Print Packaging Services prepare printing presses.

 Nigel places a Homeprint 'yellowXpress' sticker onto a new press. Tony straps a carton ready for the courier to deliver to an Auckland client.

All set to go. PPS have designed the press with me and they manufacture the presses for Homeprint and hold the stock on their shelves in the workshop. When a press is sold they are cartoned and collected by Peter Baker Transport 'PBT' and delivered door to door to the client.

Sunday Music - Live in Feilding.

Christopher Cape, Feilding's balladeer coming to the end of a guitar session, a range of songs sung with feeling and resonance to suit the audience. Drovers Return, has kindly made their Bar available for like minded musicians to play and jam together on a Sunday afternoon.

Letterpress business card production. Dan Fyles.

 Setting letterpress into the galley before transferring over to the chase and printing on the pearl Platen.

The gold business card was last years and the 2 blue cards are samples of this years handprinted specials.
I showed Dan how to use the gulliotine and we cut 140 business cards from the stock in my paper store.

Leo and Andi in the chestnut orchard.

 Andi keeps warm in his pushchair holding on to a chestnut for the Homeprint larder.

Leo has a stick to keep the cattle away from stealing his pile of chestnuts.

Letterpress printing - margaret McAllister - WWOOFer

Using a selection of ornaments from the Homeprint collection Margaret has set a border. The spacing is lower than the type and so will not print when run through the letterpress machine. The arrangement is set into a metal galley (tray) until it is locked up into a chase and carried to the treadle platen press.

Letterpress printing - Margaret McAllister - WWOOFer

Using one of my books from Homeprints 'Book Arts Centre Library', 'making Handmade Books - 100 + bindings, structures and forms' Margaret displays 5 examples of folded and some glued books she made while staying in the Homeprint Studio. No sewing in her examples.  Using a selection of wood type Margaret created and printed an A4 keep sake poster.

Letterpress printing - Margaret McAllister - WWOOFer

When the platen is open Margaret removes the printed card and places the new card onto the gauge pins.

Letterpress printing - Margaret Mc Allister - WWOOFer

Margaret looks over at her first set of border printings to check on print quality.
For her first lesson on using the pearl platen press Margaret is using the wheel to complete the cycle of a print.

Homeprint Journal production

On a work table in the Homeprint Studio we see some stacks of 500 sheets of 'Eden Grove Laid' 90 gsm paper. This is some of the last paper produced by a 180 year old paper mill in Scotland. The watermark has a picture of a crown and the words 'Eden Grove Bond'. The paper is really lovely to work with and I am in the process of making 200 or so journals with plain paper  and a wide variety of endpapers, chapter dividers, and covers. This particular set is for a visitors book and has 5 sections of 5 leaves folded. This means 100 pages. On the table you can see a section wrapped with 100 year old facsimile steel engravings from a pictorial encyclopedia.
On the other side of the table is my latest UV light box called 'Sun Strike". It has 6 UV tubes and will harden solarplate or photopolymer emulsion for creating art works.

Barbara Huia Kingi

Barbara Huia Kingi has written an incredible account of her memoirs relating to her growing up and working life in the Manawatu and beyond. Barbara asked me to help with the publishing of this amazing book (132 pages, 32 pages of photographs). Here the pages are laid out ready for collation. I have selected an ISBN number from the parcel that I have for Homeprint and printed the title page including this number. One copy of the book will go to the Rare Book collection of the Alexander Turnbull Library.

Crossroads Early Childhood centre

 Staff from Crossroads prepare to print their first colour pencil carvings on the A4 relief printing presses.

Here is one of the first 2 colour prints from the production line. A retiring member of staff had bought an A4 relief press for the Centre and the remaining staff were keen to have a lesson on how to produce the easiest and safest results from their press. The results were spectacular.

Ryley and Mikes wedding guest message poster.

Ryley rang to ask if her friends artwork could be produced as a plate and printed on to a large piece of heavy art paper. I created a solarplate from the negative of  the art work. Careful mixing of the salmon and light grey colours followed by masking and printing the plate in the middle of the A2 sheet of Incisioni 320gsm. ( this example is the proof, the final copy was sharper and colours more accurate.)

Friendship Force Manawatu

In a 'Hands On Tour' (one and a half hours) I tend to give visitors an overview of the Homeprint Book Art Studio, introduce wood type both machine made and hand carved, set and print something simple on the 180 year old Imperial flat bed press, then one member of the group selects a printing block from the collection of 1000 or so and i lock that into the setting of the name of their group. Finally the words and block are printed by the members on a prepared postcard with decorative border on a 110 year old treadle platen press (Pearl platen press). Each member has some wood block posters of their own and at least one copy of  the groups 2 colour postcard.

Friendship Force Manawatu

Friendship Force Manawatu hosting 9 Germans who learned a bit more about their culture and set and printed large wooden type. Guttenberg invented moveable type 500 years ago, in Germany.