Oldfield Press

RoKKa RoLLa

2011-09-21T08:47:00.001+01:00

RoKKa RoLLa, a photo by oldfieldpress on Flickr.

A new poster for the line up. I think I might use some of these to brighten up some of those dark doorways I walked past on my way to the mill...Printshop.

Fair Play

2011-09-13T19:53:00.004+01:00

Oldfield Press were excited to get a stall at the Saltaire Makers Fair last Saturday 10th September. I met up with new incoming printer for the press Tim at 8am. We loaded most of everything we had to sell except for a couple of bits I noticed on our return but all in all we had most of it.

We took a small proofing press, one of the 8x5 Adanas, a made up chase and a selection of blocks I had carved.

It was great to ink up the machines and then invite folk/kids to use them. Some kids put the key block onto the saltaire print and others made their own postcards. Hopefully to post to top art collectors who might ring us in the morning or maybe even for Grandma and Grandpa to say what a great day they had.

I hope we inspired some printers of the future.

We did well on selling the prints too which was great to cover the costs but I think it was the networking, the movin' and a shakin' that was the biggest profit of the day.

After speaking with several of the folk there we were asked if we could do courses (of course) or open day which we are more than open to.

12 hours from door to door but an inspirational day all told.

Roll on the next one of these we can do and fingers crossed for those 'this is how we do it moments;.

Onward and upward...

All Exchange

2011-08-10T19:34:00.003+01:00

I am a member f the baren forum. Type that into google (there are other search engines) and they will direct you too to this wonderful world.
I was what they refer to as a lurker for a long time. Sitting in the background reading the tips and hints and viewing the wonderful artwork they exchanged.
One day I got my emial update and noticed exchange number 49. 'Mythology'.
This was right up my street and so I scratched my head as to whether or not my artwork/prints could be worthy of joining in this exchange. It was obvious to me which legend I would choose. I love the outdoors and feel this spirit is there for all of us moorland meanderers or woodland wanderers. Yes it was the 'Green Man'. Not the pub in Undercliffe but I am sure they know they are named after this Deity of nature.
I have been waiting to post this blog since I signed u and did the prints but last week I got home and received the most fantastic package of artwork from all over the world and wonderfully collated by Sharen from the 'Baren'.
Thanks to all who joined in the exchange I am still going through the prints I received in return for mine and smiling from ear to ear.
There you go if you don't already know. You can see these and other exchanges on the forum site and here is a quick picture diary of my entry.

A day at the Press

2011-06-09T17:35:00.008+01:00

Today I went to the mill and decided to stock up on stock for the posters.

Now I have the peacock finished I thought I had better get the titles done and get some of the series ready for the shop.

Haven't done owt with the shop since the flood but now I am going to use this 'sugar paper' all the time now.

I like the muted colours and the texture has a kind of antique vibe.

Just the titles and then 'Shops OPEN!!'

Oldfield Press meets the W.I.

2011-05-03T17:22:00.008+01:00

Oldfield Press have hit the road.
Took our presses in the back of a van and headed off to Baildon and the Baildon Belles, Womens Institute.

It is the first time I have had to explain to so many how to do what we do. There must have been 60 or so of the Baildon ladies sat in the old church hall waiting to make some easter cards.

I gave a brief talk on how and why we obtained the presses we use and gave out 60 or so small 6"x4" blocks of wood. I had been to the hardware shop and stocked up on cutting tools aswell as the stationers to get a slack handful of marker pens.
I showed how to ink up and place the paper and ran the press over a sheet of paper that had survived the wind outside and decided to stay unlike so many fairweather sheets that had up and left at the first gust to pass the back of the van.

What more is there to say? Nothing really as I suppose folk are here cos' they want a go.
I set up several work stations. First was the guillotine where the cards were cut to size. Next onto the creasing press. This is just an 8"x5" adana without rollers and a couple of creasing blades in the chase.

After this it was onto the proofing presses to press the freshly carved blocks that everyone had been working on. Lots of flowers, eggs and cups of tea were turning up at the presses and soon transfered onto the cards everyone had cut and creased.

Time flies and it wasn't long before the queue to the proofing presses had dwindled and the 2 Adana 8"x5" presses were soon printing the seasonal messages.

Everyone seemed to enjoy the night and some of the cards were very good. So good I hope that the folk who did them feel it worthwhile and maybe see them at the press working on new and different designs in the future. It was a learning curve and the best learing curve has got to be a smile.

baildonbelles.co.uk

Beauty/Vanity

2011-02-21T14:53:00.003Z

I would be gone forever or so it seems whilst doing this new print. Therefore I have posted a progress report. Not much more to say really as the pictures speak louder than words.

I will be out on tour for the next couple of weeks so when I get back I will be able to try out all those colours I have in my head.

Pretty Slugs

2011-02-09T09:47:00.003Z

The band I am in (Terrorvision) have a new album out. First in 10 years and so it has to be special. After seeing the first ideas and attempts at a cover design I thought, 'we have some wonderful Rockwell shadow which would look great on the cover.

I think cds' are alot harder to design for as when I was a kid I loved looking at the pictures on the album covers. The covers for lps' were bigger and so I think alot easier to make interesting. Now we have a small square that measures 5"x5". I suppose this is the door to open to see what is inside, the lyrics the photos and of course the music.

I made up the block and Stu came down with his super delux camera to get some close up and detailed pics. To really show the beauty of the lead slugs and the font they represented.

So once the front is photographed and dissed we have the back cover too to doooooo.

We had a slight change of font and thought with it being a rock band we should go for the heaven and 'Helvetica'. Song titles done and a quick spell check to put right 'Suicibe' (Doh!) and we are ready for the final pics to go off to Leigh (TV's bass player) to put into his computer and start the cut and paste that is photoshop ready for the artwork to be printed.

A quick spin of the pics to make sure they all read the correct way round and here we are. Terrorvision new album 'Super Delux' recorded with volume and a cover designed with passion. We can only do what we do and mean it in the hope that 'who cares wins'.

Feel free to check out the site and see the ongoing theme of print running through the modern world of the web. Oh, how the traditional makes the future look brighter.

www.terrorvision.com

Pressing on after the flood.

2011-01-21T15:54:00.004Z

Well, we can't wade through what has happened forever so to check the presses were happy and the wooden bed we use on the press wasn't too warped by what had happened I did a new cut.
We have also been using our type and Stu photography skills for another project and will update y'all on that soon enough but for now....

The print room has been dried and swept. Cleaned and dusted.

There isn't enough room in the print room for the proofing press so for now this is done on the rehearsal room floor.

So lets get inked up and fingers crossed we will soon have some prints and it will be like the flood never happened. Try a different technique too of inking up one block in different places for different colours

The sugar paper I used soaked up alot of the ink and it was very cold so it was extremely sticky and thick. I think a warmer day might help but I can see there is no longer lasting damage.

Burst Flood 2

2010-12-29T15:57:00.005Z

The whale stayed on the water (sorry I mean wall) in the old room.

As the survivors lay out on the floor. Thoughts of safety after the outburst. Little did they know....

....I entered the room this time to find the prints had travelled from the far side of the room and now lay in a pile by the door. Maybe they had been trying to escape...

Maybe they had been trying to escape the water pouring in. Sheered in two and at an angle to where it had been, the guilty pipe swung. Right above where I had put the fish and the eagles and the panthers just a few days ago......

Once again they all lay in ruins and told me how the water must've got deep enough to carry them so far to the corners of this room...

But in a swinging chair. Hi above the flood water was one witness. Slightly wet to say the least as they had been underneath the broken pipe and sat firm. I brought this one home to dry out......

Oldfield Press

2010-12-23T18:43:00.000Z

Oldfield Press

2010-12-23T18:36:00.001Z

Oh No!!
I had finished the next set of 'Strength' prints and just had the titles to put onto the other when I got a call from the landlord of the mill.
'There's water coming through your wall into the next dorr unit' he said.
'I think you should come down'.
I went to the mill and he was already stood with the door ajar and a worried look.
'I think it is worse than just a little leak', he told me as I approached.
As I went in all I could think about was the hours and hours of time carving the blocks and wondering what the damage would be.
Luckily the blocks were not in the vecinity of the burst sprinkler head and had somehow managed to avoid the water running through the roof space from dripping onto them.
It was so cold that the floor had turned the escape water into ice and there was no light or electric.
I went to the wall where the 'Fish' were drying and found some dry, some drenched and some that had soaked up the water, frozen and fallen to the floor in a ripped, smashed heap.
The panthers near the piano.....well lets just say they kept the piano slightly drier and sacrificed themselves (showing true 'Courage') to the incoming tide.
Even some of the eagles didn't fly high enough to avoid the floods.
All in all I think I was lucky as the majority of the prints could be saved. Some now tell the tale of the winter of 2010 and bear the scars thus making them unsalable but none he less, in a strange way I feel kinda attatched to these ones now.
I will enclose the chaos pictures for your perusal and please be assured that what did not kill us will definat
ely make us more determined if nothing else.

The guilty Sprinkler

The frozen Arab Press

The sodden printshop

Presses drying out

Surviving prints drying out.

Choosing the colours wisely

2010-12-14T17:48:00.003Z

Well..... Cos' It ain't been updated doesn't mean I am doing nowt'.
New design and now just showing a few of the colour variations before going to print.
Hope you like it as it has been a hoot getting this far

:)

Make the bed and lay in it...

2010-10-25T13:00:00.002+01:00

Been a while in the studio printing the 3 designs off for sale. I have managed to get them into Heart Gallery in Hebden Bridge which is great as two of them sold whilst they were on the floor waiting to go on the wall.

I also signed up with http://www.printmaker.co.uk/

It puts our name in another list of printers. I have noticed it isn't all just open up an etsy account and wait for the orders. Sayong that though the price has gone up as the shop suggested we limit each addition to 150 copies.....I wonder if the blocks will last that long??

I have decided to post a few old prints from the last year or so too so as to keep some sort of momentum and hopefully gain a few more followers of the blog.

we've had thefun and now for the games

2010-09-20T14:12:00.008+01:00

I have opened a deviant art account aswell as finally getting the first shop up and running. We opened accounts with www.folksy.com/shops/oldfieldpress

We found this to be the quickest and simplest but that could be down to us as individuals rather than the sites themselves.

We have to photograph and upload and set up banking aswell as work out postage costs and packaging expenses. Both UK and worldwide.

I hope we haven't missed anything out but this is a bit like trying to regsister the blocks to the right place and we will learn when we start to peel back the paper to see what we have.

Here are some more pics of the prints as they are the shopping sites.

over and out for now.

1st run done

2010-09-16T14:49:00.004+01:00

finally printed the titles on the bottom of the first set of print I have ready for sale.
Wish me luck and here is a set of photos to show how each colour is individually printed.

The ink, the block and the press
The paper on the inked block.
Next I put two or more sheets of paper on the top to act as a form of blanket and also to stop the paper slipping. Then I roll the press over the top of the blocka nd back again.

And there we have it. For the posters it is repeat process and try not to miss the place the colour has to sit.

Pressing Issues

2010-09-13T15:54:00.008+01:00

The blocks are cut, the ink is drying and the posters are now just about ready to put up on our new shopfront...Well, our etsy and our folksy...Maybe even an ebay??

So it looks like we're nearly ready for take off!!

We will be putting out a run of the LaikaDog rocket posters first. Hopefully closely followed by our Eagle of Freedom...

Here are a few of the other blocks that have been carved so far in this series of prints...

Off to ebay now to sort out an account...

Setting up shop

2010-09-11T09:33:00.003+01:00

Aswell as printing out some new woodcuts we have been thinking it would be great to make them available to the world. Therefore we have mostly been setting up shops like etsy

www.etsy.com/oldfieldpress

and Folksy,

www.folksy.com/oldfieldpress

Still waiting for the bank stuff to come through and so in the meantime we are getting more stock printed up. In keeping with the animals in tattoos we now have our new Panther edition. Main pic is cut and being printed now and the ink should be dry and the poster should be available as soon as the bank and accounting stuff is finished.

Hopefully we will soon be able to offer real affordable art to everyone.

Get your fingers out

2010-08-04T10:23:00.002+01:00

Well,

I suppose that we do need to get our finger out and get on with some more printing.

All the presses are set up but still no rollers on the Arab but I have been loving our Farley proofing press lately. Had a bit of time carving big bits of wood to make some posters and managed not to trap the digits under the rollers. I am going on holiday tomorrow but will continuing with this series of tattoo posters I have started. Eagle done and Panther on its way...Oh and a quick LaikaDog poster to go with the new album and all the printing that has involved...

Hope you Laika the posters so far......

A purpose in life...

2010-03-26T15:25:00.004Z

Well.....Well, a lot of tidying and sorting. Chases and boxes of letters and lead all put into order in the cabinets we have. Whats the point? It is 12 point, odds and sods with a load of 10 point to keep us on our toes.

But eventually it is done.

As is the LaikaDog album (hint hint www.facebook.com/laikadog) so what a great task to print a slack handful of cd covers and labels.

That is a purpose for which we are equipped so please take a look at the pics even if you can't hear the tunes (yet).

The chase is on...

2009-02-26T08:55:00.019Z

You were visited by...
Originally uploaded by Oldfield Press

Now that we've filled up our workspace with lumps of cast iron and thousands of little pieces of lead the time has come to get some ink on paper and expand Statler & Waldorf's little family.

A request on Freecycle for letterpress type was put out without much hope of reply but, to our astonishment, a kind soul in Halifax (Thanks Mike!) called us up saying he had "Loads of the damn stuff. Clogging up my garage - take as much as you want!". Well the suspension on the car is tougher than previously thought as the old banger made the round trip with 32 trays of type, numerous blocks, a tray of spacers, a tray of furniture, a tray of quoins and keys, three chases and a whole pile of other bits and bobs.

Needless to say it's not all sorted yet, but at least the type was in drawers so doesn't need too much moving around.

Other magnanimous benefactors have given us tubs of ink and reams of paper and card. Liz in Luton let us have a lovely old guillotine for a few quid and a small business card guillotine was scavenged from a junk shop in Crosshills along with an old iron book press and an old brass compositing stick. So now we've got the kit, it's time to put the mounting sense of taking on more than we can chew behind us and print something!

So far we've only dipped an inky finger into the world of letterpress and run off a few cards, mainly for ourselves to see what's achievable with what we have. The goal of printing a book seems a long way off, but we've made a start.

Statler & Waldorf

2009-02-26T08:55:00.017Z

Statler & Waldorf
Originally uploaded by Oldfield Press

It seemed like an age before the rollers finally rocked up in the post but we were straight to the corridor where we work and cracked a can or two of lager to christen 'Statler' and 'Waldorf'. We inked up and dropped out for the next four hours whilst we tried different stuff and tried to dry what we had done.

Well so far we have managed to avoid owt' that plugs in, apart from the lights. It is like we are taking one step forward but at the same time moving two steps back and taking the future with us.

We have a computer, a sign of the times and we have found a great use for the keyboard. It works great to stand the cards in whilst they dry. What an invention, not quite the printing press but still it could be an antique of the future.

The old approach continues as we grow 'Waldorf' and 'Statler's' family.
Now we can print cards any size...well any pocket size as we bought a lovely old guillotine that can cut up to A3. A little card gullotine sits next to it on the desk.

First Post

2009-02-02T11:45:00.002Z

For the last year or so we have been out on the moors. Painting and photographing the surrounding areas. Hiking off in the dead of night to light up the lonely places in the way we want or trekking through the bogs and climbing up the rocks to get a feel for the colours, textures and shades for the paintings.

The paintings and photographs are a nearly all done now and are taking shape as the illustrations for the stories we want to tell or the guides we wish to show. So it seemed the natural thing to do was to find ourselves a nice little letterpress to start putting the pictures to words.

We know it would be easier to type and print off the computer and in a way, we are making life harder, chosing this route, but we want to produce art. Hands on art.

We want to be 'in touch', quite literally with the words as we are with the pictures and we definately don't want to put something else out there for the landfills of tomorrow. There are plenty of folk doing that in all walks of life so it is our ethos not to.

We have the pictures and now not one but two presses. A pair of great little Adana 8x5 letterpresses and thanks to a chance request for type, a cupboard full of lead slugs all waiting to get together in some sort of order and weave a tale or two. We have set them up in a small corridor next to a rehearsal room and there we will be freezing until the first run is done.

Should we do 50 or should we do 20?

Maybe even 100 of each as the time is in the set up.

The only way to find out is to start so here goes...