The Print Lady says it with flowers...

Ainslie Chivers is the Print Lady. Having been in print for over 25 years, Ainslie now works as an independent print professional managing print jobs for clients, design studios and individuals. She is based in Hampshire and as well as her knowledge of Litho, digital and finishing processes, she also possesses an Adana hand letterpress machine.

...and last week I received in the post a lovely note and examples of our new BOTANICA, Floral seed paper, letterpress printed!

Click on images to enlarge

 Below you can see the details of the petals:

I wrote about this new range, when we launched it on May Day this year HERE. The BOTANICA floral seed paper is handmade for us here in England by Two Rivers Paper, who are based at Pitt Mill in Somerset.

...and here is Ainslie's lovely note:

Because great care has been taken in the hand papermaking process, using 100% cotton, without chemicals and dried naturally (only by air) means that the seeds will germinate and grow. Below, you can see my efforts, grown on wet tissue on our window-sill.

...and my colleague Sarah Glennie has demonstrated her horticultural skills using compost in the image below - 4 weeks after planting:

My thanks to Ainslie for taking the time to send me examples and for spreading the good news of this new range to her clients.

https://www.printlady.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 27.07.2020

The Medium's Medium

The Gallery of Everything is London's first and only commercial space dedicated to non-academic and private art-making. The gallery's roster includes major historical master artists and newly discovered authors and creators. A British non-profit organisation, committed to the advancement, integration and celebration of artists and makers beyond the cultural mainstream.

Last year they presented an exhibition titled 'The Medium's Medium' a two part exploration into spiritualist and mediumistic art practices from the 19th century to the present day.

This is the catalogue which accompanied the exhibition and features drawings and paintings by a diverse range of authors, from established names to newer (re)discoveries. The catalogue is produced in the style of a 19th century pamphlet or chapbook as they are sometimes called.

Size is 210x165mm, portrait and is a 60pp 'self cover' which is saddle stitched. It is printed on our Redeem 100% Recycled 60gsm, which is a neutral white shade, which has the perfect tone for a 19th century publication and the 60gsm weight means it flows and flops perfectly...

It is printed offset litho throughout and the majority of pages are just printed in black only.

However, towards the middle of the publication, the drawings and paintings are reproduced with amazing clarity...

Click on images to enlarge

Centre spread, below

A lovely feature is the use of copper wire for the saddle stitches:

The 60gsm weight is just perfect for the publication.

...and even though this is a 60pp, the thickness is only 2mm! and it doesn't 'gape' in the spine as a heavier paper would, as you can see in the below image.

Print is by Identity Print, based in Paddock Wood with Paul Martin handling the project. You can read more about the exhibition here.

https://www.gallevery.com/
http://www.identityprint.co.uk

Posted by Justin Hobson 24.07.2020

Wedding Invitation on Sixties

Over the many years I have been  paper merchant, the trickiest of all projects to be involved with is the graphic designer's own wedding invitation! Generally speaking there are many samples involved and lots of changes in direction in a desire to impress their design savvy friends! Not so, with this invitation, as I didn't know anything about it until I received a lovely email yesterday...

I met designer Sam Moffat this time last year, who had just set up his own practice in London called  Decade Studio. One of the products I showed Sam was our new SIXTIES. Sixties is a new paper (in 60gsm, hence the name!) which has the same type of translucency as a tracing paper, but feels like a normal paper. Unbeknown to me Sam identified this as the perfect stock for his upcoming wedding in November.

Click on images to enlarge

Size of the invitation is 420x297 (A3) folding down to 105x148mm (A6). It is digitally printed by Kestrel Press, white on the front and in black on the reverse.

… you can see the translucency in the images above and below. Photography is by Huy

Digital printing is by Kestrel Press based in Irvine. Kestrel had tested the Sixties on their digital press, including the use of digital white toner, which I wrote about in an article on this blog, which Sam spotted. The end result is absolutely superb. The invitations are sealed with an orange sticker, as you can see below...

Sam moved back to Australia in January and Decade Studio is now based in Hobart, Tasmania. My best wishes to Sam and Hannah on their new life together in Oz and thanks to Sam for taking the time to share this with me, so I could share it with you.

http://www.decade.studio/
http://www.kestrelpress.com/ 
https://www.instagram.com/huy____/

Posted by Justin Hobson 22.07.2020

Sustainable Print

Park Communications in London has an enviable reputation as being one of the Capital's foremost corporate printers and one with the highest environmental credentials, having won Printweek Environmental Printer of the year in 2017 followed by a highly commended in 2018.

Park has produced this guide aimed at providing tips about sustainable printing for brands and includes articles on sustainable materials, sustainable large format, and the creative opportunities of sustainable printing.

Size is A5 (210x148mm) portrait. The 4pp cover is printed on Crush, Corn 250gsm with the 8pp text on Shiro Echo, White 120gsm.

The above image shows a project for Spitfire Audio, printed by Park on a combination of Shiro Echo and Flora Giglio, which I wrote about on this blog here.

Our Crush range from Favini in Italy, is manufactured using 15% agro-industrial residues from the processing of corn and hopefully, in the below image, you can see the small specs and inclusions in the paper.

The guide is written, designed and printed by Park Communications and is digitally printed using their HP Indigo press. It is also available as a pdf download here.

https://www.parkcom.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 20.07.2020

Pills, Potions & Points: Letterpress Art in Science

Have you ever wondered how a 1950’s metal type fleuron can explain cutting edge Parkinson’s research? Who the naked reverse wifi guy is and what he’s got to do with enzymes? Or how flight and neurons can be connected? Glint lover Elizabeth Fraser has. In this lecture at the St Bride Foundation, she will explain her love of pattern, science and her journey bringing letterpress and the laboratory together.

This online lecture (via Zoom, next Tuesday 21st July) is by Elizabeth Fraser a.k.a Frauhaus who is an artist and printmaker working mostly with letterpress and linoprint. As well as puzzling over make-ready and inspiration in her garden studio Elizabeth teaches as an Associate Lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University in Cambridge. Her prints and artist books have been loaned, donated and acquired by Kent University special collections archive, Oxford University Bodleian Library, RIT Cary Graphic Arts Collection and The British Library. Most recently an essay about her sci-art work has been included in the book Ways of Thinking published by Ruskin Arts.

Why not take some time out and book for next Tuesday, 21st July 6.00–7.30pm Tickets: £3.00 – 5.00

You can book online HERE

www.frauhaus.co.uk
https://www.sbf.org.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 16.07.2020

dzek

Marmoreal is an engineered marble for architectural surfaces developed by Dzek in collaboration with the British designer Max Lamb. The graphic and immersive visual qualities of this engineered marble have also been harnessed in pieces of furniture, developed to illustrate the material’s capabilities beyond the typical two-dimensional expressions common to architectural surfaces.

This piece of literature works as both product information guide and promotional poster. Size is 838 x 590mm folding down to 148mm square. It folds into a 40pp broadsheet with an additional 8pp of 100mm high flaps.

It is concertina folded both horizontally and vertically as you can see in birdseye image below... The whole publication is printed offset litho on our Offenbach Bible 60gsm and it looks and feels absolutely gorgeous - it flops and folds in a delightful way when handling the publication as I hope these images demonstrate.

which folds out flat as below

The below image shows the way it concertina's from top to bottom (vertical folds) before folding horizontally.

The striking Marmoreal poster, which shows this amazing material...

Reverse, with details about the material together with images and the items of furniture made using Marmorial.

Photography is by Frank Hülsbömer. The publication is printed offset litho in CMYK and the colour reproduction on the Offenbach Bible is excellent, as you can see in the detail image below.

Field Projects, a London based studio, is responsible for the superb art direction and design. Creative Director on the project is Tom Watt.

...and many thanks for Tom for kindly sending me file copies and a lovely note.

https://dzekdzekdzek.com/marmoreal#marmoreal
http://maxlamb.org/157-marmoreal/
http://www.field-projects.com/
https://www.frankhuelsboemer.de/

Posted by Justin Hobson 14.07.2020

PIE

PIE is a new breed of recruitment agency for automotive, consumer goods and B2B. Their mission is to cut out all the hassle that typically comes with job search and have a straightforward, direct approach. London based design and branding studio, Studio Mean have produced for them, a no-nonsense brand that doesn't mince it's words. You can see the strong branding working across the PIE website here.

An important part of the branding is the business cards. The 54 x 84mm cards, literally have a slice of pie cut out of them! They are digitally printed on our Colorset 100% Recycled 350gsm in Deep Orange, which has been duplexed to make 700gsm, which is 1mm thick.

The cards are digitally printed in black on the face and the name and contact details are all printed in digital white (HP Indigo printed) on the reverse, with the angle die-cut off...

Colorset is a range of 36 colours, available in 120, 270 and 350gsm. The below image gives you an idea of the thickness achieved with the duplexing.

Design is by Studio Mean. Print and finishing is by MTA Digital, based in South London.

https://pie-recruitment.com/
https://www.studiomean.co/
http://www.mtadigital.co.uk/

Posted by Justin Hobson 10.07.2020