The open studios event was brilliant. We had between 350 and 400 people through the doors at the weekend and we raised £1,600, of which around 50% goes to Hot Bed Press and 50% to the artists.

We will be buying some lovely equipment for the workshop including a large spindle roller which will help our members and course goers large relief prints and roll-overs for etching. We will also be getting some more benching and tools.

Thanks to everyone who helped us set up and get the workshop looking lovely. Thanks also to all those who came and bought prints!

Sean Rorke
Artistic Director
Hot Bed Press

The studio may seem a little busier over the next couple of months as we welcome 20 students from Manchester Met who have taken membership over the summer months whilst building work is going on at the University.

The majority of them will be focusing on letterpress and book arts so if you are planning to use the letterpress equipment, it’s worth letting us know.

They have also expressed an interest in screenprinting, so please book your beds in advance and we’ll make sure that your bed is saved for you.

It may be that it doesn’t have a great impact on usage, but I thought it better to give you the heads up on the off chance. We’re really happy to be building links and invite new students and their ideas into the workshop.

The workshop will be closed to members for our annual Summer School during the week Mon 15th – Mon 22nd August.

So please don’t turn up that week as we won’t be open for you to use the workshop.

Keyholder’s are welcome, although mainly out of hours as most of the workshops will be running between 10am and 5pm every day Mon-Fri.

We will reopen on the 22nd for business as usual.

Welcome to our new website. We are adding to it daily and updating all new information to the new look site. We hope you like it.

Thanks to Duncan Rynehart of 30two who has set up and is running the site for us, we now have more changing images, have incorporated our new logo, (also designed by Duncan), and have links to Twitter and Facebook for regular updates and lots of information and feedback.

We will be adding a gallery of members’ work in the coming weeks and expanding all the information about the exciting things happening at Hot Bed Press.

Please add comments, link to us and let us know how you think the new site looks and runs. We hope it’s as successful as the last website which was developed by Gary Herman of Keyword Associates and achieved between 200 and 300 hits a week. Thanks to Gary for his sterling work over the last 5 years!

Enjoy browsing the site. Let us know your thoughts.

How could we resist promoting such a noble cause!

On 4th September, HBP Studio Manager, Christine Evans will be taking part in the Christie Manchester 100 Bike Ride. This means 100 miles in 1 day! I’m exhausted just thinking about it. She reports that so far the training is going well and all the money raised will go to Christies who do such wonderful work in supporting people and their families affected by cancer.

This message directly from Christine :

If you’d like to, you can donate online with a credit or debit card – you can do this on my JustGiving page, here’s the link: http://www.justgiving.com/pedalpowerwithchristine

JustGiving sends your donation straight to The Christie and automatically reclaims Gift Aid if you’re a UK taxpayer, so your donation is worth even more. I hope you’ll join me in supporting The Christie.

Thanks very much and lots of love,
Christine