a bit of entertainment...

Life is a bit hectic right now, and though I had a list of wonderful things to post about time has passed the exhibitions are gone and now it seems a bit ludicrous to talk about them. However I leave you with this beautiful interactive animation to keep you happy and busy until I can return with more printed matter goodness...

Painting a song "Soy tu Aire" by Labuat

*animation by Jossie Malis from an idea by Herraiz Soto & Co. ,programming by Badabing. Music of course by Labuat (you may have heard of them, I hadn't)

found via We Made This

discover America...

...best by car, indeed, how else?

I've been meaning for a while to post about the above wedding invites by all round designer and 'renaissance woman' Melissa Bluhm (landscape architect, illustrator, occasional printer...). Sorry, no link to a website showing her work yet, hopefully this will change soon- I've already been talking to her about the joys of Indexhibit, see if she gets the hint. However, in the meantime I thought I would share her extremely informative invitations -the back of the map is full of details, from how to get there to what to wear. The vintage theme will also be continued in the reception and I know she's planning other bits and pieces to match the invitations, but I won't spoil them here just in case any guests are reading...

This is where we live

This Is Where We Live from 4th Estate on Vimeo.

A city made out of books, cut-out paper and stop frame animation... my kind of heaven. You'll need to watch it more than once to see all the little details happening in the background. Published at Christmas but I have just found out about it... oops, sorry about the delay,  a charming stop animation film produced by Apt Studio And Asylum Films to celebrate the 25th anniversary of publishing house 4th Estate (an imprint of Harper Collins). 

*video by Asylum Films

ABC 3D

Back at Christmas -you may remember- I mentioned the ABC 3D book by Marion Bataille, well I have just found this short video demonstrating how all the letters come to life as you pass the pages. Enjoy!

*unfortunately I haven't been able to find much about Marion Bataille so I have no link to her work.

All things Victorian

Doing research for a project I found some images of work by Dan Hillier, I remember having seen them before but this time I checked his website and blog. I most definitely prefer his altered engravings (images above) where he combines original Victorian engravings to achieve an unexpected and quite eerie effect, which -as I'm finding out- is something that the Victorians themselves would have approved of.

*all images from Dan Hillier's website

De Plastilina

I have just found out (checking old posts by Drawn) about the work of Irma Gruenholz. She creates these remarkably unaffected yet detailed illustrations with soft clay. I think it is the sculpted element that really makes it special for me and the way she uses other materials to add texture and depth. Don't you wish you had sticked with play-doh when you were a kid... sadly I never passed beyond the 'everything will eventually become dodgy brown' stage.

*all photos by Irma Gruenholz taken from her website

Her Morning Elegance

Stop frame animation at its best, no more words needed.

*by Oren Lavie, found via Fubiz

time flies...

...whether you are having fun or not! wherever did January go? belated Happy New year all the same. Hope you all had a good holiday and a good start of the year. The holidays seem so far now but I have to share my little discovery while was away... I've fallen in love with this beauty

In fact you could say the love affair is with the whole shop but I'd be happy to start small. For those of you in Spain if you are in the South (Jerez) and need any items for your old typewriter or even an old typewriter this is the place to go -Arroyo in Calle Porvera. Sadly I came out only with a new ribbon for my Olivetti lettera 32.

On a different topic, a friend (thanks Nick!) pointed me in the direction of this intricate and delicate work by Japanese artist Yuken Teruya who makes beatiful cut-out shapes from anything he gets his hands on, pizza boxes, toilet rolls, paper bags. Here follows a sample for your enjoyment...

*top images by inkthread, bottom images by Yuken Teruya studio

...on the twelve day of Christmas

Just a short note to wish you all a very happy holiday and of course an excellent New Year 2009. Inkthread has lots of new plans and good resolutions for the next year, some are old ideas that never took shape during 2008 and with a bit of luck and lots of hard work we are sure will come to live in 2009. As always we will keep you informed... thanks for reading.

And now a few things that I hope to find under the Inkthread tree, I have been very very good indeed!

No 1. The beautifully designed and bound selection of classics by Penguin. So you may have read them all by now but did they look this good on the outside? Well, now the cover matches the quality of the content, form follows content, ahem.



No 2. ABC 3D a pop-up book where each letter of the alphabet magically transforms with every page you open. Using a restricted palette of black, white and red. You can find it via Present & Correct.


No 3. Rainbow In Your Hand, flip book by Masashi Kawamura. Flip the pages and the rainbow appears...very sweet. Find it at Analogue Books.

No 4. The Applause Machine, designed by Martin Smith for Laikingland. Just press the button and the Applause Machine claps its hands for you in case you need cheering up, silly but funny.

*all images from the websites mentioned as links, (except top image by Inkthread).

stamps stamps!!

Is it a nerdy thing to collect stamps? or anything else for that matter...not sure. All the same, even if collecting stamps is not your thing this detailed poster will probably be and with stamps looking like this who could blame you.

"A field guide to stamps of the world" by Gavin Potenza is a letterpress poster representing 20 original stamp designs from around the world, printed on archival printmaking paper in a limited edition of 200. Beautifully printed, if you feel so inclined you can buy it from his website.

(via the Designboom blog)

*all images from Gavin Potenza's website

...violets are blue

It's amazing what some people can do with a sharp blade, a bit of paper and a good few hours! I suspect they are laser-cut though.

"All year rings" by designer Tithi Kutchamuch in co-operation with Nutre Arayavanish, twelve flower rings (one per calendar month) that come alive from their flat and intriguing two dimensional form into full three dimensional beauties. Personally, and although I know that the whole point of their existence is the fact that they are rings, I prefer them coming out of the card.

*all images from Tithi Kutchamuch's website

Not on paper

Hard as I try I cannot explain where the fascination with type comes from, there is something about repetition I guess; the rhythm of curves, lines and spacing, the contrast between the lines of type and the empty space around them. When type is used in all its beauty it seems to sit on the space as if carved into the paper...

And then sometimes it really is carved, a deep impression into wood or stone and it takes my breath away. Gordon Young is a visual artist who creates sculptural public spaces with an abundancy of typographic work. I had seen some of his work featured in design books and blogs before but I came across his latest piece during the past week when checking Why not Associates' website -I'm a big admirer of their work and I check them from time to time. Images below: work in progress for Crawley Library... I have no words.

*all images from Why not Associates' website

little people

Firstly let me please apologise for the short video on letterpress being repeated three times on the blog! ahem...we'll blame some technical difficulties...moving on.

This post is not print related, although there's a book involved and I'm sure it has been beautifully printed, but I had to share my appreciation for the work of Slinkachu and his "little people" project. There is something so alluring about the visual play with perspective size, and the choice of location. I dare you to look at the photos of his little people around the big city and not find them clever, endearing, or at least amusing. I'm getting myself a copy of the book right now!

*all images by Slinkachu

A little bit of letterpress expertise

Not coming from me... but from the real masters! To start with, a short note about Hand & Eye Press. I found about this letterpress studio long long time ago and they are greatly responsible for my early interest- now transformed into mild obsession- in letterpress. I was checking their website and they have updated it with some very nice photography. They have recently printed a beautiful edition of Hamlet and have been so kind as to document the process on flickr, if you feel curious -and so you should- you can check it here.

Wisdom from across the Atlantic now: a short video posted on YouTube by Don Black Linecasting Services the place to get all your letterpress equipment and supplies, no doubt... if you're in Canada. We will just jealously admire from a distance... and for those out there who are interested in some of the basic principles when printing with a Heidelberg Platten or have never seen one in action here it is...

*all photos above from Hand & Eye's website and video by Don Black Linecasting Services

It's all so quiet...

So...Inkthread was closed for a bit...I've been on holiday, hurray! I intended to keep myself as far away from the computer as I could and I managed pretty well, thus the period of silence. Back and supposedly refreshed (I feel like I need another holiday to recover from the first one), I thought I'd share some of my holyday pics...

From the very elegant and stylish to some funny signs type is everywhere, couldn't resist... what did you expect photos of me eating ice-cream, honestly!

A mysterious benefactor...

So...someone very kindly and quietly has put Inkthread's details into the Briar Press Directory, and it wasn't us or anyone we know... And they did take their time and even put an image taken from the website. It was one of these tasks I never get round to doing although I had all the intention of and eventually would have got to it, or so I'd like to think, self promotion is still at the bottom of the list! The mystery is killing us, please mystery benefactor make yourself known... so I can say thank you properly!

On a different subject I came across the work of Curtis L Jinkins (via the Serif) and I love it specially his identity and branding work. Also quite funny that he's added a list of enemies at the bottom of his page, quite short mind you!

*all images from C L Jinkins website

PS. Some changes are appearing on the blog (as you can see) new website and shop are still not up, soon hopefully we'll let you know.

Out of Print

This month I have been briefly tutoring at Glasgow School of Art and wasn't it a nice coincidence that the exhibiton that was on (just by the Computer Studio where I was) was entitled Out of Print.

Unfortunately it's over now, sorry about the late post -and my photographs taken on my mobile phone don't do it any justice- but it was worth visiting, though I wished there had been more samples of work. Featured aboved are Edwin Pickstone's works in letterpress. I find them extremely beatiful; simple in appearance, black ink on small pieces of crisp white paper, and an accurate balanced use of space and printed type. On a completely different style was the work of Marc Baines (photos below) screenprinted poster size pieces vibrant with colour. The strength of the exhibition was probably the fact that each one of the exhibitors work in a completely different media and have very different styles, however I still felt I would have liked to see more from each one, but maybe that's just me being greedy!