Handpress master class in New Zealand

on 13 & 14 August I was invited to give a master class in handpress printing at The Printing Museum in Wellington, New Zealand. The brief was to damp handmade paper, set a small poem in type, print it on the Albion handpress in black with a red title - running off a small edition of ten copies for each of the attendees. Here they are, from left (photo by Michael Curry), John Clemens, Terrie Reddish, Dan Tait-Jamieson, Alan Loney, Meredith Paterson, Brendan O'Brien, Nicki Francis, Annette O'Sullivan - as you can see, it was a cool day in the Hutt Valley, it seemed not to dampen anyone's spirits over the weekend - 

here is the press itself (tho it's really to show off my CODEX Australia apron!) with photo by Meredith Paterson -

more photos, this time by Terrie Reddish - first, plane & lock up in the forme - 

inking up, with the outer edge of the roller dry and running on bearers - 

and how to put the printed & damped sheet into the plastic bag - ON your hand, not in it!

Melbourne Journal

I have now received my author's copies of Melbourne Journal, which sits between Sidetracks (AUP 1998) and Crankhandle (Cordite 2015) - it will not be published until October, but it can be pre-ordered at UWA Publishing - a mix of poetry & prose, it was begun when a dear friend gave me a new notebook on my arrival in Australia and said, here is your new writing - it takes the Notebooks from 1998 to 2003 - here's the cover -