Here’s a moment of reflection, for these quiet, early days of the new year, with a guest post from my good friend Anne Whitehead. Anne found herself beginning a new experimental creative project in the early spring of 2020, and like many makers, discovered that this project came to tell its own story of a…
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Walter Crane, The Triumph of Labour (1891) ©The Trustees of the British Museum It was May Day a couple of days ago, an occasion that puts me immediately in mind of this wonderful image . . . Walter Crane, A Garland for May Day (1895) ©The Trustees of the British Museum . . . which…
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Hi, it’s Tom again, with part 2 of my series about my new adventures in book making – and specifically about making a particular book, which I’ve named Latitude. Latitude is a photographic project I’ve been working on for the past year or so. It’s a made-object, as much as it is a collection of…
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Printing is the often-undervalued final stage in producing an image. In today’s image-heavy social media age, it’s very easy to overlook printing as a creative output, and produce work with a purely digital workflow. Don’t get me wrong, I really love platforms like Instagram. I find them enormously democratic and engaging. A photographer’s feed enables…
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Hello – it’s Tom here – for a change. Kate is busy working on her Islay project, and I’m taking a break today from shipping out orders. I wanted to say thanks so much for your interest in our Shetland Oo book. Apart from being my first major project as a photographer, Oo is the…
Read MoreAs you may know, my multi-talented friend Felicity Ford (aka Felix) frequently helps me out by producing illustrations of my designs, for reproduction in my patterns and books. I found her Yokes drawings really pleasing, and particularly so when they were illustrated collectively, as they are on page 5 of the book, and above. So…
Read MoreNeil Stevens, Hebrides. This is one of Neil Stevens’ amazing shipping forecast prints and I love it so much I just had to show you. If you are unaware of it, the UK shipping forecast is broadcast twice daily on BBC radio. Its detailed meteorological information acts as a lifeline to vessels planning their routes…
Read MoreAhoy there! I have two complementary designs to show you today — the Stevenson Sweater and Gauntlets. These designs were inspired by Shetland’s iconic lighthouses . . . . . . such as the Bressay light, which provides the dramatic backdrop to these photographs. Seven of Shetland’s lighthouses, including the one at Bressay, were designed…
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Read MoreWhen I was back in Lancashire, I did some screen printing with my sister and Mr Steve — the brain and hands behind a number of great community arts projects in Rochdale. Neither Helen or I had tried screen printing techniques before, and the usual insane excitement that accompanies any craft activity we undertake was…
Read MoreSince I made these butterfly thingies a while ago, I have become interested in the whole process of printing, and creating block designs for printing. I treated myself to a couple of nice practical books on the subject: Lena Corwin’s Printing by Hand and Lotta Jandsotter’s Lotta Prints. I really enjoyed both: Corwin and Jandsotter…
Read MoreIt feels as if things are returning to ‘normal’. The physios are very pleased with Tom’s progress. He must now punish the healed-up hand with constant exercise to regain maximum mobility, and is also allowed to do everyday things again. Today we both went for a run in the hills. Time to fire up my…
Read MoreThanks very much, everyone, for all your printing tips and suggestions! I’ve ordered the books Kirsty recommended, as a sort of modern supplement to my Dryad Handicrafts Leaflets, which I immersed myself in again last night. Any of you who have encountered the Dryad leaflets will know that there is a particular joy in reading…
Read MoreI have really enjoyed seeing the wonderful printed fabrics Jesse exchanged and received in her swatch swap (flickr group here), and I really wanted to participate. But I’ve never printed fabric before, let alone cut out a lino block (eek), so I thought I’d approach things from a rather basic level first, using a rubber…
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KDD & Co 