Art Workers Guild Christmas Fair

We will have a stand at the Fair where we’ll be selling our Christmas cards, posters and books. We hope to see you there.

Reynolds Stone

Millions of Britons know at least one piece of work by Reynolds Stone. The coat of arms on the front of the United Kingdom passport is his work. He died thirty years ago, so the design is extremely durable.

This year is his centenary, and we’ve just printed an edition of ten of his wood engravings. We’re very excited.

The prints will be part of an exhibition at Sophie Schneideman Rare Books, 331 Portobello Road, London W10 5SA. It will be open Tuesdays to Fridays 11-4, Saturdays 10.30-6 from the 6th to the 21st November. Other times by appointment (07909 963836) or chance.

What we did at Whittington

Like last year, we were put in charge of Whittington Press’s FAG proofer on Saturday. It’s the same model as our own one, so we prepared this poster beforehand, a touch of the Blue Peters.We don’t get to use our 18 line Gill Sans wood letter very often, so this was a good opportunity. We were told afterwards that it was quite a site to see lots of people walking round clutching the copies that they had themselves printed.

Whittington Summer Show

We will once again be at the Whittington Summer Show this year. It takes place on 5 September, and you can see the gorgeous poster here. The illustrations were hand stenciled by Miriam Macgregor, and we think it’s worth going just for the chance of picking one up.

As last year, we’ll be on the proofing press. We are currently putting together some type for a poster which we’ll be taking with us so that those who want to can print their own copy. We’ll have other posters too, as well as books and cards.

Value for money

Flushed with the success of our recent picture hanging, we thought we’d put up some more. A local corner shop didn’t have picture hooks, but they did have a picture hanging kit, which included hooks and pins. The pins weren’t up to much, but as a spirit level was also included and the whole thing came to £2.20 we weren’t going to complain.

After the exhibition

Now that St Jude’s in the City has finished we have our exhibits back. It seemed a shame to hide them away, so here are some of them in our composing and kitchen areas.

St Jude’s and the snow

This was the view from our window on Monday morning. It took a lot of walking to get here, and there was more to be done to get to the Bankside Gallery for the opening of St Jude’s In The City.

Amazingly, the gallery was full that evening, despite the fact that so many people couldn’t get there. There’s going to be another gathering this Sunday, 8 Februay, from 2-4 pm. Please do join us if you can.

By that time our exhibit will be as we originally intended. The eight framed panels we had made were stuck at the framers on Monday. They’re being installed today.

Getting ready for Bankside

Nick has spent the morning folding our posters for the show at Bankside. We thought they looked pretty good like this.

St Jude’s in the City

Our enterprising friends at St Jude’s are having a show at the Bankside Gallery in London, and we are very pleased to have been invited to take part. Also exhibiting are our old friend and collaborator Chris Brown, Jonathan Gibbs, Jonny Hannah, Mark Hearld, Angie Lewin, Old Town and Alice Stevenson

We will be showing work from recent years, including Christmas cards, Double Crown Club ephemera, stationery, a title page from the Letterpress Shakespeare and a poster we have just completed for The DFC.

The opening is on Monday 2 February between 6 pm and 8 pm. We’ll be giving away 200 wood-letter posters we printed about ten years ago and never distributed. We hope that you can join us.

Jessica Coatesworth

Jessica is in the final year of her graphic design course at Camberwell College of Art. She’s on work experience with us, and is currently working on a poster for our stand at the letterpress day at St Bride this Friday.