block printing | Sprouts Press

It’s been two weeks since the One of a Kind show started, and I feel I’m as rested as I’m going to be. So much awaits that I cannot sit still for long. I’m talking about things like new projects, re-vamped designs and SPRING!! (I will admit, I’ve got both my winter and spring jackets out. I’m just not quite convinced I won’t need the winter one at least once more).

I’ve got some re-vamped goodies in the works, just in time for spring: new Hayfever Hankies! Yup, they’re back and just in time, too! This batch will be available in white, pistachio, grass green and mocha. It comes in three lino cut designs, the usual suspects of hayfever; ragweed, timothy/hay and crowsfoot. Look in the ‘Handprinted Fabric Items’ section of my online Etsy shop in the next few days.

I’m also slowly but surely getting some of the brand new designs you may have seen at the One of a Kind show up in my Etsy shop. To keep up to date on this, follow my facebook or other social media feeds here.

Meanwhile, if you’re in Toronto I’ve got two shows this weekend, check out the Upcoming Shows section of my site for details!

Besides being a bookbinder, printmaker and general maker of paper arts, I also like to grow a vegetable garden. And, every year, I watch in wonder as my seeds sprout and grow into seedlings and eventually make the journey outside.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA I won’t go into the story of why I chose to name my artistic practice after the mighty sprout and its incredible journey. Instead, I’d like to tell how it has re-united me with an old friend. (If you like, take a look at my About section to learn why I chose the name Sprouts Press). IMG_0688_fotor

I should probably clarify a few things. When I say that I was re-united with an old friend, I’m not talking about a person, but an old love. A former romance, let’s say, with printmaking. But not just any printmaking, I’m talking about printing on a Vandercook press, in a studio, with oil-based inks. Sigh. So, when the annual Grimsby Wayzgoose Book Arts Fair call for vendors arrived in January I agreed, as usual, to submit an original print in an edition of 115 for their anthology. I thought it was time to honour my namesake in print format and decided to dedicate my print to the mighty sprout. Normally, I plan several weeks in advance and use the back of a wooden spoon to produce my 115 prints. Not this time. I’ve been teaching bookbinding workshops lately and my favourite is at a wonderful space here in Toronto, Graven Feather, where there is a Challenge Proof Press!!

After mentioning to them that I used to print on Vandercook press, and how much I loved it and how great it would be to print my 115 prints with something different than the back of a wooden spoon, it was decided that I could print on their press! So, this is how it happened, how I was re-united with printing on a press, with oil based inks, in someone else’s studio, by the mighty sprout. I drew my image, cut the lino block and printed it in a lovely leaf-green on light grey stock.