The Print Project

Ante – what we got up to

Adana, DIY, Exhibitions, Gill Sans Bold Condensed, Letterpress, Univers, workshops

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With amazing timeliness, we bring you this post about Ante Art, and what we got up to while we were there.

Ante-art was a 100% DIY arts fair, taking place in Shipley Kirkgate Market over two days of the May Day weekend. It featured exhibits by artists and collectives such as Black Dogs, Bristow & Lloyd, Knit a Bear Face, and the Caged Bird Club, among many others. The exhibition ran all weekend, with a book fair on the Saturday, and an ‘art factory’ on the Sunday.

The art factory included an “Idiot’s Lowbrow Print Workshop” and “Knitting Takes Guts“, as well as a letterpress workshop.

Participants were invited to add, typeset and print a word to go into a collaborative sentence. Here’s how that turned out.

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Ante – Bookfair, Exhibition & Art Factory – May 5th & 6th 2012

Exhibitions, Letterpress, Process, self-publishing, Typography, Zine Fair

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Ante-ART, ShipleyAnte-ART, Shipley“Ante takes the idea of art and scrapes off the dogma, the commercialism and the elitism. Ante explores and celebrates the use of art and print as an expression of free will and a megaphone for those whose collective voices struggle to be heard.

Ante is Shipley’s May Day celebration, taking place at the Kirkgate Centre on the 5-6th May. Saturday starts with a small press, zine and print fair followed by a benefit gig. Sunday is an ante-Art factory – dress for mess and produce your own £25million masterpiece. Ante-exhibition all weekend.”

Lots of great things happening with this event, and did we mention we printed the flyers on the left?

Ante-ART, Shipley

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1 in 12 letterpress workshops

1in12 Club, carrying printing presses up four flights of stairs, Letterpress, Platen, Printing, workshops

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Last Saturday we did the first of our long-promised workshops, at the world-famous 1 in 12 club in Bradford. The idea was to introduce the interested into the bizarre and wonderful, and exhilaratingly speedy, world of letterpress. The day began in the cellar, with some exciting Arab action. (Participants weren’t able to run the Arab, but were able to watch it work as Nick printed the first colour for the cards they were later to print.)

Then it was up four flights of stairs to the library for some typesetting. Lovely, lovely typesetting. Participants had thought beforehand about what text to set, and had the choice of four typefaces to use in their cards.

Each had a compositing stick, a galley (a galley is a steel tray much like a baking tray, but you wouldn’t want to eat your dinner off it) and furniture and quoins for their forme.

Then it was time to ‘lock up’ and put the chases in the Adana.

Everybody seemed really chuffed with the end results.

Please keep your eyes open for more information on future workshops.

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Salford Zine Library

fanzines, self-publishing

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Salford Zine Library, home to 1500 zines from all over the world, has at last managed to find a new home. Run by Craig John Barr, the library is home to self-published works on a range of subjects, and it tours the world, visiting schools, universities, and book fairs.

After a long search, the library has at last found a permanent home in the Nexus Art Cafe in Manchester’s Northern Quarter. The library will open from mid-May, and be accessible 7 days a week, but its new home needs some work.

The library needs your help to make this work possible, and is trying to raise the sum of £1000. Click this link to donate to the Salford Zine Library.

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Garage Grumbles: Music

Adana, Garage Grumbles, Letterpress, Music, Platen, Printing, The Cunningham Amendment

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The Cunningham Amendment - Garage GrumblesLetterpress involves long hours alone. Every part of this ancient craft is unique. And it’s only the compositor who can sort the problems that crop. There are no help- lines, software or replacement parts. However, once the problems have been sorted, a lot of the work can be repetitive. Like lone yachtsmen and desert hermits it is work that has an effect on the psyche. It’s easy to get lost in day-dreams. I rely a lot on music for company. I discovered years ago the magic and the complexity of opera. I can sometimes plan an act of an opera to coincide with a particular printing task.

Extended repetitive movements continue to cause damage to a variety of my bodily joints. Music helps in the physical breaks.  At particular points in the opera I can begin vigorously conducting along to a heartily sung aria. As far as I know no one sees me doing this and share it with you under conditions of confidentiality.

But the music is not always classical. Taste and mood change with the work.  I always say that if you don’t like rock n’ roll then you haven’t got a soul. My sound system dates from yesteryear and I occasionally visit charity shops where it’s possible to pick up cassettes for 10p a go. Once when printing I was pondering over a storyline about a church whose tea urn had been laced with something special. In my head I had the vicar chasing the lady on flower rota; the choir adopting the lotus position; and then, on a cassette playing rock from the 50’s, I heard “Happy Organ” by Dave Baby Cortez (try it on youtube!). Wow. I was immediately into Miss Timpson doing an imaginative striptease down the church aisle.

Life can be pretty exciting in the garage.

—The Good Doctor
The R. Supward Press Spring 2012

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Garage Grumbles: The Lost Episode

Garage Grumbles, Printing, Process, The Cunningham Amendment

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After many months of searching the information super highway, we finally found this ‘lost’ episode of Garage Grumbles by The Good Doctor…just in time for spring.

“Bits of me are suffering from the months of prolonged exposure to the cold. It’s the body’s peripheral, dangly-bits that go first: Chilblains, nose tip, ears. Worse was the little finger of my right hand which stiffened and the topmost joint swelled up painfully. The little finger is essentially redundant when composing type. It’s the thumb and first three fingers that do the work. Hence I have a pinkie that hurts at the slightest sign of a cool breeze. Years back some wag sent me a knitted willy-warmer. I dug it out last week and used it has a pinkie-glove. Alas, it was too big. So I’ve taken to strapping my finger up with masking-tape. Me and my body have had some good times — bad times too — and it’s a trifle disconcerting to watch bits of it drop off.”

—The Good Doctor
The R. Supward Press Winter 2011

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Type Tuesday: Italics

Type Tuesday, Uncategorized

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Aldus Pius Manutius Romanus (1449-1515) loved the letterpress. He had the best printing office in his area; nobody had so much type, or so much paper, as Aldus.

Around the age of forty, Aldus decided to devote his life to publishing classical literature. Europe was at the time in turmoil, with Christian scholars being hounded out of their homes into neighbouring countries. Aldus offered refugees safe asylum in return for their help in collating quality copies of Greek and Latin classics.

Many of the old grammar books had suffered from shoddy copying over the years. They were slapdash and messy, and many were saved by the work of the men in Aldus’ academy of learned men.

To bring down his production costs, and to make the books more affordable for skint scholars, Aldus needed to fit as many words as he could on every page. Ideally he wanted to be able to get 2 pages’ worth of type onto a single page. He employed the artist Giovanni de Bologna to design a new, compressed typeface – which became known as the italic.

Aldus’ press became famous all around Europe. People all over were carrying his pocket editions of Latin and Greek classics around with them. His press was so famous that people were constantly knocking on the door, wanting to visit. Their interest got in the way of the work of the press. He hung a sign over the print shop door: “Whoever you are that wish to see Aldus, be brief,” it said; “And when business is finished go away.”

Things printed in italics at the print project “With 26 Soldiers of Lead I Have conquered the world” card.

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Fictions of Every Kind

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Fictions of Every Kind is a non-profit DIY writers’ social night, run by a small group of Leeds-based writers.

Writing can be a lonely business. Whether they consider themselves to be a ‘success’ or not, the truth is that most writers spend hours sitting at a desk, alone, not talking to anybody apart from the characters they’ve invented in their heads. Apart from anything else, the act of writing can make you start to become slightly socially impaired.

Sam & I, who had known each other through years of involvement in the city’s DIY and punk scene, decided to do what we could to do something about it. We were both writing, and a little frustrated at the limited amount of chances we got to talk to other writers. We decided that it would be a good thing to start a regular events night where writers could meet up, socialise, and have chance to read and discuss their work.

The raison d’etre of Fictions of Every Kind has always been to give support and encouragement to writers. Having a background in DIY organisation, we always strive to run the nights in a way that is accessible and fair. Our door prices are low so that people can afford to come, and we always do our best to pay our invited speakers fairly. Every night has an invited speaker or two, a band, and a writers’ open mic. We make an effort to be inclusive and we always try to be friendly.

Our next event is Fictions of Every Kind: Hope, on Monday 19th March, at The Victoria pub in Leeds. The Vic is a lovely old pub that has a range of tasty real ales, and we have two invited speakers – Adam Lowe, an award-winning publisher and live artist; and Irna Qureshi, who writes about British Asian heritage. Music at ‘Hope’ comes from Gary Stewart, a folky singer-songwriter of folky tunes. As usual there’ll be a writers’ open mic, at which true stories, flash fiction and poetry are all welcomed – sign up on the door, and please keep your contributions at 7 minutes or under.

It starts at 7.30 and entry is free, but donations are welcomed. Any monies you give will go directly to our invited speakers.

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DIY Protection Racket

DIY, Music, Process

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“The Nail That Sticks Up Gets Hammered Down” — Born Against

“A lot of people seeking careers in creative industries like to misuse the DIY label as a means of getting a ‘foot on the ladder’ upwards into their chosen career, whatever that might be.”

Sarah busts out the hammers over at her blog:
http://sjbradleybooks.blogspot.com/2012/02/diy-protection-racket.html

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Forme Friday: PRINT SNOT DEAD

Exhibitions, Forme Friday, Letterpress, Printing, Process, Proof Press, Wood Type

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PRINT SNOT DEAD forme using a rather battered 22 line De Little Condensed Grotesque.

The poster was created for the Leeds Print Festival 2012 exhibition.

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