Printmaking for all

Hot Bed Press is the largest open access print workshop in the region. With 140 members we provide specialist printmaking equipment and expertise in printmaking and related media, (such as bookmaking). We are open 5 days a week, with technical support on hand.  We welcome new members; beginners or experienced printmakers, and run a range of popular courses throughout the year, which suit complete beginners as well as the more seasoned printmakers. Now in it’s 16th year Hot Bed Press is now well and truly settled into it’s new home at the Casket Works. We moved here 5 years ago and have not looked back. In 2010 we were lucky enough to get a one off grant of £10,000 from Salford Urban Regeneration Company towards expanding our premises to create 11 artists’ studios on the top floor, as well as opening up the first floor for a much larger print facility with dedicated areas for letterpress & relief, screenprinting and etching. We can now run over 40 courses a year whilst still catering for all our members, keyholders and studio holders, and we hope to grow and continue to support printmakers for a long time to come.

More about us…

Hot Bed Press (HBP) is a not-for-profit open access print workshop, dedicated to supporting anyone with an interest in printmaking, and in promoting printmaking to a wider audience.

Our facilities include equipment for screen printing, etching, drypoint, collagraphs, relief printing, letterpress and bnook arts. Our screenprinting is waterbased with two light boxes for photo-screenprinting and a darkroom facility for coating and exposing screens. In our etching area we have nitric acid for steel and zinc plates as well as ferric chloride and now also copper sulphate. Our aquatint is ‘traditional’ resin. We believe in bringing in new innovations in printmaking such as gum arabic transfer techniques, copper sulphate, hydroplate etc. However we don’t throw out the ‘old’. We incorporate new methods within tried and tested print processes with the intention of bringing in a hybrid approach that gives the best of both worlds. At Hot Bed Press we have incorporated recent innovations in printmaking into normal studio practise, such as the use of vegetable oil, new degreasants and mordants for etching. We will continue to improve and innovate on health and safety and environmental issues and to enhance creative printmaking practises making us a centre for excellence in the North West. We welcome new members and and our courses are open to everyone. Come and join us!  We now have 14 artists’ studios across 2 floors, and have recently expanded the workshop itself to create a lighter and more spacious area for preparation work, plus a dedicated letterpress and book arts space. We are in the midst of creating an etching room which in turn will create more space for the screenprinting. We are about to install a large Kippax screenprint bed giving us 4 screen beds. The expansion has been made possible with a one off grant from Salford Urban Regeneration Company. From this expansion we aim to make ourselves more sustainable and to continue to grow to offer better facilities and to grow in membership, and ad to our already bnurgeoning course programme expanding from 30+course s a year to over 40 courses a year.

New improved Hot Bed Press…

In October we proudly opened 11 new studios on the top floor of The Casket Works, (as well as 2 studios on the first floor), with thanks to the generous support of central Salford Urban Regeneration Company. Brand new spaces, and upgraded lighting and electrics make this a great addition to Hot Bed Press and I am pleased to say that they are full already with a waiting list if any vacancies come up in the future.  On the first floor there is a remarkable difference as we have taken out 4 spaces and opened up the room as you enter Hot Bed creating a much lighter area for courses and general use.  We now have a new reception office, and are soon to move into a new project office where we aim to plan and organise major projects such as residencies, research into new printmaking and an expanded education programme. We have also knocked through a wall and opened up the studios to create a dedicated etching studio. Plumbing has just been moved and Studio Managers have once again worked tirelessly to paint the ceiling and floor, and to more presses. All in all this has doubled our space and created a bigger and better printmaking experience for members and course goers. Over the next few months we will be pulling out all the stops to make Hot Bed Press even better and hope to bring you more news of expanded activities and opportunities.

We would love you to come and look around our new improved studio.

Sean Rorke – Artistic Director