An Enyclopedia of Inspiration coming soon!

“This 368-page book features profiles of 48 designers, artists, artisans and entrepreneurs who make things with print.”

— Janine Vangool

Print/Maker

Uppercase magazine’s founder, publisher, editor and designer Janine Vangool launches the next volume from her Encyclopedia of Inspiration - Print/Maker. I am thrilled to be a part of this volume which will be available this month.

I discovered Janine Vangool’s magazine, Uppercase in 2012, the same year I bought my Adana 8 x 5 printing press. It was Uppercase issue 12. A beautifully designed magazine full of inspirational articles from the ephemera of newsprint, artist’s sketchbooks, creative explorations with maps, Japanese papermaking, a celebration of vintage cameras to sailing the Arctic Circle and letterpress printing from a campervan! I was hooked! As I was beginning my own printmaking journey, Uppercase opened a door to a world of possibility and adventure, fantastic resources and a connection to artists from many parts of the globe.

So it’s really lovely to be invited by Janine to take part in the next volume for The Encyclopedia of Inspiration - Print/Maker. Like Uppercase it will be packed with a colourful eclectic mix of playful and creative printing explorations. I look forward to getting my copy and I hope you are inspired to get one too!

“Each dust jacket can be folded to reveal one of four different designs. You can easily refold it to display your favourite. Dust jackets can be used for your own creative purposes as well, like wrapping gifts, collage, or perhaps as a cover for a sketchbook or journal.”

— Janine Vangool

Designers Artists Artisans Entrepreneurs

The 48 artists featuring in Print/Maker include Amada Press, Angie Lewn, Baltimore Print Studios, Blackbird Letterpress, Brad Vetter Design, Brooklyn Haberdashery, Cabinpress Studio, Catherine Ruddell, Cathy Terepoki Ceramics, Chasing Paper, Clawhammer Press, Egg Press, Eightfivepress, Feast Letterpress, Fiona Wilson Prints, Gotamago, GTO Printers, Inkello Letterpress, Inkwell Originals, Jeanne McGee, Katharine Watson, Laura Spring, Moglea, Notely, Nourishing Notes, Orozco, Papirmas, Patrick Edgeley, Pressing Matters, Prints & Press, Public-Supply, Red Cap Cards, Risotto, Ruth Hickson, Shorthand, Snap + Tumble, Spark Box Studio, Star Shaped Press, Sugar Paper, The Inkery, The Open Press Project, The Printed Peanut, The Regional Assembly of Text, Virgin Wood Type, WMS & Co., Yao Cheng Design and Yetunde Rodriguez Design.

You can pre-order Print/Maker from Uppercase website by clicking on the button below.

The next three volumes from The Encyclopedia of Inspiration include Ephemera, Vintage Life and Quilted.

The UPPERCASE Encyclopedia of Inspiration (Pre-Order Next 4 Volumes)

Check out more of Janine Vangool’s publications including:

The Typewriter: A Graphic History of the Beloved Machine

The UPPERCASE Encyclopedia of Inspiration BOX SET (The first three volumes)

Uppercase (A magazine or the creative & curious)

Little U (the offspring of UPPERCASE magazine)

The Making Ape

“All of your ancestors were creative — You and I and everybody we know were descended from tens of thousands of years of makers. The entire world, for better or for worse, has been altered by the human hand, by human beings doing this weird and irrational thing that only we do, amongst all our peers in the animal world, which is to waste our time making things that nobody needs, making things a little more beautiful than they have to be, altering things, changing things, building things, composing things, shaping things. This is what we do. We’re the making ape. And no one is left out of the inheritance of that — that’s our shared human inheritance.”

— Elizabeth Gilbert with Krista Tippett (onbeing.org)

Over the last few weeks I have been working with some fab spirited teens at a community centre in Salisbury. For the latest linocut workshop I brought along some celebrities. Ed Sheeran and Camilla Cabeo were the favourites. The teens got stuck in and made some brilliant prints. Here’s a snapshot of their hard work!

Ed Sheeran and Teen Team Spirit

Team effort is involved in the creation of Ed Sheeran. Together they carve and roll out the ink while one holds the paper the other prints. A wonderful collaborative process. 

An Independent Camila Cabeo 

A very focused and reflective individual enjoys the independence of carving and printing Camila Cabeo by herself. 

Support from The Rock

 The Rock created with an abundance of animated energy shows in these boldly carved lines.

The Greatest Showman

Celebrities pop art pics are left to one side for she already has something in mind. 

Usually to print text from a lino block, the text needs to be carved back-to-front. This way the text will print the right way round. But today a different approach is needed in order for a thoughtful teen to give the actual lino as a gift to a friend. She carves the words directly into the lino the right way round and inks up the lino to reveal the carved letters. The ink is left on the lino to dry.

Thank you to all the teens for your openess to explore printmaking and your commitment and effort throughout the whole process.

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Eightfivepress delivers rubber-stamp, linocut and letterpress printing workshops. 

If you would like to book Mog for a printmaking workshop at your community centre or school please click on the link below. 

Print Your Own Letterpress Cards

Ahrabella Prints wedding cards for Ruth & Pedro 

Ruth & Pedro wedding cards printed by Ahrabella

Using a combination of metal type 

Ahrabella exploring metal type

Exploring different coloured card stock

Ahrabella printing her cards on the adana 8 x 5 printing press

Congratulations

Ruth & Pedro

And thank you Ahrabella for your energy and enthusiasm throughout the whole process. It was a joy to work with you. 

Wedding cards by Ahrabella

create your own unique cards

Treat yourself to a creative play day

print on the Adana 8 x 5 printing press

Book Your letterpress workshop

Linocut Workshop - March Hare

Tea and Oranges

Lovely workshop this morning exploring ideas for Julie's linocut. Very fitting that Julie chose a hare for this month of March! Our Mad Hatter's tea party included a healthier option of fresh fruit with plenty of cups of tea. 

Julie brought her inspiration into fruition, producing a lovely chocolate brown hare, by mixing vermilion, cobalt and orange relief printing ink.

For more details about linocut workshops click here

Laurie & David Wedding Invitations - Part 1

Last year I printed wedding invitations for Laurie and David. I filmed the process of printing the invitations on the Adana 8 x 5 platen press using lead type for the cover. The inside was printed with a polymer plate. 

This short film (3m16s) shows part 1 of the printing process - printing the cover using vermilion ink on 100% recycled card. 

I hope you enjoy it!

Typesetting & Printing on the Adana 8 x 5
Printed and filmed by eightfivepress
Music ‘Daylight Ends’ by Snails © 2017