Ilka live for those special print making moments, from revealing designs on the screen when emulsion is washed away to mixing colours good enough to eat. Process is very important to them, there is no better feeling than seeing the journey of an initial idea transform to bold and colourful inks on quality paper.

Coordinator Laura tells us about this environment where she creates her print works. For more information and to get in touch with the studio follow the links below.

While we were setting up we tried out a few different screen printing studios before settling on East End Press. Starting up outright in in the screen printing business is very costly so we thought that if there was a way to print as often as we want and support another printer that would be the way to do it for now.

The studio itself is is an old factory building and the room is bright with big windows framing the east end of the city. There’s a metal drying wrack and every colour ink you can imagine. We keep ours in old jars of all shapes and sizes. We expose our screens behind some big red velvet curtains so it feels like going backstage at a show every time we go in there!

Sharing with Ellie at East End Press is a really good way to see what a fellow screen printer is doing and means we can talk about any issues that come up or problems we have.

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‘Where I Make’ invites readers behind the scenes of artists from many disciplines to share photographs and a little insight about where they create their masterpieces. See more from the series here.

VR Girl

girlhellohi

I’m an illustrator living in South London and last year I graduated from Kingston. I do most of my work from my bedroom, but me and my house-mates have kind of turned our front room into a studio which is working out pretty well. We all work a lot on computers so we don’t even have to worry about making a mess, it’s good to have a work hub.

Eva

It feels like I kind of reinvent my process for every new project, it always just depends what the brief calls for. A few patterns have been emerging though, especially when I have a fast turnover on a project. I always start in my sketchbook, no matter what, and I’ll usually look through all old sketchbooks first to try and kick off with an idea that’s a little disjointed from the topic, then work my way back.

In terms of things that inspire me, I really like things that are slightly unsettling. I’d like to find a way to make this a little more commercially applicable, I’m really gunning to step up my work in sense of scale and slickness, but somehow keep that mysterious edge that I’m drawn to. I have a blog where I collect images that inspire me, I refer to that a lot when I decide the kind of imagery I want to create, it reminds me of the vibe I like and makes me feel excited to work.

Activia Benz Poster

Smoke Dog

I’ve been making a lot of animation and moving image stuff recently; I really feel like I want to be as diverse as possible to get work. My dream agency to be a part of would be Hugo & Marie in New York as they have such an engaging relationship with their artists, and their clients always seem to give the artists such freedom. I’ve noticed that the agency seems to encourage the artists to work in new ways, Micah Lidberg (one of their illustrators) recently did a highly polished music video with Mario Hugo for Coldplay; I just think it’s amazing that an agency would encourage collaboration between the artists like that. This is something I’m all about; I really think those guys have got it right in every way, from what I’ve seen.

Floating Pyramids (print)

Basketball (print)

The Loop Computer Club (print)

I don’t have much in the way of things to promote but I’m selling prints at the moment through these great guys based in Angel in London, Printer of Dreams. I’ve also just completed a record cover for a release on Brighton based record label, Donkey Pitch, which I’m pretty stoked to show people.

More: Website | Blog | Twitter

Kyle Durrie is a letterpress printer based in Silver City, New Mexico, USA. Here, she tells us about his mobile letterpress shop.

Tell us about yourself.

My printing business is called Power and Light Press, and I specialise in off-color greeting cards and posters. I am also the proprietor of Moveable Type, a mobile letterpress print shop in a truck.

What is Moveable Type?

Moveable Type is my mobile print shop, a 1982 Chevy Step Van that I converted to function as a letterpress shop and mobile home. I travelled all over the USA (and into Canada, too), teaching workshops, doing demonstrations, and generally sharing the history of letterpress printing. The truck was my workspace and my home, where I spent many a day sharing my love of printing, and many a night curled up in my cozy sleeping bunk.

How did the project come about?

To be honest, I was jealous of my musician friends who were travelling and touring behind their music. I thought, ‘if they can do it, why can’t I?’ I’ve always been a traveller, and I figured it couldn’t be all that difficult to load up some of my printing equipment into a truck and hit the road, spreading the good word about printing the old fashioned way. It took a TON of planning, starting about eight months prior to my initial departure in June 2011, and pretty much never stopping until I got back home in May 2012. I raised the initial seed money via Kickstarter.com (check out my pitch video here) and the rest of the trip was funded through individual donations, sales of my own work along the way, and occasional stipends/honorariums when I visited a university or other institution that had a budget to spare. It was really important to me to keep it accessible to everyone – I wanted to be able to visit people and organisations whether they could pay me or not. But I had to also be realistic about my needs (GAS, truck repairs, and food). Things had a way of working themselves out in the end, though. If one day I went somewhere that couldn’t pay me anything, then maybe the next day I’d visit a museum that could offer $250. It all balanced out, and it was a great lesson in trust and faith in humanity.

The tour was really long. There must have been plenty of great and not so great things… Tell us about what you loved about the tour.

The initial tour (there have been 4 in total) was over 11 months long. It was exhilarating and exhausting in equal measures. Hands down the best part was just getting to see so much of the country and meet so many interesting people – and also being able to share this process/craft/trade/art/whatever you want to call it. I was met with overwhelming generosity – people invited me into their homes for meals, showers, warm beds (though my bunk in the truck was great as long as I could plug my space heater in somewhere!).

What didn’t go to plan? What would you do differently now?

Gas was REALLY expensive. Not that I wasn’t expecting it to be that way, but there were certainly times, especially toward the beginning of the tour, where I really struggled to afford to get from Point A to Point B. Things got better as the tour gathered momentum – gas never got any cheaper, but people started getting more generous with their donations as the project became better known. I’d estimate about 90% of my expenses went straight into the gas tank of that truck. I’d also probably allow more down time and days off throughout the trip, if I do it again. My tour schedule was pretty relentless. Often times I’d drive 6 or 7 hours, go straight into a 3-hr workshop, eat dinner, then stay up till 2am catching up on emails and making plans for future stops. Then get up the next morning and do it again. Next time, I’ll definitely allow at least one day off per week, maybe two.

I’d also weatherproof the truck a little better (see my last blog entry about my winter travels last year…)

The project finished earlier this year. Any plans to ever do something similar again? Or did other projects come directly from Moveable Type?

I’m enjoying being still for a while, so I currently have no plans for another trip. This doesn’t mean I never will, it’s just not in the works at the moment. Since I’ve gotten back home from the last trip, I’ve been diving back into my printing business (Power and Light Press), getting my wholesale accounts more stable and building my card line. I had to put everything on hold while I was travelling, so it’s been a lot of work getting things back up and running, and I’m really enjoying the stability and routine. Of course, I know I’ll get restless again at some point, so we’ll see what happens! Right now, I’m in the midst of printing a series of the 50 US States, certainly inspired by my travels!

What happened to the truck?

It’s currently parked in my yard and functions as the guest room!

All images courtesy Power and Light Press.

More: Website | Facebook | Twitter

Founder Michael J DeMeo gives us an insight into No Thoughts Magazine.

No Thoughts Magazine is a photo book disguised as a magazine.  Founded in August of 2009 by Michael J DeMeo out of the dust of Portland, Oregon’s Sugar Gallery. DeMeo used his contacts as photo curator and began work on producing a magazine that would feature both new and established photo talent from around the world. In 2011 photographer Alyssa Noches joined No Thoughts as co-editor and art director.

No Thoughts Media is the publishing house expansion of the magazine that officially began in April of 2012. No Thoughts Media is aimed at producing high quality artist books and zines at affordable prices and are currently based out of Boston, Massachusetts.

No Thoughts has been featured at the Papier Gache Fanzine Festival in Paris, Offprint Festival in Paris, Une Petite Foret Zine Library in Middlesbrough England, Flash Forward Photo Fest 2012 in Boston, Independent Photography Festival in Melbourne Australia, the Portland Zine Symposium, Baltimore Book Fest, Even My Mum Can Make a Book event in Turkey, Indie Photobook Library in Washington DC, Booklet Art Zine Library in Japan, the Camera Club New York Annual Zine and Self-Published Book Fair, the Spring Zine Thing in Boston, Philadelphia Photo Arts Fair, Printmania event in Somerville MA and more.

No Thoughts has just produced their 8th issue.

No Thoughts Eight takes delight in the moments of everyday magic. Those occasions when life takes on a heightened significance. Rebellious, tender, surreal, or somber these are the moments that make an impression. Highlights from No Thoughts Eight include the legendary photographs of New York photographer Flo Fox, the striking portraits of Michael Stipe and Zach Galifianakis from Ray Lego, and the timeless beauty found in the work of Brad Elterman.

The rest of the No Thoughts contributors you have come to know with every issue are here too, producing solid new work: Michael Barolet, Aaron Feaver, David Richardson, Daniel Tepper, Megan McIsaac, Alexander Bergstrom, Alyssa Noches, and Michael J DeMeo. We are also proud to feature the work of photographers we love but have never published before such as Samuel Quinn, Eddy Pula, Ruth Swanson and Amanda Jasnowski.

All in all No Thoughts Eight offers 26 different photographers across 60 pages in stark black and white on 70lb smooth laser-white paper. Our cover is printed on 80lb glossy cover stock and features an image by the world famous Synchrodogs.

Truly a “photobook disguised as a magazine”, No Thoughts 8 continues to provide thoughtful work by both established and emerging photographers in a high quality but affordable package.

Where to find No Thoughts Magazine:
Website | Blog | Facebook | Twitter

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Find more zines we’ve featured here.

Who:
Struan Teague is a Scottish illustrator and artist who has created designs for bands such as Blank Canvas.

Blank Canvas Record Artwork by Struan Teague

Why we like it:
Struan’s attractive freehand style grabbed our attention and we love how he uses it in a multitude of media.

Hidden treasure:
We found an inkjet and woodblock print on Struan’s Flickr here. (It has a dinosaur in it… what more can we say?)

Where to find out more:
Website | Tumblr | Flickr

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Want to take a look at more suggested blogs by artists? Look here.

Tutt Tutt is the alter ego of Lincolnshire based illustrator Sonia C Whitehead who works in graphics, publishing and print.

What’s in the blog:
Tutt Tutt’s blog is a mix of documentation of works, as well as posts about her current Degree Show.

Why we like it:
As well as pleasing patterns, we like that Tutt Tutt’s blog is really all about her work. Tutt Tutt is new to blogging and sees it as a “virtual journey.” We hope she continues on this journey as we sure do like seeing her work.

Hidden treasure:
Tucked away in one of her posts, Tutt Tutt’s illustration for children’s book Alice in Wonderland is so good, we just had to share it:

Where to find out more:
Read Tutt Tutt’s blog here.
Follow Tutt Tutt on Twitter.
Like Tutt Tutt on Facebook.

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Want to take a look at more suggested blogs by artists? Look here.

Clouzot’s Inferno is a piece by Glasgow School of Art graduate, Eva-Maria Dolgyra.

See more work from Eva-Maria Dolgyra on Cargo.
Read Eva’s blog here.

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Discover more work by creatives on our creative networks here.
If you have a Flickr, Vimeo, SoundCloud, Behance or Cargo account connect with us.

Print Fetish is a weblog featuring news, information, reviews and history on the subjects of beautiful magazines, self-published ‘zines, handmade books, small press, comix, art books and miscellaneous printed ephemera. The site features daily reviews of new titles, trends, updates on events and interviews with fascinating people in the field of print media.

Celebrating beauty in print, the blog hopes to keep worthwhile print alive (while at the same time hoping the internet manages to do away with ugly consumerist magazines and newspapers). In their own words “when we talk about beauty, we’re not simply talking about what it it looks like, but its point of view and editorial whole. We hope we can spread the word on these beautiful objects, and get you to spend money on them, rather than the average condy nasty.”

Tell them about the cool stuff you print here: tell@printfetish.com.

Visit the Print Fetish blog here.
Follow Print Fetish on Twitter.
Find Print Fetish on Facebook.
Visit Print Fetish on flickr.

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For more creative delights we’ve Spotted on the web take a look here.

What’s in the blog:
Kristian’s site is an online gallery of the artists’ work. From cafe interior wall designs to gig posters, Kristian’s list of projects show his diversity.

Why we like it:
The layout is simple but packed full of visual delights.

Hidden treasure:
His work appears to have an innocence in it’s subjects but actually goes a lot deeper than it’s surface (which is very beautiful).

Where to find out more:
Visit Kristian’s blog here.
Follow Kristian Jones on Twitter.
Find Kristian Jones on Facebook.
Buy goods by Kristian Jones here.

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Want to take a look at more suggested blogs by artists? Look here.

Onesidezero (aka Brett Wilkinson) is an illustrator/ graphic designer working and living in Leicester. We couldn’t miss his bold and striking prints on our flickr feed.

Brett is up for collaborations, publications, guest lecturing, interviews & exhibitions so get in touch if you like his stuff as much as we do.

See more work from onesidezero on Flickr.
Visit onsidezero’s website.

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Discover more work by creatives on our creative networks here.
If you have a Flickr, Vimeo, SoundCloud, Behance or Cargo account connect with us.