I managed to get some printing done yesterday and tried out a two colour print of the tying the knot design. This was just a small run as it was a bit of a trial, but I think it doesn't look too bad! I'm going to have a go again and make it a bit more colourful I think.....

Hello blog! yet again its been a while.... We've been very busy at Ryantown HQ and I've neglected my work a little. Rob Ryan has just opened a brilliant show at Charleston Gallery and its well worth a visit, we had a lot of fun making all the stuff in the gallery and the house and gardens there are sooooooooooooo beautiful. SO GO!!! I'm currently on holiday in Bath and have just finished a little birthday invitation for a 21st. Here are some pics! - I've taken out the contact information on it in the photos, I know there are a lot of delinquents who read my blog so I don't want them crashing the party.... Hopefully I'll get a bit more work done this holiday too!

Sorry for the severe lack of posts! I have been working... honestly! My new print is all ready to go on screen, I just need a spare weekend to knuckle down and print them and they're few and far between in May. It seems to be THE month for having a birthday...including mine. I was really flattered to see my Seagull print on Nook and Cranny's staff pick last week. Thanks N&C! Have a look at their blog here.

I've just about finished the wedding invitations I've been working on for the past few weeks. I'll get some photos posted up as soon as I can find the flippin camera charger (again!). Now I can concentrate a bit more on doing some new prints for my etsy shop as its still looking as baron as it was when I first set it up.... Today I'm working on a new picture. It is going to be a new version of a wedding invitation I did a while ago. The one with the two birds tying a knot. Its doing the rounds a bit on Pinterest and is getting quite a few likes and repins so I've decided (with Amy and James' permission) to make it into a sellable screenprint. I'm drawing a sparrow today, I decided that I should make this slightly different so that Amy and James' invitation is still unique to them. Here are the first stages. GOOD NEWS TODAY! Nook and Cranny, a shop in Liverpool, are going to sell my prints! They are based in the Blue Coat gallery which coincidentally, my mum used to sell to in the 80s! My mum was a ceramicist (a very good one) when she left art school, she studied at the RCA and set up a business in my Grandma's potting shed once she graduated. For a few years she worked from here and sold her slipware(!?!? help me out mum...) all over the place including the Conran shop. She even presented a programme in the 80s about ceramics! I'm super chuffed that they're going to be stocking my prints as they look like a really lovely shop and my work will be alongside some really brilliant artists. So there we are. Second generation selling in the Bluecoat.

Adana Update!!!!

I've finally done something. But I don't have any ink so you'll have to squint to see it...

This was my very first attempt at typesetting, which is insanely fiddly. But as I do papercutting for hours on end at work (which I love) I found it quite theraputic. However I think if I'd really messed up more than once I'd have thrown it all across the room....
I've probably done a horrible job in the eyes of an experienced typsetter. But it worked, even if it is pretty basic. It was really satisfying after weeks of looking at my little machine in the corner of my eye whilst watching Man Vs Food, finally having all the equipment (bar ink) to make a start.

Looking forward to getting some inks and doing some proper printing!

Please excuse the terrible photo, camera charger is currently hiding in a bag of wires so this is taken with my rubbish phone camera...

These are some colour samples of the latest wedding invitation I've been working on. Chris and Caroline wanted the whole day to reflect 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' I think partly because Caroline is a drama teacher and partly because it just generally sparks up beautiful imagery when you think of a midsummer wedding, good theme guys, well done!

I hope I've done it justice here and C&C's reactions certainly gave me the feeling that I had, as they hardly wanted any changes (this design is pretty much the first draft I sent)

I'm just finalising all of the little bits to go with it, RSVP's and information sheets, envelopes etc, then I will start printing for the invitations to be ready to send out it April.

I will post up proper photos when they're all done and looking a bit more profesh.

p.s. Can you guess which colour they went for?

My new obsession is buying fonts for my new Adana 3-5 printing press, what a dream!!

I haven't actually attempted to use it yet because I haven't got all the gubbins you need to hold the text in the.... chase(!?!). But once I'm up and running I'm going to be able to do lovely, lovely letterpress which I'm really excited about.

I've become a bit obsessed with machinery ever since I started watching 'How Its Made' on Quest, which is one of the channels near Babestation. Look out for it, its much more gripping than slutty girls, promise. Plus there are some second-to-none puns which are worth watching out for.