Elly Rowbotham Printmaker
About Elly Rowbotham Printmaker
Original LinoCut HandPrinted cards, hand-folded using mold made paper, hand torn to size according to convention (ensuring the deckle edge is incorporated as much as possible). Cards are blank inside for a hand written message.¶
I keep the tradition of typesetting & letterpress alive by using metal moveable type for all written text. On the back of my cards, my signs, text for wedding invites & other commissions.¶
My methods & tools are traditional (only hand tools used), I hand build & cut my image blocks. My presses, type & tools are linked directly to the old print industry - I was lucky to acquire them when they were being discarded by commercial printers in favour of 'new fangled' desktop publishing in the 1980s.
Further Info
Specialised in
Relief block building to type high & cutting (images),
Typesetting & printing with movable metal type (text).
Hand inking & press inking.
Paper tearing.
I’ve studied typography & layout grids, with particular interest in the grids behind early illuminated manuscripts.
I used to teach digital layout on accredited courses, using my knowledge of typesetting, letterpress & layout to provide a tangible insight into the principles & the language of digital typography & layout software, which is replete with the print industry terminology from which it grew.
Graphic Design BA (Hons), PGCE
Open to the Public?
No
Provides Course / Training
No
Available for Craft Fairs
Available - please ask about pricing
‘Wheal Margery Bee’ – Purple Flower – Original Print Lino Cut Card
Not all bees are stripy!
This little Ginger Carder Bee perches skilfully on a wild balsam blossom with its head buried determinedly collecting pollen. I’ve coloured the flower with a blend of plum purple to reddish purple giving it depth. I achieve this during hand inking the flower lino block. The bee is also hand inked, in a seville black. I’ve hand printed this 3 times to achieve the final image on artist paper which I then fold to form a card.
I’ve typeset the text on the back using old metal letterpress which I hand ink & hand print using the same colour as the bee.