Welcome to Ruby Victoria Letterpress & printmaking


Here you will find photos of all my original hand carved linocut prints and letterpress printing.
A commercial printer by trade a printmaker by choice.
I specialize in original handcarved lino block prints with a bit of letterpress thrown in for good measure.
All printed on antique printing machines with that unmistakable bite into the paper that you can only get with letterpress printing

The work that I do is not created on a computer everything is hand drawn then hand carved out of lino then printed one impression at a time on my tabletop letterpress machine

I do not use polymer which limits me somewhat in regards to type but I love to use traditional methods in my printing that involve handset type and hand carved designs and I think this is what make my work totally Original and Unique to what other people are doing right now and it also meaning everything I make is an original work of art
I love what I do and love to share it with others that are interested

Narelle


Thursday, April 30, 2009

Not long now


Well it isn't long now till it transform into Mrs Badalassi.
I printed these little thankyou cards tonight at my letterpress class .we aren't having a big wedding just my Parents and some of our friend and then we will go out for dinner at Franklin where Allan will be premiering his new compositions and CD.
Well Im off to bed now Thursdays are always knackering !!
nigh night!!

Tuesday, April 28, 2009

Hunter Island Press


Joined the Hunter Island press printmaking group today and they are having their annual mini print sale at Salamanca Art Centre, Everyone is welcome to come along and buy some ridiculously cheap original printmaking by Tasmanian local Artists.

Saturday, April 25, 2009

6 am this morning!!













Yup up early again, having a drawing class in the kitchen, the usual faces with ruby telling me every part she is drawing as she draws it ! I love her so much ,what a wally !

Monday, April 20, 2009

busy day again but a happy one!


We had another insanely busy day today the morning I spent with ruby and the afternoon was spent running around compiling lists of things I will need to get our business up and running.
Went to the local mac shop in town today to see what it would cost to get a new upgraded computer system and graphic design software, the guy gave us a quote for nearly $5000 , see ya later mate !! I can get the rest of the business up and running for that.
We went to harvey norman and got a bamboo graphics pad and a external hard drive and it was just under $500 and will do everything I need and I wont have to buy another printer to be compatible with a Apple Mac.I know apple is superior but come on maybe I will invest in a new system when we have been going for a while and we make some money to upgrade.
All this trying to work out costing and suppliers and business plans and stuff it really doing my head in but at the same time I know we will get the business up and running we are now planning on incorporating a cafe into the business so Allan and I can work together and both be happy doing what we do for a living.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

ruby victoria letterpress


I have so much stuff going on in my head at the moment trying to figure out how I am going to get this letterpress business up and running ,there is so much equipment and bits and pieces I need just to get up and running let alone get the machine from England which should be half way here now already, my impatient side really cant handle the waiting , but I guess it just gives me time to mull everything around in my head .
I went into the Art Tasmania the other day to get some info on arts loans and grant and i am thinking I should apply for a loan as the interest is low and easy to pay off , so now I have a head full of proposal ideas and things I need to include and the what's and where to get everything needed to make a successful and convincing proposal.
I must be stark raving bonkers to think I can take all this on plus study as well and looking after Ruby, but I have all this positive nervous energy and it is just driving me to get it all sorted out so we can get on with it .
I feel it in me that this venture is going to be a wonderful success as I have spoken to people in the printing and arts field that I know about my ideas and sofar I have had nothing but positive feed back .

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

My stash





This is just a small part of my recently acquired stash of type.

Its all been happening here lately with me sitting for hours sorting and cleaning type and cases driving Allan crazy with boxes of type and other printing stuff that he doesn't understand all over our house.
In between sorting type I have still be going to my paint classes and trying to find time to do my painting home work as well as being a mum and partner is has all been a bit of a stretch but it is alot of fun although very tiring.
Went over to the printing dept. on the eastern shore the other day to meet Gil the letterpress teacher, a friend of mine tipped me off about him and I am so happy I went to find him, it was like meeting the male version of me in regards to his enthusiasm for type and presses and I ended up signing up for his class there and then, it has been a while since I ran a platen so I thought it wouldn't hurt to get a refresher and it would be nice to have people to talk to about letterpress and understand what the hell I am talking about.
It was a bit surreal going back to the printing dept. this is where I did my print machining apprenticeship about 13 years ago, it has changed alot as the apprentices now fly to Melbourne to do their study, so they have gotten rid of most of their printing machines like the MO, GTO's, and the fufi 2 colour.
It feels like a far more peaceful place now I didn't particularly like being there, being the only girl the boys tended to forget I was there and go on with their boy talk eerk! they made life pretty hard for me actually!
But its all different now and I am older and more stubborn .
Anyway Gil I think is going to be a great person to know as he is passionate about letterpress and it eager to see it have a resurgence here, we will just have to see what happens !

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Our Ad in the hobart super pages directory



What a surprise when we finally saw our add in the Hobart "super pages" business directory ,we were expecting to see something a little less fabulous so we are seriously happy with the advertising, we got our first booking yesterday for this Christmas this year for 20 people . such great news that the add has worked !

Friday, April 3, 2009

Finally a new print !!


here is the latest print, I have others coming but I have been so busy with other stuff I haven't the time to print!
Oh yeah and its ALLANS birthday today he doesn't tell anyone, so I am going to post it on here so he can find it later hehehe we play these little games alot lol