Blog

This week’s blog post has been created with Sophie, our fantastic work experience student! Over this past week, I have been doing work experience. It has been an amazing opportunity and I have leant some great new skills. Yesterday I tried screen printing, I drew out my own designs which I used in three different … Continue reading "Screen Printing onto Fabric with Translucent Colours"

I’m Chris Pig, an artist printmaker living in Frome with my family. I am director of a small teaching/professional studio Black Pig Printmaking Studio. I designed it myself and managed the project and am very proud of what it has become. Recently I’ve been collaborating a lot with academics, historians who study prints and drawings … Continue reading "Meet the Maker: Chris Pig"

Printmaker Steve Edwards will be joining us in the Handprinted Studio to teach Multi-Block Etched Lino on Saturday 20th and Sunday 21st June 2020! How and where did you learn to print? Hello my name is Steve Edwards, and I make prints. I was a part-time graphic designer for many years but have always had … Continue reading "Meet the Maker: Steve Edwards"

Mono-screen printing is a great way of loosening up your printing style and producing a series of quick, spontaneous prints. Use as a standalone technique or in conjunction with photographic exposed screens, paper stencils and more. We are using a screen that has been exposed using photo emulsion to leave an open rectangle of mesh … Continue reading "Mono-Screen Printing"

Describe your printmaking process. Ideas come first and they can come from anywhere! Landscape and the immediate natural environment is a constant source. I draw and refine and draw again. I collect colours from nature, from magazines, from other people’s work. I like to mess about with different print methods and don’t get to hung … Continue reading "Meet the Maker: Sue England"

This is a really quick, easy and inexpensive way to change the look of your indoor potted plants. Create a streamlined paper cover printed with your own design. Read on for full instructions or scroll to the bottom for a video of the whole process. You will need a large piece of stiff paper or … Continue reading "Block Printed Plant Pot Cover"

We have had a huge selection of amazing printmakers for year’s Meet the Maker feature. Take a look through our 2019 list to remind yourself of our makers and catch up of those you may have missed. Start 2020 with a dose of inspiration by reading through all the advice given out from all our … Continue reading "Meet the Maker: 2019"

We’ve had another fantastic year in the Handprinted Studio. We are so grateful to everyone who supports us by attending workshops and events, using the studio or teaching with us – thank you! Here are just a few examples of the amazing work made in the studio this year. This small sample shows examples of … Continue reading "Handprinted Studio 2019"

Use vegetables to print name place cards and gift tags. This quick, easy Christmas make is a perfect way to get the kids involved! Raid your fridge and grab a few veggies for this quick printing project. Carefully slice your chosen vegetables in half (adults only please!) Cutting them through the root or stem should … Continue reading "Christmas Veg Printed Place Names & Tags"

Describe your printmaking process. We have worked exclusively with eco-friendly water-based inks since the very early days in 2006 and screen print and digitally print most garments.  We still print some garments by hand but also have an automatic screen printing carousel now, which means we can offer eco-friendly screen printing for large scale print … Continue reading "Meet the Maker: I Dress Myself"

Shirley’s star garland is a beautiful and colourful addition to your home this Christmas! Begin with several sheets of stars – print Shirley’s star template A4 page here. This long garland used 8 sheets of stars. Use whatever paper that can go through your printer – Shirley is using Kent which is thin enough to … Continue reading "Handprinted Christmas Project: Shirley’s Star Garland"

Every year we buy so much gift wrap that is only enjoyed for seconds before being thrown away. Bridget’s furoshiki fabric wrapping can be used over and over again and makes a great addition to a gift! Furoshiki is a beautiful Japanese way of wrapping parcels for gifts and travel. Use scraps of fabric leftover … Continue reading "Handprinted Christmas Project: Bridget’s Furoshiki Fabric Wrapping"

The quest for a more eco-friendly, less wasteful Christmas is a great opportunity to get more creative about the way we wrap our presents. These pretty gift bags use up old newspapers – no non-recyclable wrapping needed. So raid your recycling bin and read through the instructions below. In order to make these bags Christmassy, … Continue reading "Handprinted Christmas Project: Holly’s Stamped Newspaper Gift Bags"

This gorgeous DIY bauble will look amazing hanging from any tree! Use ink and paper to match your favourite Christmassy colours. Jez has opted for gold ink on black paper. Here’s how to make it: Print out our bauble template onto A4 paper – it can be downloaded here. We use using black paper for … Continue reading "Handprinted Christmas Project: Jez’s Printed Bauble"

Gum Arabic Transfer (also called paper lithography) is a marvellously fast technique in which photographic images can be added to sketchbooks, paper or mixed media pieces. This is one of the techniques used by Sue Brown in her fantastic work. We were lucky enough to have Sue teach in our studio and hope to have her back soon! … Continue reading "Gum Arabic Transfer"

My Name is Andy English and I am a wood engraver with a special interest in book illustration and the engraving of bookplates. After many years of concentration on commissions, I am trying to create time to make more of the work that I want to do for myself. Describe your printmaking process. I use … Continue reading "Meet the Maker: Andy English"

I’m Nathalie Krona of Krona Prints. I am a linocut printmaker from Birmingham, England and I currently live in Edinburgh. My most popular prints have been pieces that use multiple blocks. I hand burnish all of my prints and work mainly on paper but occasionally play with fabrics. I’m currently making prints that are re-framing … Continue reading "Meet the Maker: Krona Prints"

One of the great things about printmaking is that one design can be used to create a whole edition of prints. That being said, editioning is something that some printmakers can find frustrating if you just want to get on with the next design! Knowing how to edition, sign and number your prints can be … 

Colour mixing can become a very complicated topic. When printing, it is tempting to use colours straight from the tube as mixing the perfect shade can be a little daunting and result in a large quantity of unwanted murky brown ink. We wanted to create a few colour mixing guides to help printmakers build up … 

Relief printing is a technique in which the raised surface of a block or plate is inked up and printed when in contact with paper (or fabric etc.) A linocut is a relief printing method using carved lino. Any areas that are left uncarved will be inked up with a roller and printed. This project …