Month: April 2017

We are pleased to be opening our doors once more for the Chichester Art Trail!
Both Shirley and Holly will be exhibiting their latest work in the Handprinted Studio. The exhibition will feature relief prints, screen prints, etchings,
indigo dyeing and batiks! There will be framed and unframed works as well as homewares and bags to view and for sale.

The Art Trail is a great opportunity to visit our studio and see what we’re all about. For any of you who would like to know what we get up to when we’re
not teaching, blogging and posting orders, this is your chance to see! Both of us will be on hand to talk about our work, the studio and our workshops.
The Handprinted Studio will be open for the Art Trail all May bank holiday
weekend (29th, 30th April, 1st May) and the following weekend (6th & 7th May) from 10.30 until 5.30.

There are 150 artists to visit in 114 venues in the Chichester Art Trail this year! Take a look at the venue map to see the artists in your local area – we’ve got lots of other great artists near us in Bognor.

Here’s a few pictures of last year’s exhibition:

Come along to Handprinted, 22 Arun Business Park, Shripney Road, Bognor Regis, PO22 9SX to see what we’ve got this year!

 

Handprinted are organising a Tea Towel Print Exchange to raise money for WaterAid!

WaterAid help the world’s poorest communities to transform their lives with clean water. 1 in 10 people don’t have access to safe water and 1 in 3 don’t
have access to a decent toilet. We want a world where everyone everywhere has these basic human rights by 2030. Together we can make that happen. WaterAid
are on a mission to get ‘safe water, sanitation and hygiene to everyone everywhere by 2030‘. WaterAid reached 2 million people with safe water
and 3 million people with sanitation last year. We want to raise as much money as we can for WaterAid through our Tea Towel Print Exchange!

To take part all you have to do is print three tea towels, send them to us at Handprinted and receive three random printed tea towels from other participants.
We are asking all participants to make a suggested donation of £10 to WaterAid and then you can screen print, block print, embroider, dye, stamp and decorate the tea towels in any way you like!

Young girls in Sanankoro village, Mali, practice good hygiene by washing their hands in clean water from their new water points. Photographer credit: WaterAid/Layton Thompson

Want to join in? Here’s how:

Step 1: Click here to donate to WaterAid
via our Just Giving page – we suggest a donation of £10

Step 2: Sign up for the exchange either by popping into the Handprinted Shop or clicking here to register as a postal participant.

Postal participants are charged £1.60 which will go towards covering postage expenses – absolutely no profit will be made from postage costs. Entrants
anywhere within Europe can join in too!

Step 3: Print your tea towels! Show us what you’re making using the hashtag #teatowelsforwateraid

Step 4: Get your tea towels to us by 30th June – drop them off at our Bognor Regis shop or post to: Handprinted, 22 Arun Business Park,
Shripney Road, Bognor Regis, PO22 9SX. Please include your name and address so we know who the tea towels are from.

Step 5: Receive your three random tea towels! Pick up from the shop or receive them in the post. We will send the tea towels out in mid
July. Show us what your received using the hashtag #teatowelsforwateraid

Nadia collects clean water from the rehabilitated borehole in Nyamigende village, Rwanda. Photographer credit: WaterAid/Zute Lightfoot

If you’re local, use the Handprinted studio to create your tea towels – why not come as a group and all print together? If you’re further away you could
meet up at home with a couple of friends and each print three tea towels. They can be all different or all the same, using any decorative technique
that you like. Feel free to use any tea towels you can get your hands on to create your own unique designs. We want you to be creative! If you like,
you can even download the ‘In support of WaterAid’ logo below and add it to your design.

Sign up to enter by post!

Donate to WaterAid

Start printing!

Meet London based artist and designer Sarah Hamilton and enter our competition for a chance to win a copy of her new card making book ‘House of Cards‘.

Sarah has been running her own creative business for over 20 years. She describes her work as ‘Joyful, fresh and contemporary, with a Mid-Century Scandinavian
feel. Colours, and their effect on each other, fascinate me. Put simply my colours must sing.’

She contributes regularly to UK Handmade magazine and is a passionate champion of independent businesses and Artists and Designers. Such is her belief
in their future she instigated the ‘Just a Card‘ campaign to encourage people to support them.
She’s also been a guest speaker at Mollie Makes awards, Crafty Fox Market events and for The Design Trust. Sarah’s work has sold through many prestigious
stores.

Describe your printmaking process.

Silkscreen printing is my first love. I mainly use paper cut stencils and my book ‘House of Cards’ describes the process, as well as other techniques,
in depth. Ten leading artists and designers, including Gabriela Szulman, Kirsty Elson and Sam Marshall, detail their own favoured techniques to inspire
both those new to printmaking and professional artists alike. The aim is to show that greeting cards can be artworks in their own right though the
book is useful and inspiring to everyone interested in a variety of printmaking processes including lino printing, textile foiling and letterpress
printing.

How and where did you learn to print?

My first degree was in Fine Art, Printmaking from Manchester, followed by a post-grad at Central St Martins. Very happy days, and I was taught etching
by Norman Ackroyd – if you know his work you’ll appreciate how lucky I was, though I ultimately specialised in screen printing I loved etching too.

Why printmaking?

Nothing beats the excitement of lifting a silkscreen to see the results of printing. I use a variety of mediums, and make a range of work, but my first
love is my trusty screen press. I’m addicted to paper and love everything about the process – cutting paper stencils, mixing inks, brandishing a squeegee,
watching multiple prints stack up. Screen printing is a great way to learn about and discover colour relationships – however experienced you are, you
can never predict the results.

Where do you work?

My studio’s in my home in Dulwich, South London. It’s an unusual split-level 1950’s house set in woods overlooking the city. The best thing about it is
that it’s an upside down house, the living spaces are at the top, so my studio is flooded with natural light. I’ve the best of both worlds here as
it’s very green, but only 14 minutes by train to central London.

Describe a typical day in your studio.

One of the many pleasures of my work life is that no two days are the same. Days are spent designing, packing online orders or meeting clients, either
here or in the studio, to discuss a commission. I also run the JUST A CARD campaign, write for various publications, as well as being a trustee of
an educational arts charity – all these add ensure my week is as varied as it is busy.

How long have you been printmaking?

My first encounter with silkscreen printing was at sixth form college – aged sixteen. I had a fantastic Art tutor – one of those extra special inspirational
teachers who alter the course of your life by their passion and enthusiasm.He’d persuaded the college to invest in printmaking facilities, and I clearly
recall him saying he thought I’d love screenprinting as I was so keen on experimenting with colour.I’ll always be grateful to him for his support and
encouragement.

What inspires you?

Nature, music, folk art, travel, fifties designs, everything Japanese, architecture, books – all the usual suspects with a healthy dose of music, friendship
and laughter rolled in.I gravitate to art, architecture and design from the ‘less is more’ school of thought – clean lines, the union between materials,
colour and imagery. As to the music, friendship and laughter- the more of that the better!

What is your favourite printmaking product?

I love so many tools and products associated with printmaking, but one of my very favourites is lino rollers. I especially like the ones with wooden handles
and brass fixings, so beautifully made.

What have you made that you are most proud of?

A living as an artist and designer – does that count!? It’s not easy – there are so many challenges, but overcoming them is part of the exciting creative
journey.

Where can we your work? Where do you sell?

Every year, in May (Sat/Sun 13-14th this year)I have an Open House/Studio. It’s fun, sociable and everyone’s welcome so do pop in. It’s a great day out
and we have fabulous cakes too. Details will be on my social media channels and website. I also sell via my website and through various galleries and
independent shops.

What will we be seeing from you next?

2017 is shaping up to be very busy and I’m planning to focus on more Fine Art work. Funnily enough, as the book was meant to inspire people, Sam Marshall’s
chapter in House of Cards about lino printing has reignited my love of relief printing – I may well be ordering some lino materials from Handprinted
soon.

Do you have any advice for other printmakers and creatives?

My advice is to always keep your creative aims in mind – try new things and never compare yourself to others.

Also, very importantly, embrace Social Media with open arms – it really is an artists’ best friend. No end of opportunities have come my way from it. Be
patient, consistent and generous to others and you’ll find it makes a huge difference. I wouldn’t have written this book if I hadn’t made the initial
contacts on Twitter. It’s very important to remember that SM is not all about selling – it’s as much about making connections which ultimately lead
to somewhere.

And finally – Check out the JUST A CARD campaign to encourage people to support artists, makers and independent shops. Follow us on Social Media – especially
on Instagram. Our volunteer team work extremely hard to promote the campaign so we’d love you to join us.

For more of Sarah’s work, follow on Instagram: @SarahHamiltonPrints,
@hoc_cardbook and @Justacard

To enter our April giveaway for a copy of Sarah Hamilton’s new book House of Cards, click here! Competition closes on 30th May 2017.

 

The Xcut Xpress is traditionally used as a die cutting machine but has found a whole new life as a printing press! This small scale machine is portable,
affordable and can produce amazing quality prints. We used our Xcut Xpress with Extended Print Bed and Felt to produce a linocut, a drypoint etching and a collagraph!

The Xcut comes folded into its portable form. The press unfolds to produce the print bed and rollers.

Each side has a removable piece that can be lifted out.

Underneath is a slide that can lock the sides of the press down in place.

The side pieces can then be replaced the other way up, clicking into place to produce a flat bed.

The Xcut Xpress comes with a short bed but we have an extended bed and compressed felt to further the printmaking possibilities of this machine. To print, we added two pieces of newsprint
between the bed and the felt.

Linocut: Pressure at 6.5

We inked up one of our linocuts with Hawthorn Dense Black Stay Open Ink. We used a Hawthorn Roller to transfer the ink to the block.

We adjusted the height of the roller to 6.5 and gently fed in the print bed and felt. The lino was placed face up on top of the print bed and one piece
of newsprint. The second piece of newsprint and felt were placed on top.

We are using 3.2mm traditional grey lino onto 190gsm Kent paper. 6.5 seems to be the perfect pressure
for this combination with our 3mm thick compressed felt and extended bed.

You will need to guide the bed with your hands until the roller takes hold of the lino. The handle is easy to turn and requires no pressure.

After one pass through the press we got a perfect print.

Drypoint Etching: Pressure at 4

We inked up one of our drypoint etching plates with Caligo Safe Wash Etching Ink in Carbon Black.
For more information about making and printing a drypoint etching, see our blog post.

We turned the dial to 4 to get the correct pressure and gently fed in the print bed and felt, again with two pieces of newsprint to sandwich our print
(you will need to turn the dial to 4 before feeding the bed and felt in as the felt will resist the dial being turned this low). This seems to be the
lower limit of the press when using this print bed and 3mm felt. We are using 0.5mm drypoint plastic with 190gsm Kent paper with our extended print bed and felt.

Dampened Kent paper was placed on top.

The print came out crisply with lovely embossed plate marks.

Collagraph: Pressure at 4.5

We inked up one of our collagraph plates with Akua Intaglio Ink in Carbon Black.
For more information about creating a card cut collagraph like this one, see our blog post.

We turned the dial to 4.5 and gently fed through our print bed, newsprint and felt. We used 1400 micron mount board with very low relief collagraph textures.
Again, we printed onto dampened 190gsm Kent paper.

Although the plate was old and worn out from lots of use, the print came out beautifully with varying tones and embossed plate marks.