Open Studio - First Weekend

This year's first Open Studio weekend was a very pleasant occasion with a steady stream of visitors and pleasing sales which, traditionally, go towards my purchase of printmaking paper for the next twelve months. The weather was beautiful, with the sun streaming in but not as hot as earlier in the week, when the rollers on one of my small Adana presses melted in the heat.

Inside the door, There was a wall of framed engravings, a browser containg the newly editioned prints from Freshly Picked and a folder of the engravings for Philip Pullman's A Outrance. This was followed by a group of sketchbooks to show how projects develop from the first pencil sketches to the final ink drawings:



The central table had wood engravings for sale in browsers:


Also on the central table was a disply of many of many of my engraved bookplates and some of the books that they have featured in:


At the far end, I was demonstrating engraving and carrying on with one of my current projects:


Moving through into the press room, there was another wall of framed engravings behind the smaller 1865 Albion Handpress:


The recently tidied shelves had small displays, including some of the engravings that I have made for wine labels:


"Red", the larger 1902 Albion was in use to demonstrate printing from engraved blocks:


I was able to get on with some work, enjoy the company of new and old friends and have a relaxing but surprisingly tiring weekend.

It all happens again next weekend and you will be most welcome to visit.

I made another short "Walk through" movie and, this year, added commentary as I walked around. Here it is: