Printmaking Excellence
Hot Bed Press is the largest open access print workshop in the region. With around 160 members at any one time we provide specialist printmaking equipment and expertise in printmaking and book arts. There are facilities for screenprinting, etching, relief printing and letterpress and a whole lot more besides.
We are open 5 days a week, with a Technician on-hand for 22 hours in the week as well support for members by voluntary Studio Managers throughout the week.
We always welcome new members; whether they are beginners or experienced printmakers. We run a range of popular courses throughout the year, which suit complete beginners as well as the more seasoned printmakers.
Established in 1994 Hot Bed Press moved into the Casket Works in 2006. We have continually expanded over the past 7 years and now occupy 2 floors, (with 12 studios on the top floor), and have knocked through to expand our etching facilities. This Victorian warehouse gives us spacious industrial surroundings befitting the creative work that goes in here.
In the past 5 years we have gone from running 12 courses to running 50 courses, most of which are oversubscribed. We pride ourselves in leading the way amongst our peers and we regularly see other print workshops copying some of our courses, and mirroring the new directions we take the courses in.
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. We are entirely self-financing.
Our screenprinting is waterbased with 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!
The largest Print Workshop in The North West…
In October 2010 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. On the first floor we took out 4 spaces and opened up the room as you enter Hot Bed creating a much lighter area for courses and for members.
We also knocked down a wall into Cow Lane Studios next door and created a new dedicated etching area, which had previously been nestled amongst the screenprinting. So we now look very much like a cross between a university print department and a professional editioning print studio.
Look out also for the annual open studios events we run as well as the Manchester Artists’ Book Fair we run annually at MMU Holden Gallery in Manchester and the ever growing 20:20 Print Exchange which last year had 392 artists producing 9,800 prints. The show is currently touring the UK and is on in Wakefield and will travel to Hereford, West Yorkshire, Liverpool and West Yorkshire.
We would love you to come and look around the largest print studio in the North West.
Sean Rorke – Artistic Director
