Letterpress magic

I recently did a letterpress workshop at The Little Press. I've loved letterpress for ages and always wanted to try it out and when I saw this workshop which allowed you to print your own design, I knew it was for me!
I decided I wanted to to a poodle design but then it turned into a unicorn poodle which I liked even more! 

The photopolymer plate of my unipoodle design with some paper samples

The workshop was run by Emily and Rob from their spacious West Perth studio and was a small group of six. We split into two groups, one setting up the presses while the other mixed the inks. We used one of two hand operated presses, called Little Leo and Lilian, to print our designs.

My poodlecorn on the inked up press, Lilian

Everything has to be just right to get a perfect print which includes adjusting the amount of ink, the height of the paper, the pressure and lots of other little things. But it turned out well in the end!

Poodlecorns on a selection of papers, including a handmade one by one of the other participants.

After a yummy lunch of pumpkin soup and turkish bread, we had time for a little experimenting with the old woodblock type which Emily was lucky enough to find on a trip to India.

I had a fun day and would love to do it again and make a friend for my magical poodlecorn!

Montage of Montage

There are only 2 weeks left of Montage pop-up shop at 224b William St, Northbridge! Here are some alluring photos to entice you in...

Bunnies! Lamonster dress, Anna Hadwin Crochet, Loco Lepus brooch, Osmosis brooch,
Tall Rabbit picture holder and bunny studs.

Ali J print and Anna Hadwin Crochet

(Clockwise from top left) Eeva Margita zine, Tall Rabbit bookmark, Fluid Ink Letterpress card,
Tall Rabbit unicat print, Samantha Hughes cat hoop, Osmosis necklace.

Penguin pals! Tall Rabbit brooch set and Anna Hadwin Crochet 

Fluid Ink Letterpress card and Eden Dreams necklace

(Clockwise from top left) Simpicity Looms woven necklace, Ali J wood sculptures,
Little Makery felt ball garland, Osmosis coasters, Scrumpy Soaps, Liz Briggs beaded bracelet,
Fluid Ink Letterpress gift tags, Little Makery party spoons, Tall Rabbit ice-cream brooch.

Tall Rabbit pandas!

You can find all this and more in-store but only until Saturday, 30th May. Don't miss out!

Montage 10

The 10th Montage Collective pop-up shop is back just in time for your last minute Christmas gifts! It all happened very quickly but somehow we managed to get 20 local artists and designers set up in one day.

It's open til 6 every day and til 2pm on the 24th and will then vanish like magical elves...

Fluid Ink Letterpress

Liz Briggs

Simonette

Tall Rabbit

Ali J Art

Eeva Margita

Samantha Hughes

Delight Society

Osier

Bron's Ceramics

Ce C's Cakes

Osmosis

Pip and Printer

Neddynibbles

Kit N Stuff

Little Sketchy

Orlando Hadwin

Ceramic Snippets

Lamonster

Concrete Chook

Letterpress!

My work was recently chosen to be letterpress printed by Whiteman Park Print Shop and featured in a letterpress exhibition along with 19 other artworks! The theme was "My Perth" and it had to be in 2 colours - orange and blue. The exhibition was part of Whiteman Park Print Shop's letterpress printing 25th anniversary celebrations.

I always think of the Swan River as being the heart of Perth and of course it's namesake - the swan! So I came up with a sketch of a swan floating down the Swan River with a baby swan on its back (to increase the cuteness factor) and a view of the Perth city skyline in the background... then I set about turning it into something suitable for a 2 colour letterpress print. 



I've never had anything letterpress printed before and was very excited to see how it would turn out. But I had to wait til the opening day of the exhibition to see it in person. I was not disappointed as it looked even better than I had imagined! I really like the brightness of the colours and being able to see the slight indentation of the printing plates and the texture of the paper. As well as seeing the other artworks at the opening, I also got to see the old letterpress equipment in use and lots of samples of letterpress printing. It was very interesting!



Thank you to Ann and the team at Whiteman Park Print Shop for organising and printing. I hope I will get to participate in something like this again!

Note: In case you're wondering about the 'third colour' in my print, it was achieved by overprinting, so the orange and blue were printed on top of each other to create another colour.