Letterpress Printing at St Brides

St Brides held a workshop using the Adana Press on Saturday 2nd March. Lola and Gwen both attended, and  report having had a great day.

The St Brides Foundation was opened in 1895 as a social, educational and cultural centre.  It housed both a technical library and printing school, providing tution for local printers and students. St Bride Foundation aims to keep the tradition and heritage of printing alive through a diverse selection of workshops, lectures and conferences. They are situated  in Bride Lane, a small street leading off Fleet Street, London. For a full list of events visit  printworkshop.stbride.org/

The course took  Gwen and Lola  through a brief history of the Adana Press, how to set up, and use the press, followed by an opportunity to print from their extensive collection of antique blocks. 

The course was run by friendly knowledgable staff who helped  create a warm and inviting atmosphere. Aside from the chance to do some printing, infomation was shared regarding the British Printing Society. They regularly hold open days through out the year. More infomation can be found at http://www.bpsnet.org.uk.  It is  worth looking at the site, particuarly if you are interested in finding  secondhand letterpress equipment and printing papers.

Finally  some print related trivia!
Did you know: "getting the wrong end of the stick" derives from the compositers stick where the printer lays out a line of type back to front?

While "mind your P's and Q's" comes from these two letters being easily muddled when laying out type/ Lastly the expression "out of sorts" comes from running out of a certain type face and having to get more!