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  • Meet the Maker: Grace Gillespie

    Meet the Maker: Grace Gillespie

    Hello! I’m Grace Gillespie, a printmaker specialising in reduction linocuts and based in Bristol. Most days you will find me in my teeny home studio, adding layers of colour to my prints, thinking about future designs or working o. . .
  • Testing your Copper Sulphate Solution

    Testing your Copper Sulphate Solution

    When you’ve mixed a fresh batch of copper sulphate mordant, or if you have an old batch that you haven’t used for a few months, it’s good practice to test the strength of your solution. By creating some test strips for both line and tones, you’ll create yourself a reference point that you can use to help plan. . .

  • Screen Printing with Speedball Night Glo onto Fabric

    Screen Printing with Speedball Night Glo onto Fabric

    As Halloween fast approaches, it’s time to get those costumes ready. We think it’s a perfect opportunity to try out Speedball Night Glo Fabric Screen Printing Ink! Print glow in the dark Halloween messages, pictures, or even your kids’ spooky drawings onto their own costume...
  • Meet the Maker: Angie Lewin

    Meet the Maker: Angie Lewin

    I'm a printmaker working in linocut, wood engraving and silk screen. I also exhibit my watercolours and create collages of printed Japanese papers applied to objects collected on walking and sketching trips. In 2005, I set up St Jude's, along with my h. . .
  • Meet the Maker: Pia Bramley

    Meet the Maker: Pia Bramley

    I’m an artist, illustrator and printmaker. Having left London after a decade of city life I now live and work in The New Forest, squeezing in drawing and printing arou. . .
  • Pigment & Binder - Mixing colours for printing fabric

    Pigment & Binder - Mixing colours for printing fabric

    Using Pigment Colours and binder you can mix your own bespoke colours for screen printing and block printing. Experimenting with different amounts of binder to pigment can create some lovely...
  • Meet the Maker: Evelyn Polk

    Meet the Maker: Evelyn Polk

    I'm a full time abstract artist who primarily uses a range of printmaking techniques to make art and sometimes I mix it up a bit by adding paint or collage to my prints. I teach printmaking classes from my stud. . .
  • Creating Cyanotypes using the Speedball UV Lamp

    Creating Cyanotypes using the Speedball UV Lamp

    Cyanotypes are made using a really old process that uses a light sensitive solution to create designs on fabric and paper. Prints are typically created using direct sunlight. Unfortunately, this is something we don't get. . .
  • Meet the Maker: Hazel McNab

    Meet the Maker: Hazel McNab

    Hi I’m Hazel, I live in Cornwall. I moved down just before Covid, very lucky me! And spent lockdown cutting Cornish Landscapes and really getting into my printing. My background is. . .
  • Meet the Maker: Jennie Ing

    Meet the Maker: Jennie Ing

    Describe your printmaking process. I make linocut prints by the reduction method. This is where all the colours come from the same piece of lino with the successive cutting away of the lino block and printing a new colour over the top of the last. The edition size has to be decided at the beginning as there is no going back once the lino has been cut again and the whole edition must be completed a. . .

  • Mark Marking - Using Etching Tools

    Mark Marking - Using Etching Tools

    When you’ve degreased and prepared your plate for etching, there are a variety of tools you can use to mark into the surface. Any marks made into the surface of the grounds will expose your plate to the mordant. When etched, these marks will...

  • Meet the Maker: Caroline Whitehead

    Meet the Maker: Caroline Whitehead

    I’m a printmaker based in East London. For about eight years now, I’ve been obsessed with alternative forms of lithography (mokulito (wood litho), kitchen litho, prontoplate litho, waterless litho, gum transfer). I also make prints on clay. As well as making my own prints, I also teach mokulito and kit. . .
  • Collagraph Printing

    Collagraph Printing

    Collagraphy is a really versatile printing process in which a textured plate is inked up and put through a press. Different textures hold varying amounts of ink and print different tones. Anything with a low relief texture can be stuck down and used: wallpaper, leaves, fabrics, tapes and threads etc. The collagraph plate is …
  • Meet the Maker: Michelle Hughes

    Meet the Maker: Michelle Hughes

    I’m a printmaker and illustrator, living in York, North Yorkshire. I create limited edition linocut prints inspired by the British countryside and British wildlife. . .
  • Prepping your Plate for Etching

    Prepping your Plate for Etching

    For a successful etch, there is a little bit of care and attention you need to give to your metal plate first. There are surface impurities and grease pockets within the metal that will need to be removed before coating your p. . .
  • Meet the Maker: Frankie Brown

    Meet the Maker: Frankie Brown

    I’m an illustrator and printmaker based in Portsmouth, Hampshire. I’m inspired by nostalgic storybooks and I love to create whimsical hand-printed illustrations. I also work part-time at Handprinted; looking after the studio, liaising with tutors, teaching some Fab Fridays, exposing screens and packing orders. My real name is Rachel, and ‘Frankie Brown’ is a name I cho. . .

  • Should I use Caligo Extender or Opaque White?

    Should I use Caligo Extender or Opaque White?

    When mixing shades of ink, we have the choice to dilute the colour with either Opaque White ink or Extender. Both of these give us different results so which should we choose? We have performed a few experiments to show the difference between mixing with Opaque White and Extender. We have used Cranfield Caligo Safe …
  • Meet the Maker: Kate Maxwell

    Meet the Maker: Kate Maxwell

    Hello! I’m Kate Maxwell from Design and Draw. I’m a printmaker and freelance Illustrator. I make colourful screen prints, risographs and other handprinted goods. You can also find my freelance illustrat. . .
  • Making a Copper Sulphate Mordant Solution

    Making a Copper Sulphate Mordant Solution

    Copper sulphate is a non-toxic mordant used to etch aluminium, zinc and steel plates for intaglio printmaking. Copper sulphate is a safer alternative to acids - and we always opt for safer solutions here at the Handprinted studio! Metal plates are traditionally etched using highly corrosive acids, which generate noxious gases and can cause burns if they touch your skin. Aci. . .

  • Meet the Maker: Jo Muriel

    Meet the Maker: Jo Muriel

    Describe your printmaking process. My prints are all one of a kind, mixed-media studies which combine gestural marks and mainly abstract shape formations. Sometimes, I include figurative elements, sometimes not. I’m mainly concerned with conveying instinctive reactions to natural references with freedom and movement, through colour. . .