So I’m taking part in an open studio event again this year (did it for the first time last year) and so far it has been busy!

The first time I visited studios during h.Art week was in Sept 2019, when my friend Lu and I decided it was high time we follow some bright pink signs and have a nosey around artists’ studios.

One of the venues I visited was Berrington Press, where I met Sarah and Francesca. It was there I tried letterpress printing for the first time, and I can honestly say it was love at first clunk.

I immediately commandeered an Adana from my dad’s antique collection, and got myself kitted out with ink and type, and it has been an obsession ever since.

I’ve now had my studio in Hereford for nearly 18 months, and have sold my printed work at fairs and in shops, as well as in my studio in The Apple Store Gallery (venue 3), and at Sacred Tree Spirit (venue 73).

Such was the obsession that my last novel for adults, The Girl Who Loved Much, had a letterpress theme, and the cover was a photograph I took of my own printing blocks in my studio. I also did a limited edition print run of extras to go with the book.

I have had many, many hobbies in my life, but I can honestly say that I feel that printing was what I was looking for all along. It helps that the printing community on Instagram and in the British Printing Society are the loveliest people I have ever known!

So if you’re local, do check out h.Art, and if you’re a reader wondering why I haven’t written so many books lately, this is one of the reasons why!