Letterpress #2

Once more, before I start the post, I have to tell you my latest bad news.  Not regarding the buns this time.  Driving home from Quilt Guild, I heard a knocking sound and a light came on my dashboard.  I pulled over to investigate and found this.

Yep, a ruddy great bolt embedded in my tyre!

Anyway, back to the craft.  In March me and wonderful mum went to a Letterpress workshop at Malt Cross in Nottingham.  It's a pub which also hosts art and craft workshops.  This workshop was with Cleeve Press.  Unfortunately, my depression reared its ugly head and I was in a bit of a state that day.  Lino cutting was on offer to make our own motifs and I did quite a lot of that, just sitting quietly so I didn't get the most of out this workshop.

Here are two of the stamps I cut from lino.  I really do love lino cutting.  I just wish I had some artistic talent!

I cut some more stamps which I didn't get a chance to use in this workshop, though I can use them with ordinary inks or fabric inks.  These are things I love.  Besides bunnies that's my sewing machine, Charles Rennie Mackintosh and coffee!

Oh, and Mr CA of course...

It's our wedding anniversary on Sunday (as I write this), which means last Sunday (as you read this).  I meant to get this framed as a present!  I completely forgot.  There were a variety of fonts to use on traditional wooden blocks.  I failed to get a photo of the blocks or the letter presses (there were three), but you can see some in the post where we did a taster session - go here.

The bunny rabbit and some quilt-block like motifs got a run out, but I couldn't get it right, I wasn't pleased with this at all.

I'm afraid that's all I have to show for this workshop.  I failed.

Letterpress printing

A few weeks ago we went to a Craft and Cake event at a local pub.  To be honest, it was a bit disappointing.  There was no cake!  There were a few artisans demonstrating their work - painting, knitting on a machine and soap making, and upstairs we found a couple doing letter press printing.  It was free to have a go if you didn't mind waiting your turn, which we didn't.

There were boxes with all different letters and some pictures on wooden blocks.  We were given a tray and a frame and had to fill the frame with whatever we wanted to print.  I am absolutely fascinated by communism so was chuffed to find the hammer and sickle block!  I put it in the middle of some type.  The wooden blocks were for shoring up the text to make sure it was wedged in tight when you pick the frame up.

Then over to the machine.  You put the ink on with a brayer, as demonstrated below by wonderful mum.

You put a piece of paper on top, push it into the machine, tighten the screw, then undo the screw and pull it out and ... ta da!  One letter press poster.

Spot the "a" which isn't actually an "a"?

Clearly the recognising (or not) of backwards letter "a"s is a family trait!

We've booked on a workshop, in March I think, so I just need to come up with another idea.