Riso printing at PageMasters, London & the making of “Granny’s Shopping List, Nov 1964”
One of the benefits of being self-employed (and at times, one of the pitfalls) is the ability to choose how you spend your time. Often this is a constant battle of working out what the priorities for the week are. However, occasionally it can lead to a fun sidequest such as one of my most recent trips to London, where I visited the appropriately named PageMasters risograph print shop.
This was a trip I had been planning anyways, but I knew I wanted to get some print research done while I was over there as I am currently in a bit of an R&D phase with riso, pushing myself technically and thinking up ways to host workshops and outreach programmes using our machine in Derry Print Workshop.
Pagemasters operate a “drop-in” session every Thursday which was exactly what I was looking for. I decided that this would work as a mini-project, kind of like I was back in college and working to a deadline. I spent a few days working on different ideas, most of which I decided to put on the shelf as I felt they worked better as a series and I knew I wanted this one to be a standalone piece. I ended up working with a photo I had for a while: one of my Granny’s old handwritten receipts/shopping lists from the 60s. We found it sandwiched between the pages of a book in the attic and I knew I had to do something with it but I wasn’t sure what. I drew it up, did my file separations with a rough idea of the colours in my head and brought it into PageMasters on a USB.
The three greyscale layers of the drawing.
When I got to Pagemasters, Ed and Jordan could not have been more helpful. I had emailed in advance to let them know I wanted to have a chat with them about their workflow and processes so we got to work right away. Ed showed me Spectrolite, which I had never heard of before, and we worked through the printing process together. PageMasters have a staggering collection of 23 inks (compared to Derry Print Workshops selection of six - we don’t have the storage space). I knew I had wanted to work with Sunflower Yellow and Medium Blue so that’s what we stuck with.
We ran a few tests on scrap paper (always fun to see how these come out layered over other artwork), before I decided to use the Cairn recycled paper - another one of those papers I had wanted to work with for a while but was reluctant to order in. The flecks of the recycled paper reflect the old paper of the receipt really well.
We printed 50 of these - 40 for the edition and 10 artist proofs. I stamped and signed an archive copy before we sat down for a coffee so I could pick the guys brains about the best practices of running workshops and drop-in sessions with the riso printer. All in all we wrapped it up in about 90 mins and I was blown away at how much I learned within that time and I left feeling inspired and excited to bring what I learned back to Derry.
The finished print: “Granny’s Shopping List, Nov 1964”, A3 3 colour risograph on Cairn 100gsm recycled paper.
In a lovely coincidence, it turns out that this was not my first encounter with PageMasters. While on honeymoon in Bilbao (a cultural feast that deserves its own blogpost, to be honest) I picked up a riso printed postcard set called Laúltimafábricadelaría by a Basque designer Diego Grisaleña, bought in the very cool design shop a_erre. This beautiful wee piece of design was printed in PageMasters, and I had just made the connection between the two while I was booking my slot for the drop-in session. It serves as a nice reminder of how small the printmaking world is, and even smaller again when it is narrowed down to risograph.
Thanks to the team at Pagemasters for being so generous with their time and information, and you can find out more about their drop-in sessions here.
A relic of a time gone by - my Granny’s handwritten receipt with the usual “messages” on it, from McGonagle’s shop on Buncrana Main Street.
I found the original sandwiched between book pages. Why this was kept, I don’t know, but I’m glad it survived, albeit very wrinkly, as it's evidence of a simpler time.
The receipt was written in a mix of pencil and blue biro. I think the groceries were “paid in” for in advance, as it says “less overpaid” at the bottom. It’s the usual bits and pieces - tea, sugar, butter, cheese, a tin of fruit cocktail, and soap, amongst other things.
I printed this in PageMasters Riso Print Shop in London as part of their drop-in sessions. It’s a three-colour risograph print, on Cairn Recycled 100gsm paper, using Sunflower Yellow, Medium Blue and Black ink.
Size: A3 29.7 × 42cm
This is a Limited Edition of 40. Each print is signed and numbered by myself.
You can read more about this print on my blog post here.
