Some random things about Inkthread...

The horror, the horror! Emma from Showpony tagged me ages ago and I never replied... it would be rude not to answer, but I can't honestly think of seven pieces of information that anyone would find vaguely interesting so instead these are some random things that not everybody knows about Inkthread:

• Before Inkthread was called Inkthread... it was briefly called (only few hours) Calliper Press, mmm connotations of orthopedics made me change my mind.
• The Heidelberg Platen traveled all the way up from Leeds on the
  back of an open-back pick-up truck, originally covered with a tarpaulin but the wind almost blew it away, so it finished its trip completely uncovered... on arrival at Glasgow there was no human way to unload it so it had to spend the night in the open... needless to say it rained and snowed all night long, other than a bit of surface rust it moves as smooth as when it was made... German engineering!
• Music preferred while printing... classical I'm afraid, even if it sounds pedantic, preferably Bach. It helps concentration, I find.
• The cat Smudge was called Smudge long before he became a printer's cat... destiny perhaps?
• Inkthread advocates the prohibition of the use of Comic Sans, under no circumstances should this type be considered "appropriate". No apologies voluntary organisations and charity shops...

Since I've suffered a lot trying to think of fairly interesting things to say I'm not tagging anyone... no curse involved, I hope.

helvetica

At last the Helvetica film has made it to Glasgow... I missed the Edinburgh screenings so I thought I'd have to resolve to watch the DVD (I believe it's already out). But oh, lucky me, the nice people at the Six Cities have organised a screening tomorrow the 11th at the GFT, I think it's already all booked but they have a reserve list and you know what people are like, someone may never make it. I booked my seat as soon as I found out... I'm such a geek!

In the meantime you can have some fun helping Helvetica let Arial know who's boss in here.

yum, yum

yum... gotta get me some of these! Chocolate type by Typolade from Germany. I love the fact that they bothered making the spaces too!

*all images from typolade's website

work, work, work...

So... 2008 has definitely started on an up -workwise speaking- which is good; no complaints. This means, however, that finding time to finish the website-cum-shop is proving quite hard...we'll get there, eventually. It also means there's not much time left to check other people's websites, blogs or magazines so I haven't got exciting work to blog about! To all of you who keep reading this blog a big thank you for your patience, back to proper blogging soon!

PS. In the meantime if you haven't checked the Dailypoetics flickr set on business cards yet, go and have a look, it's well worth it. Kariann, if you're reading, I haven't forgotten I promised a business card, on its way soon!

Back to work!

I hope everybody had a good break and that 2008 has started full of energy and new plans. 2008 is bringing some changes for Inkthread too: design business continues as usual and expect the same type of posts from the blog (hopefully with more regularity!). The website however is under transformation, as soon as the new version is up I'll post about it so you can check it and give your opinions- contructive criticism only, pleeease! And it will also have a new section with a small shop. Although Inkthread is not a shop based business but a consultancy, the print studio generates such an immense amount of paper offcuts and other bits and pieces that it seems a shame not to do something productive with them!

Thanks for reading the Inkthread blog, and keep checking!

A break for Christmas

So... Christmas is almost here and the news blog is taking a well deserved break, back in January with some more news and some changes... intrigued? In the meantime an image (not very clear, I'm afraid, desperately in need of good lighting) of Inkthread's Christmas card and my best wishes to all of you on the other side of the screen!

In the spirit of the season

In case the Christmas madness hasn't got to you yet here's one I made earlier... not really, I haven't made one yet but I might, when I get a spare moment. Playing with paper is always gratifying, find the instructions here. (via Core77 Christmas list)
And if you are already planning the year ahead you may be interested in a calendar, I quite like the one by Pentagram, this year it's designed by Kit Hinrichs with twelve different beautiful types. Or this diary-sketch book by Typotheque, nice.

All I want for Christmas is...

It's only mid-november, I know, but the Christmas shopping madness seems to have started a while ago and I thought it would it be a good idea to join in... from the safe distance of my screen! So, this is my wish list, for the time being...

No1. Gateshead Get Carter Car Park print by We Live Here , litho printed.

No2. 3D letters in recycled card by REfound Objects, one letter would do, really.

No3. This colouring book from People will always need plates, and maybe one of their mugs too...is that too greedy?
No4. Anything from Blanka... no need to explain, I think.No5. These plates by Le Petit Atelier de Paris

No6. This poster by Transfer Studio, it can be bought via Beyond the Valley

This list seems to be getting longer and longer, and I'm sure I can think of a lot more to add! I may publish a second part, it may give some people ideas, you never know!

*all images by their correspondent authors as they appear on the linked websites.

Letterpress from Japan

At least I think it's from Japan ( please correct me if I'm wrong- anyone reading understands Japanese?). I regularly check Papier Labo's blog even though I don't understand a word, but the images are nice and they do letterpress - do I need any more reasons? There's a link to Sab Letterpress who have a very nice website with beautiful images of type (Japanese type?), I'm not sure how they are all related -again for obvious reasons since as I said I don't understand the text. I particularly like the images showing Japanese typography rather than the work in English (although it's also rather good!)

*top image a still from Sab Letterpress' website, second image from Papier Labo blog

Oldies Goldies

So, I've found this really interesting and useful book"The Penrose Annual 1958". It's a review of the graphic arts at the time, with multiple articles on typography, printing techniques and the use of graphics in advertising; to illustrate the articles it also includes printed samples. Most of the samples are just photos but some of them, oh beauty, are the original pieces specifying the type of paper and impression used (including newspaper samples), what a jewell! The book itself is a very good binding job, with nice finishing touches, it made my day.

Alex Noriega

I haven't posted about illustrators for a while and I've been meaning to mention Alex Noriega for a long time now. His work is always colourful but subtle and rich in detail, with a child-like quality that reminds me of fairytales. He ran a contest via his blog where you could win one of his prints, if you (like me) missed it do not despair! some of his work is for sale through his website.

*all images by Alex Noriega

On a different note: I have added a flickr account to the blog where I'll be uploading bits and pieces that are not really worth mentioning but that maybe nice to look at... unfinished printouts, letterpress tests, rejected proposals...

There's something about cutting paper

(I've been having problems with my connection and finding quite hard to post, let's see if this one works!) The images above are stills from an amazing animation by Andersen M Studio, found via It's nice that. I've seen quite a few samples of recent work using animated paper cut silhouettes, one of my favourites is Checkland Kindleysides' website.

It's been a mad couple of weeks here and I'm afraid the posting has suffered quite a bit of neglect. Things will get better from next week as normality kicks in again, more posts then. In the meantime some nice and intriguing images of work by Trip Print Press from Ontario, it's worth checking their flickr too.

*all images by Trip Print Press

Letterpress and maths

Browsing the internet in search of letterpress equipment (a completely unrelated search as it happens), I came across London Transfer Studio. All the images above are from their Letterpress & Maths project, they describe it as a self initiated project to learn the proccess of letterpress printing: "The cards are a representation of different measurements and rules related to letterpress printing and to typography in general"... very clever and equally beautiful.

*all images by Transfer Studio

Some nice work

Recent work by Madethought for furniture dealer Viaduct. They also have done some very nice packaging for Stella McCartney and for London restaurant and tea house Yauatcha. They certainly have a very impressive list of clients and a beautifully simple website.

*images by Madethought.

Penguin does "handmade"

These are some of the covers from Penguin's new Great Loves series, designed by David Pearson. For this series they've decided to use more traditional printing methods such as lino cuts and screen printing to achieve a distinctive look. Shame they couldn't screen print the covers for real, obviously that would have made them very expensive paperbacks! A limited edition maybe? Here's the man himself explaining the process.

Flipping again and again

A really simple and smart old-style clock screen saver by 9031, beautiful, don't you love nice freebies!
(via It's nice that)

Some recent work

Being a wee bit sneaky here, since the work in the images hasn't been published (or printed) yet. These are the mock-ups for some work just completed for one of The Textile Society's events (in March). Also some identity work (images at the bottom) for a consultant in bicycle maintenance and cycling safety -this job will be letterpress printed- again these are just the mock-ups. Just to satisfy the curiosity of those who have been asking...

For rainy days

Illustrator and artist Keri Smith has published through her website an "Artist's Survival Kit" that can be downloaded for free. As she says it's "for the really bad days (...) when you want to lie in bed for a month and eat chips." She intended it for artists but I think it works absolutely fine with more practical creative professions: designers, printers (he,he)... or for anyone who's decided to work in a non conventional way! We all have bad days and a bit of humour goes a long way.

*all images by Keri Smith

...and here's the animated version