DAY 8 - LPF - Monday 27th January

Table & Chair Delivery

Today I had to go back down to the gallery space to drop off some bits and bobs and also wait about for Event Hire to come pick up the tables and chairs. They took a while but finally got here at around 1.30.

During my wait I spoke to Rob Walker and some of his foundation students from Wakefield College. I told them a bit about the exhibition and gave them some print goodies to take away with them. It was nice to see how enthused they were with the work.

I have had an awesome time this week working for Leeds Print Festival and have met loads of new people. I have made contact with several designers/printers since the festival and hope to visit some of the studios in the near future. I will also be following up my internship with dust, and have emailed the director.

I was also really happy to come away with loads of print goodies for myself. I ended up getting one of Ian Anderson's prints and also got one of Mick Marston's incredible screen prints for my birthday. Overall it has been a successful week and I look forward to getting involved again.

DAY 7 - LPF - Sunday 26th January - Print Talks

Leeds Print Festival Talks

Today was another awesome day, I spent the morning packing invites into envelopes and then assigning them to the customers as they arrived. Me and Jenny were working on the door stamping everyone in at first. Once all the guests had arrived we made sure everyone was sat down and ready to go.

Mr Bingo

The first talk we had was from Mr Bingo an awesome illustrator from London who put on a show! His presentation was full of humour and he pretty much had everyone in stitches for the entire talk which was great. He was really inspirational and showed what you can achieve when you are passionate about your subject. He has a great business model and has managed to get paid by sending people hate mail which is absolutely genius! I thoroughly enjoyed this talk and got to chat with him for a while after his talk.

Pat Randle

The second speaker was Pat Randle from Nomad Letterpress. Pat is a really nice guy who really knows his craft, he specialises in tradition letterpress printing and grew up working with his dad at Whittington Press, he was fortunate enough to be Alan Kitchings apprentice as well for a period of time which is amazing. Pats talk was really inspirational and it showed how beautiful the craft is. He has been getting involved with more events in recent years which is helping to boost his practice. Pats work looks amazing and I have managed to persuade him to send me one of the pieces from his presentation. I have exchanged details with pat and hope to visit his workshop one day.

Improvised Q & A

Print for Good & The Print Project

Due to Si Scott's last minute drop out from the print talks we had to figure out a way of replacing Si, we deiced the best option would be to get Nick and Peggy to do a Q&A session. Amber asked them various questions about their practices and also members of the audience participated. This went down really well and they filled the time slot with no problem what so ever.

Patrick Burgoyne

The last talk of the day was left to the Editor of Creative Review. This talk brought the day together nicely and touched on everything throughout the festival. It was a really great finish to the day as Patrick mixed it up a bit with his inspiring presentation. He showed printers and crafters all around the world and even included how digital and print can cross over. I was lucky enough to sit next to him all day and was chatting away with him for a while. I hope the next time we meet he is interviewing me for his magazine.

Today was a huge success and everyone was well happy with the talks. I found the whole day really enlightening and it was also nice to sit down and just enjoy the festival for one day. I am really looking forward to next year and would love to be part of it again.

 

DAY 6 - LPF - Saturday 25th January - Print Fair

Leeds Print Fair

Today we set up the tables for the print fair and helped the various printers/studios set up their table ready for the opening. Through doing this I got chatting to each of the people involved in the print fair which was a very beneficial experience. I gained some new contacts throughout the day and exchanged details with a fair few people. I may have also sorted out a placement/internship with one of the studios that attended the print fair. I am really glad I had the opportunity to get involved with this years print fair as lots of good things have already come from it. I also managed to get a few freebies throughout the day which was awesome and also purchased one of Mick Marston's amazing screen prints, which I love!

Today was awesome, I loved all of it. I found it easy to chat with the participants and I helped the public out when needed. I found the whole day really enjoyable and think that the experience has been invaluable, Ben from Ditto Press has agreed to help out with my portfolio when I've put it together. I also made good friends with Peggy from Print for Good and the girls from Dust.

DAY 5 - LPF - Friday 24th January - Opening Night

Exhibition Set Up

Today was a long day, I arrived for 9.30 this morning and was met by Dutch who has worked on the festival the past 3 years. We got on well which made the rest of the day a doddle and he gave me a bit of an insight into what working in the industry is like. We spent the rest of the day hanging work and getting things in place for the evening. This involved hanging the work, adding the labels and setting up the tables for the bar and live printing.

 

Stamp Mission

Another task I was given was the stamp hunt. Due to Hobby Wise being closed we were unable to get the stamps made that we had previously planned. I was sent into town to try and get my hands on one, this proved rather difficult as no where in Leeds actually sold them and the only ones on sale were completely irrelevant to the event. Eventually after an hour trip round Leeds I was able to purchase a valentines stamp from Paperchase, however they did not have an inking stamp big enough so had to go to WHSmiths to get a large one.

Taking the Table Delivery

One of the other jobs we had to take care of today was the table and chair delivery. We had ordered 14 tables and chairs for the print fair on Saturday and a few for the exhibition. We organised where the tables needed to go and helped set up the equipment.

This was the bar set up for Andy and Greg to serve the people, and also where I was responsible for over inking too many peoples hands.

Live Printing

Tonight we had live printing from Nick from the Print Project and Pat from Nomad Letterpress who were producing beautiful posters for people to take away with them. This proved a big hit and it was great to see people getting involved and learning how the craft works. I really enjoyed chatting to both of them over the course of the evening and will definitely be keeping in touch.

Tonight was a really good chance to network and meet new people and I have come away with some new friendships in the process. It was a really fun experience and was really impressed with the turn out. Hundreds of people flocked through the doors to look at the exhibition and a few for the free beer it seemed!

DAY 4 - LPF - Thursday 23rd January

Clearing the Gallery Space

 My first task of the day was to take down the previous work from the exhibition 'Within & Without' this was a nice start to the day. I unhooked all the frames and stored them in the back then began to take down on the labels and scrape off the sticky pads.

Once I had cleared all the walls I began the fun part...I was lucky enough to get the first peak at all the work that had been sent to the print festival. I carefully unwrapped all the work and organsied it neatly.

I made sure to make a note of all the extra prints that had been sent.

So that the work didn't get mucky on the floor I hung it up around the gallery space.

Karoline's Riso Prints

Tone's Mixed Media Posters

Frederic Tacer's Engraved Posters

I had a lot of fun today hanging the work, it was a long day but it went pretty quickly. I was pretty much left to my own devices today so it was good to take the reins on this and get stuck in. I also learned a few bits and bobs about the building and met Becky from 'Colours May Vary' who I had  a good chat with. I have really enjoyed meeting new people so far this week and has felt it has built up my confidence massively and it has also been nice to be part of organizing something special.

DAY 3 - LPF - Wednesday 22nd January

Source a Stamp

The original plan for today was to create 2 stamp designs for the festival, one for the opening night and one for the talks. I had spent the previous night drawing up some designs for the stamp based around the donkey sanctuary however when it came to getting the stamp made I found that the only store in Leeds which offered this service had just closed down. This through a bit of a spanner in the works so we will have to get a pre-made one later in the week. This was a shame as I was looking forward to stamping my design on everyone's hands. After finding the store closed I headed back to college to read up more on the event in case anyone has any questions during the course of the festival.

Preparation and Organisation

For the rest of the afternoon I compiled a list of all the exhibitors email address's and websites to go on the festival brochure. I also read up about each designer/printer in order to get an overview of the work they are producing and also incase anyone has any inquiries I can help them with. 

The next task I was given to organize the drinks for the festival, I looked through the makro website in order to find out the best deals on alcohol and soft drinks.

After a discussion with Amber we decided on:

 8 x 24 330ml Becks

1 x 24 330ml Britvic Orange

 1 x 24 330ml Britvic Apple

1 x 100 1/2 pint Plastic cups

DAY 2 - LPF - Tuesday 21st January

Vinyl Mission

 

Today's duties involved running a few errands around town in order to prepare for the festival. We needed a few bits and bobs picking up from various places so I was given the task of collecting the goods. The first thing we needed getting was some vinyl from Sydney Beaumont's. In order to keep with the print festival colour scheme we had decided on a neon red colour to match. However when I got to there I found out the vinyl wasn't double sided and it was rather pink in comparison to the invites and posters. As a result of this I was left in a bit of a predicament, I was told that there was no double sided vinyl at all which was problem as it is needed for lettering on a window so needs colour on both sides. This was a real shame but luckily after a while of searching round the warehouse I managed to find a bright red which was double sided and would suit the job perfectly. I decided to get 2m of this in case anything went wrong on the vinyl cutter.

Poster Mission

After I had picked up the vinyl I got a taxi to dots print haus, but unfortunately the taxi driver didn't have a clue where he was going and neither did his sat-nav so I got dropped off as close as possible and walked the rest. After having a good chat with Johnny from Dots I collected the print festival posters and made my way back to college to deliver the goods. It was nice to get out and about today and experience some of the things involved with running an event, there are lots of little jobs that need doing in order to make the festival what it is. The posters look awesome and really stand out and grab your attention.

DAY 1 - LPF DIARY - Monday 20th January

Today consisted of a bit of a briefing about the week ahead in order to give me an idea of the general plan and how the festival was going to be run etc. We sorted out a bit of an itinerary of what needed doing and just had a bit of a chat about the festival. I was assured it was going to be a a hard week but I'm looking forward to seeing what is thrown at me. I think it will be a an enjoyable experience regardless of the stress and a really good opportunity to meet new people and make an impression hopefully. I am taking this week as an excuse to hassle/talk to as many new people as possible as networking is something I have not put any time into until now. I think it is important to make as many acquaintances as possible in this industry as you never know when you might need to call in a favor. Its also a good chance to try and get further work or a placement, and hopefully the fact I'm party of the LPF crew will give me some preliminary respect!

For the rest of the day I headed to Shipley to meet Nick from 'The Print Project' and get a glimpse of his workshop and the stuff he had been producing this week. He had been busy creating this years invited for the festival as you can see above. He has produced some stunning invites on Fluorescent GFSmith stock using 2 colours. The invites look amazing, they are eye catching and show the potential for letterpress as an image making tool as well as type. I had a good chat with Nick and he showed me round his workshop but unfortunately he was really busy so I couldn't stay too long. After my time was up I took the invited back to College ready to be sent out to the mailing list.

Work Placement with Leeds Print Festival

This year I decided to follow up my love for print by getting on board this years Leeds Print Festival. I am really looking forward to being part of the event and being able to chat with other designers and printers. Hopefully the experience will build my confidence when it comes to talking to professionals and will also help with my time management and organization skills. There are lots of job roles that I will have to undertake over the course of the week so I have to be prepared for anything. I think working at the festival is a great opportunity and I plan to make the most of every situation.

My placement starts on Monday 20th January and will last around a week. During the print festival there will be lots of change, on the Friday we will be having the opening night of the exhibition in Leeds Gallery including live printing workshops. The following day is the print fair which includes 14 different crafters/designers/printers who will be selling work throughout the day. Finally on the Sunday we will be hosting the print talks at the Leeds College of Music this year as the space is much larger and more professional

I am looking forward to the following week as it will be something new and exciting to sink my teeth into.

Datashed - Work Online / Evaluation of Experience

After a month or so, Ed got in touch with me to let me know my work had been uploaded to their website. It was great to know that my work was out on the web for all to see. This experience has spurred me on to seak more client work. I find the that producing work is much more worth while when there is the prospect of exposure. It has been a great learning curve working on a professional basis. It has taught me to how to speak with clients and the type of communication I will be dealing with. I got lucky with the Datashed as my previous experience with clients has been very different and much more awkward. Both Ed and Anna were extremely helpful and we worked well with each to get the finished results. There were a few alterations along the way but all in all the project went relatively smoothly. I was able to meet target deadlines which is always good in the real world.

One thing I would probably do better next time is my board for initial Ideas. I just had pages of sketches which the client didn't mind however I think they could of been a bit more spread out and organized as I had loads of ideas crammed into several sheets. The drawings were good however it was slightly over crowded. Another thing this brief has taught me is how to fill out an invoice as I actually got paid for this which is awesome. This project has been an eye opener into how I could carry on with freelance work after I finish Uni if I need to. Hopefully I will start to gain more free lance work over the course of the year. I was really lucky that this brief gave me the chance to do some digital illustrations which I am starting to enjoy more and more as time goes on. I am really happy with the final outcome and hope just hope that more work comes along like this.