GILLSAWS

Here's a lovely 'paper related' subject which I think readers of this blog might be interested in....

GILLSAWS is the brainchild of freelance art director Gill Patchett who I've had the pleasure of knowing for many years. This is what Gill has written about her wonderful new jigsaw business:

"The concept for GILLSAWS was born after being gifted a 1500 piece jigsaw puzzle, of the state of California, on my return from a 6 month solo stateside odyssey. Inspired to create a contemporary collection of jigsaws, and after several unsuccessful attempts to gain help from the few remaining UK jigsaw manufacturers, I decided to produce the jigsaws myself. GILLSAWS will collaborate with creatives to produce exclusive limited editions. Allowing new and established talent to showcase their work in a completely different medium. Each puzzle is handcrafted in a small studio in Brighton, using an industrial roller press, a custom made die and a whole lot of love. For this reason each one, in a sense, is unique, reproduction may vary slightly and minor imperfections may occur."

There are four different jigsaw designs, all the elements - Air, Earth. Fire and Water

Each of the puzzles is a 400 piece puzzle. GILLSAWS are handcrafted in a small studio in Brighton, using an industrial roller press, a custom made die and a whole lot of love!

These lovely contemporary jigsaws are available to buy NOW here: http://gillsaws.bigcartel.com/products

http://gillsaws.bigcartel.com/
http://www.thisisgill.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 04.08.2017

Jobs from the past - Number 94

Regular followers of this blog will know that my first post of every month is a "job from the past" so that I can show some of the really good work from years gone by...

From the Cradle to the Grave

Selected Drawings - Damien Hirst ...2003

Half Skull 1998

In 2003 Damien Hirst, one of Britain’s most celebrated artists, accepted an invitation from the Ljubljana International Biennale of Graphic Arts to produce a completely new show for their 25th Biennale. The invitation followed in the wake of the prestigious Biennale Grand Prize awarded to Hirst in 2001 for his suite of ‘Last Supper’ prints. For Ljubljana, Hirst chose to put together his first-ever exhibition of drawings. Spanning his entire career, the exhibition consisted of approximately 150 drawings drawn from a large number of public and private collections. They ranged from early drawings done when Hirst was a teenager to intimate drawings made for close friends. Hirst also included his sculpture From the Cradle to the Grave (2000) in the exhibition.
The exhibition was organised by Visual Arts, British Council for the Biennale and it subsequently toured with the British Council to other venues around Europe.

This publication was published by Other Criteria in association with the British Council.

Size of the publication is a whopping 670x480mm. It is then 'endorsement folded' (ie in half to 335x480mm). This large format catalogue has a deliberately news-papery look and feel. It is a 20pp 'self cover' printed on our Redeem 100% Recycled 115gsm (special weight was made for this project) and is unbound.

Click on images to enlarge

The Beheading of John the Baptist 2002

The Last Supper (The Blood of Christ) 2003

Away from the Flock 1994 

For a sense of scale, below is a spread pictured with a piece of A4 paper ...remember the size of the publication is 670x480mm!

An Unreasonable Fear of Amputation/Death and Dying 1998

The publication is printed offset litho. Although this looks like a one colour print (halftone or monotone printing) it is not! The reason that the pencil looks so much like pencil is because it's a two colour job, with a continuous tone printed as the background. This means that there is never a hard edge when the pencil line finishes because it blends in with the continuous tone of the background colour. A very effective solution and I've been asked many times how the amazing reproduction of the pencil drawings was achieved. Below image shows detail of the pencil work: 

Click on images to enlarge

The paper is already a neutral white shade gives the publication a 'newsy' feel which really works with the images and most importantly, the pages which are purely type (centre spread) as below:

Outside back cover:

Design is by Jason Beard at Other Criteria. It's a superb example of a well thought out, beautifully crafted publication which has stood the test of time. It demonstrates that a well considered design with the right materials can be produced in a cost effective way and still look fantastic.

Printing was by Principal Colour, who are still based in Paddock Wood in Kent. The production was handled by Chris Saunders who now runs his own print management consultancy, Print Source.

http://www.damienthirst.com/
http://www.othercriteria.com/
www.principalcolour.co.uk
www.print-sourceuk.com

Posted by Justin Hobson 02.08.2017

How to Excite the Senses

Jaguar is a purpose-led organisation and their purpose is to excite the senses. This superb publication commissioned by the Jaguar PR and press department is to convey this purpose. This piece of literature embodies all the core values that Jaguar stands for and is produced to a very high specification.

The size of the publication is 165x240mm, landscape. The outside cover is case-bound using a combination of a soft touch covering material and 'quarter bound' in black book-cloth. The front cover is hot foil blocked in a gloss black foil. 

The binding is what is generally called "swiss-bound", so the text is mounted onto the inside back cover with the front cover and freestanding spine. The below image shows the inside front cover, inside spine and page one of text.

However, what is unusual about the binding is that the text is section sewn but left as what I describe as "open-bound" with the sections being held together with just thread and a very small amount of glue.

Click on images to enlarge

One of the things about this project which is so exciting is the use of different materials. The introduction is an 8pp section printed on Offenbach Bible 60gsm - which is printed sensationally with an amazing image ...the alloy wheel below:

...and below you can see the way the very lightweight Offenbach Bible flops and flows:

The majority of text is printed on our Omnia 120gsm. The majority of pages are printed in a solid black, which looks wonderful on the Omnia.

Click on images to enlarge

...but to keep the reader stimulated there are eight "tip- ins" 140x110mm, which are printed on our Astralux 1 sided 90gsm, which is high gloss one side and an uncoated reverse.

The below image shows the way the uncoated and coated combination of the Astralux works really well.

Many of the spreads are also vibrant colours or solids which all work equally well on the Omnia.

The publication is printed offset litho throughout and there is also gloss UV which runs throughout the book. Unlike most uncoated products, you can successfully gloss UV varnish on Omnia (with a single hit) and it works really well - as you can see in the below pic...

Click on images to enlarge

Another luxurious touch is the use of coloured thread for the section sewing:

Concept, art direction and design of the publication is by Brand Union.

This is an exquisitely produced book which using a great choice of materials does "excite the senses". The project is printed offset litho throughout. Print is by CPI Colour with Alan Gillespie handling the project.
https://www.jaguar.co.uk/index.html

http://www.brandunion.com/

http://www.cpicolour.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.07.2017

Verge

Verge is the name of the collaborative exhibition showing the work of the graduates from the 2016 BA Honours Photography course at the University of Portsmouth. The exhibition was held at Hoxton Arches in London in June 2016 and included a panel discussion on Collaborative Practice after University held on the Saturday.

The superbly produced publication is a professionally produced gallery catalogue. The size is 265x210mm portrait and it is perfect bound.

The 4pp cover is hot foiled blocked in metallic blue foil on the front cover and also on the inside front cover, listing the 26 photographers on the course. The 4pp cover is produced on Colorset Aquamarine 350gsm.

The 64pp text is printed offset litho on our Marazion Ultra 115gsm, which is a bulky sheet and gives the publication a spine of 5mm, although as you can see from the below image it flows really nicely.

Click on images to enlarge

Marazion Ultra was chosen mainly because of it's matt flatness which would reproduce the artworks well without a glossiness which can often detract from the images. The combination of the Colorset and Marazion Ultra is a simple but effective choice of materials.

Anca-Ioana Pirvu

Krasimira Butseva

Emma Durrant-Fellows

It's not been possible to reproduce all the spreads in the publication, so there are just some of my favourites here. As you can see from the spread below, even when the images are very dark and saturated with CMYK, the detail has been retained.

Sarah Benstead

For readers not familiar with Marazion Ultra, it's a fully coated paper but it really does have a dead flat MATT surface. There are many papers on the market which profess to be matt (and some which incorporate the word matt in the name, but aren't!) ...but this really is - and if you don't believe me, just ask for a sample!

Chris James

Detail showing the 5mm spine

Catalogue design is by Éloïse Parrack. Print was handled by Philip Herridge at printing services at the University of Portsmouth. Print is by PPG who are based in Portsmouth. 

http://www.source.ie/graduate/2016/univportba/univportba_index.php
http://www.eloiseparrack.com/
www.port.ac.uk
http://www.ppgprint.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 25.07.2017

Gillian Hyland cards

Originally from Ireland, Gillian Hyland began her career in publishing, where she worked as a fashion stylist and features writer for a number of well-known national magazines. This led to a move into the television industry, and later into the film industry.

As an artist and photographer, she creates supernatural staged images, presented as film stills or dramatic moments. Hyland’s unsettling mise-en-scene are full of sex and desire, sadness and nostalgia. Last year Gillian won a Royal Arts Prize and is represented by Saatchi Art.

This series of 2pp, A6 size cards are printed on Omnia 280gsm. The images have lots of detail but are all quite dark and therefore it was important to retain as much detail, especially in the dark areas. This is the reason that Omnia was chosen rather than a regular uncoated board, Omnia gives the uncoated look and feel but with great colour reproduction.

Click on images to enlarge

Unlike many of the printed items featured on this blog, which are printed offset litho, this series of cards has been digitally printed on an HP Indigo press. The colours are strong and punchy and the cards have a tactile look and feel. Being a digital print process it also means that small quantities can be printed economically and updated frequently, without the pressure of having to do a large print run.

Click on images to enlarge

Although Omnia was never originally developed for digital printing, we now keep it as a stock item with "sapphire treatment". This treatment is often applied to more unusual papers and provides a "key" so that the inks (which are different to litho inks) work on the paper surface. The great thing is the job just doesn't look and feel like a digital job. 

All the cards have the artwork details printed in black on the reverse, as you can see above.

Design is by Gillian Hyland Creative. Printing is by Chadbon Printing based in London.

https://www.gillianhyland.com/
http://chrischadbonprinting.com/

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.07.2017

Delicious new swatch...

We now have a wonderful new swatch for our Dolcelicious range of papers. We launched this new range at the PrintweekLive! exhibition in March after being appointed as the UK stockist. 

Dolcelicious is a tactile and beautifully coloured range of high quality, certified food contact papers - suitable for contact with dry, moist and fatty foodstuffs developed by Britain's master papermaker James Cropper.

Innovation is at the heart of everything James Cropper does and this range of papers reflects this ethos. Having identified that what was lacking in the packaging market was a high end, luxury option for the food sector that was certified for food contact and readily available, they started product development.

The range they developed is an uncoated range in seven different paper shades, and four film laminates (matt/gloss, gold and silver).

The new swatch shows all the colours and the metallics, together with printed examples, die cut and embossed samples.

Richard Burnett, market development manager at James Cropper, said "We have been working in the food packaging market for a number of years, making lots of bespoke papers for customers. But we recognised that there can be a time delay for a bespoke product and what we needed was an own range that is ready certified for food contact yet was suitable for the luxury end of the food market. Dolcelicious can be used for things such as confectionery, drinks and high end bakery items – in fact it is suitable for contact with dry, moist and fatty foodstuff."

The new Dolcelicious food contact-approved paper range was first shown by Croppers at the Luxe Pack trade show in Monaco last year. A range of sample packaging has also been produced using the range to demonstrate how the material can be used.

This is the first and (..so far) only, luxury direct food-contact paper available from stock and is a fantastic addition to our range. If you would like to see samples, please let me know: justin@fennerpaper.co.uk

http://www.dolcelicious.com/
http://www.jamescropper.com/mill/

Posted by Justin Hobson 17.07.2017