Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Print Club London are looking for an apprentice!
When I heard that the guys at PCL were looking for someone to take under their inky wing I was SO jealous. Honestly, if I didn’t have a job I would have applied myself! Although I regularly pop into the PCL exhibitions, it’s been a while since I’ve screen printed. With the aprinternship news, I thought I’d reminisce and share some of my printing journey memories.
Everyone remembers their first: the first time I got my hands mucky in the print room was at college in 2009 – before then I guess I hadn’t really thought about how anything was printed. I probably thought it all came out of a printer attached to a computer… Oh dear.
Every week I learnt about different printing processes;
Collagraph…
…Linocutting…
… and Screen Printing, which was my favourite. To finish the module we were required to produce a poster about a printing fair and I chose to screen print mine. First I used a squeegee to make a ‘rainbow’ of colour using 3 coloured inks and then I layered my poster information on top in black.
My next opportunity to hold a squeegee was in my 2nd year at University in 2011. First I had to attend a print induction to prove that I wasn’t dangerous with ink, and I printed this rose using a paper stencil (spot the triangle):
That was a warm up for a project to produce a limited edition of 6 posters expressing our opinion on a topical news article. The article I was given was ‘Internships: the scandal of Britain’s unpaid army’ from The Guardian. After developing my ideas, I decided to print a butcher shop style poster complete with red and white stripes, ‘chalkboard’ typography and decorative banners. I actually still really like it looking back now (which is rare, I don’t usually like any of my work!).
Due to a shortage of screens in the print room I had to print my poster with stencils, and because I was a genius/idiot I decided to do a 4 colour print. (Looking back now, I realise that I made it really hard for myself) So I cut each colour layer from paper using a scalpel, and was SO frustrated when I went wrong and had to rip the stencil (which had taken me about an hour to cut) from the screen. It was all a learning curve!
As every colour was applied, more pressure was applied – if I didn’t align my design correctly I would have wasted hours of my time, ruin all of the posters and could potentially fail the project.
Somehow I pulled it out of the bag; I produced more than enough posters AND got a 1st for the project.
After that, I was itching to get back into the print room…
In my 3rd year (2013) I delved into letterpress type (for my swearing dictionary; Mind Your Language) and screen printed some double sided posters on fluoro orange paper for the group magazine project. One of the posters was the prize for my first ever blog giveaway which Soof won, and now we’re really good friends! Awww 🙂
Since then, it’s been quiet on the screen printing front. I pulled a squeegee or two with Soof & Anthony Burrill back in November 2013 at his KK Outlet exhibition…
but the last time I printed was at the Print Club London x Farrow & Ball event last year which I was kindly invited to.
Otherwise, I get my print-fix by attending the Print Club exhibitions, but I’d love to print more.
So if that’s given you the print bug, here’s why you should apply for Print Club London’s aprint-ern-ship:
+ Two months print studio access
+ Two months free desk space in one of the PCL creative studios
+ A tutor led session each week
+ Portfolio advice
+ An exhibition in the PCL gallery alongside one other apprentice
Requirements
+ Degree or similar level education in relevant subject
+ Good screen printing experience
How to apply
If that sounds like you, the guys want to know a little bit about you, your work and the work you’d want to make whilst at PCL. You should also send your CV and a pdf (no bigger than 3MB) with some examples of your printed work. And don’t forget links to your website or blog too!
Send your entry to amber@printclublondon.com
Hope you enjoyed that blast from the past – I had a good giggle looking back at my old blog posts and photos. Are you going to apply for the aprint-ern-ship? Go on – what have you got to lose? It’s a brilliant opportunity and I’m rooting for you, so let me know if you do apply. Fingers crossed 🙂
P.S. Also don’t forget that Print Club London’s Summer Screen prints exhibition will be at Somerset house from 30th July to 23rd August 2015!