Monsieur le Roitelet and the Birds

Nearly everything I buy comes from the internet; the village has a couple of food shops, but that's it for anything useful to me; I don't drive and what buses there are, are infrequent, expensive and take a long time to get from A to B. Buying something like good paper, which really needs handling, is a problem.

However, handily, there is a brilliant paper merchant Paper Resources, literally just down the road from us. So in search of some really nice papers, I popped in to see them. Unlike a lot of paper suppliers, they are more than pleased to sell small amounts to individuals and the choice is fantastic; hence I emerged with a decent amount of gorgeous smooth, specialist papers, for about ten UK pounds, all handpicked by the merchant and myself, with much deliberation, including a wodge of hard-to-find Mohawk paper from the USA. Happiness!

So commenced another round of remembering how to print. Lino printing seems to be a bit of an ugly duckling in the art world - not regarded as sophisticated as etching, more akin to stamping or potato printing. However, there is a bit more to it than that. For a start, to get a really good, smooth print, the ink has to be rolled just so, the paper chosen to go with the ink viscosity and then the actual rolling of the ink onto the lino block is in itself a delicate operation, to get an even surface. I don't want edges on the print, so it mustn't be too thin or too thick.

That up above is a nice vintage Speedball brayer, which I was trying for the first time; I'm going to stick with it from now on as the roller is nice and densely soft, making the ink go into the block better than the harder rollers on my other brayers. I roll the ink out about an hour before using, to let it harden a little and get the right 'tack' - then it is rolled out thinly and again on a tray and then on a glass slab, until it starts making the right kind of light hissing noise. And only then it is carefully rolled onto the block, checking it from every angle to make sure that all areas are covered evenly. I look for a velvety surface like this;

To minimise ink getting where I don't want it, I use a mask while I'm inking up the block. The bed of the proof press I use has also been carefully raised up with various layers of paper and card, to get the depth of impression I want - even slipping a single sheet of newsprint underneath makes a difference.

And then yet another mask, for the actual printing.

The paper is held into place with a bit of tape, but I also like to hold it down lightly with my thumb as I make the first pull across, to stop slippage and misprinting.

I do two 'pulls' - quickly but carefully, not taking the roller off the paper, or it will slip minutely and give a double, blurred impression. It's a single, smooth movement and often goes wrong for me, with the first practise pulls. Here we go, with the first - the impression showing through.

And after the second pull. Now you can really see the deep indentation. Taking care to remove the paper so that you don't smudge anything, you peel the print from the block...

Breath a sigh of relief, as this time it came out well.

A now familiar sight in our little front room-cum-print-studio. Much has been discarded over the three hours of work and out of this lot, only a handful were deemed good enough to put in my shop.

Printed on the gorgeously smooth Mohawk Superfine heavy ivory paper, there are 14 copies of this printing of 'Monsieur le Roitelet and the Birds' for sale here at a princely £5.25/$8.

I'm really pleased to have managed that many, as it's a vast improvement on my other print runs and I think I'm getting back into the swing of it at last, after an 18 year break. Less bodge, more hurrahs.

If you are in or near Oxford, Simon of Paper Resources is going to be selling similar packs of paper at the Fine Press Book Fair on the weekend of 5/6 November at Oxford Brookes University, details here. I may well be going myself, to look up some old friends and seeing what's new.

(PS - There is a reason why my little man is called Monsieur le Roitelet, but I'll let you Google that one yourselves).

Eggs & new prints

The Cotswolds are looking particularly beautiful at present - the landscape seems ever so slightly blurred at the edges, as if seen through a misted glass. We are also enjoying a spot of 'Indian Summer', so collecting eggs is even more enjoyable than usual.

Marjorie and I don't often venture out of this side of the village as it leads up a very long and steep hill, which we find ourselves obliged to puff and push up. However, there is an excellent source of eggs nearby, from the Barrington Farm Estate. If you are driving to or from Burford along the A429, you are literally seconds away from it and I do recommend trying them out. (They sell double yolkers too).

The metal 'egg box' is a little austere, but it's more jolly inside. Self service here and an honesty tin.

We always buy the seconds. They are an absolute bargain; two dozen lovely free range organic eggs for £3.20 - who minds if they are a bit wonky and mismatched? (Feathers are free).

Returning home is easier. Downhill all the way and glorious views of our patch.

Then an industrious afternoon trying some new lino blocks.

Rather familiar looking little landscapes - no prizes for guessing where I get my inspiration from.

I'm still very much at the 'remembering how you do this thing' stage and there were many rejects. But I did get a handful of saleable ones - House on the Hill and Autumn Fields. Each is under a fiver - and you can't get two pints of beer for that nowadays. Not down here, anyway.

I also pulled more hare prints but the block is becoming a bit over used, so out of many printed, I only have two more to offer - and huge thanks to everyone who bought the last batch - you cleaned me out in three days! (EDIT - Hare prints now sold out - thank you!)

Happymess/happiness.

Christmas Greeting!

A couple of months ago I was given a quantity of letterpress equipment and two small presses (well, one was given, and I exchanged a painting for the other). A lovely gentleman wanted shut of it, but it needed to go to a good home. I heard about it through the grapevine and within minutes had bagsied it. Andy's parents were kind enough to lug it all down from the North, and their car just about survived...we unpacked the two presses, one 8x5 Adana, one (phenomenally heavy) hand proof press, four full size trays of typefaces, (Gill San and Times) and some empty ones, a little cabinet of small type, (more Gill, Times, Spartan and some yummy 14pt Rockwell Shadow) a bundle of print magazines, various vital odds and sods, boxes of this and that, quoins, chases and other mysterious gizmos and I looked at it all and thought - oh dear...

It may seem somewhat reckless, considering that we live in an already overcrowded small workman's cottage - but I have waited a long time to be able to have my own printing studio, even if that means fitting it into the everyday fabric of our limited living space...I soon had it tidied away and part of the 'furniture', if you will pardon the pun (nerdy type joke). Actually, if I am in confession mode, I have been collecting random bits of type and woodblock for some time, with the vague dream that I might be able to use them eventually. Some people have a shoe habit. I have a letterpress habit. It's cheaper and more fun.

Actually, I think my Adana looks rather picturesque sat in the window, next to the slow ripening tomatoes. (On the elm table which is also in the window because I bought it for a tenner and then didn't know where to put it...)

But I have not had time to play with my toys - it's the usual thing of making time, and I haven't done any typesetting since 1993. Last night I realised that Andy's late shifts were the perfect time to take over the downstairs room, where my bits and bobs are stored. So I began hauling it out from various hiding places...although the proof press, on the table, is now a permanent fixture and when it is not in use, we put two bowls of fruit on it. (Seen here on the hearth in the background).

I intended to start something simple. Maybe some Christmas tags for my Etsy shop, using these newly acquired blocks, one of the best bargains I have ever had on eBay.

So I started with an easy 2 bit design which took mere minutes to be locked in and ready to go...(in case you were wondering about the rather poor joke earlier, the blocks which fill in the gaps are called 'furniture)

For a couple of hours I fiddled about with the Adana, but couldn't get a clean print. I stuffed bits of card under different bits, wedged the platen with extra wadding and rearranged the blocks. But for whatever reason, although the press was working sweetly, I couldn't get a decent result. So I moved on to the proof press, which, unlike the Adana would give me indentation as well as printing.

Using an old catalogue as a pad, I finally got an acceptable result. The only drawback is that the blocks have to be hand inked with a roller. However I seem to have retained a few basic skills from my younger days, and this proved to be no problem after a few gos. There is something rather wonderful about bringing dormant type back to life. By the time Andy was home, everything was put back to bed and the room smelled vaguely of white spirit.

Today, when they were dry, I snipped, sliced and clipped until they resembled more or less respectable tags. Then I realised I hadn't got a good hole punch...I have since found one on eBay, but with rampant postal strikes bringing small businesses to their knees, I don't expect it to arrive for over a week. (I have also learned not to use the Adana on the coffee table, because it gouges big scratches in it...oops...)

And a singular Christmas Greeting to you too. (No, I don't know why the left creator of this block the 's' off either).