ..and with the perfect paper!
http://lilymo.co.uk/
http://stoneberrypress.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 21.07.2015

Workshop evening

Last week, I organised for a small group of designers from a variety of different studios to spend the evening in the print workshop at the St Bride Foundation.

 

There were about twenty of us in all and after a briefing by the technicians, Mick, Bob and Peter, the group were encouraged to have a go at setting type, inking up and printing.

For those not familiar with the St Bride Foundation, it was established in 1891 to fulfil social needs in the Fleet Street printing area. Facilities included a library, baths and a swimming pool (as hygiene was poor) and a printing school which was the forerunner of the LCP. Nowadays, this historic building houses a world renowned printing library with a large letterpress collection, a community theatre space, a bar, print workshop and meeting & conference rooms.

  

As well as printing, wood engraver, Peter Smith demonstrated lino-cutting and many people had a go. Peter had selected an engraving which was divided into 12 pieces which were individually cut by different people over the course of the evening.

At the end of the evening the pieces were re-assembled into the image and then placed on the Vandercook proofing press, below:

The superb printed result was printed on Shiro Alga Carta, Ivory 250gsm and it's just beautiful!

In the Layton Room there was an exhibition on display by Designer Bookbinders. The exhibition shows 58 bindings, spanning the career of Trevor Jones (1931-2012), a founder member of Designer Bookbinders. Jeanette Koch from the society was on hand to talk about the exhibition and his work.
http://www.designerbookbinders.org.uk/

It was a really fun evening, where everyone got a chance to have a go and join in. We had some food and a few drinks laid on and most of us made it to the Bridewell Bar downstairs afterwards!

My thanks to all the staff and friends at the St Bride Foundation with special thanks to Mick Clayton, Peter Smith and Bob Richardson who made the evening really good fun.

www.sbf.org.uk

http://peterssmith.weebly.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 09.04.2015