They're back!

In the Summer of 2008 I started drawing some of my favourite things- namely a 1960's typewriter and an 1980's SLR camera. The Writer and The Photographer became the designs used for the first prints in the homemade print studio in my parents' garage. Now in the GET A GRIP studio full time, it felt like a nice time to bring the designs back. Exposing screens that weren't made using bits of wood and a staple gun- but using the original acetates I had photocopied in the local post office. Available in the shop for just £6. Cut-Out is back and with a handful of amazing designs in the pipeline for Summer, it's all very exciting.

big changes ahoy!

Well, we have been busy these last few months so there's alot to catch up on, and there's going to be quite a few big changes happening over the next few weeks and months...

Firstly we are sad to say we will be closing the shop just after Christmas. I have absolutely loved running the shop, but most of you know I also love screen printing, and those who have been in the shop know that I cannot do them both at the same time, and keeping the shop open meant sacrificing print jobs I wanted to do, or meant I was working constantly to keep everything going. Cut-Out is not going anywhere however, I plan on releasing lots of new designs in the new year by our favourite illustrators, the website will still keep going and I will be representing a mini version of the shop in the form of a stall at the Saturday Flea Market at the Custard Factory, and I might show up in a few different shops around here thanks to some of the lovely shopkeepers who have offered me some retail space to help me out. I will still also be sending my lovely stockists in Falmouth and Bristol Cut-Out products too. The Birmingham Bead Shop will be moving to the space in the new year though which is lovely news! So make sure you still come down to stop by and say hello to Kate.

In the meantime I will be focussing on my new business venture GET A GRIP, a waterbased screen printing company which is based behind VAAD gallery in the Custard Factory, printing on commission for bands, artists, promotors, companies and designers. This is something I am really excited about, I will still be keeping the same DIY ethics that Cut-Out stuck by, but I will be able to take on way more orders and use much better equipment. We are offering such good value prices it's unreal, you can check out more about this new project here: www.getagripstudio.com


We hope that the new year will open up lots of new opportunities for GET A GRIP, and Cut-Out and Mouldy Loaf to collaborate once more in a larger retail premises we hope to combine with an open print studio... but we're just waiting for the right space to open up so it might take some time. We're not giving in yet.


In other news I will be selling Cut-Out things at the Lighthouse in Wolverhampton's Festive Flair fayre on 5th December, this was the first fayre I did last year when I 1st stared Cut-Out and it was so much fun I can't wait to go back for mince pies, mulled wine and lots of lovely stalls selling handmad gifts. Following that I will be helping my lovely friends out at Tatty Devine on their stall at Clothes Show Live on the 6th, 7th and 8th December at Birmingham NEC- so if you happen to be going along on one of those days please pop bye and say hi and look at their lovely jewellery!


Well, I think that's you guys up to date! I hope you are all looking forward to a season full of presents, food and joy!

Best wishes

Kay x

Screen printers sharing

So I finally put my first zine together, you can buy it here

I am planning to do more, decide on a proper title, get some proper content etc etc. I'm sure it'll mostly revolve about screen printing and stuff, but we'll see. This was pretty much just a tester, but at £3 who's complaining? I've sold quite a few, and only 50 were made, so get 'em while they're hot I guess.

It basically shows how to screen print at home for as cheap as possible, and the 2nd half is interviews with lots of different screen printers, people like Dan Mumford, Print Liberation, John Isaacson... Oh, and you get a squeegee button badge too!

PunkRock, illustration and screen printing- 3 of my favourite things

Thisafternoon I've been screen printing posters for the UK official Pre-Fest show (for those not in the know, The Fest is a festival in Florida that takes place over Halloween weekend, it's in it's 8th year and this year will be my first time, I am ridiculously excited). Anyway, the Lincoln Arms in Dorking is hosting this alldayer on 3rd October featuring pretty much all of the UK bands heading over to the States, and I got asked to get involved- which I did! There are 30 and they will be on sale on the day for £5.

The poster is designed by pretty much my favourite illustrator at the moment Joe, who's in Calvinball. He's done some awesome stuff for his own band, Bangers, Break The Habit and done the artwork for the Bangers/OK Pilot/The Arteries/Brothers 4 way split, out in a few weeks. He's also designing a T-shirt for Cut-Out that will hopefully be on sale by the end of next week.

Looking to interview screen printers

As a printer I am always interested in meeting other printers, getting geeky over inks and mesh counts, curious about their set up and seeing how they do stuff, so I've decided to take this further and put together a Zine where I would like to include interviews with as many different screen printers as possible from someone printing in their basement to commercial business'. Basically anyone who bloody loves it.

Feel free to promote your business, include website and email address' and whatever. Think of it as free advertisement, just more personal and in depth.

I would really appreciate you taking a few minutes to answer the questions as best as you can, they may be edited in the Zine but feel free to get carried away!

Also if you know anyone who might be interested, please forward this to them. All replies need to be sent to kay@cutoutshop.com. Let me know if you have any questions, would like to be sent any copies of the Zine to have or to distribute.

Thank you

Kay
www.cutoutshop.com



The questions are as follows:

Who are you?

Where are you based?

What do you print?

Describe your setup

Who are your clients?

What's your normal run, and the largest run you have ever done?

What kind of music do you listen to while printing?

How long have you been printing? How did you get into it?

What part of the process do you enjoy the most?

What part do you dislike the most?

What inks do you use?

What materials do you print onto?

Do you have any ecological, environmental or other ethics you put into practice when printing?

How much money have you put into printing- buying equipment and stuff?

Do you have any awesome tips you can pass on to other printers?

Please include a photograph of your workspace and an example of what you print.

Printing Prices Flyer

I'm going to photocopy-the-shit out of these

More Meat Pies...

To continue from yesterday's post about the awesome T-shirts Alex Curtis designed for Meat Pie Promotions' venue at Southsea Fest, today I've printed up 30 Limited Edition 3 colour prints (I know I said they'd be 4 colour, but they still look real awesome. They will be on sale on the day at the One Eyed Dog, 19th September. I'll be armed with elastic bands so people can take them home safely.

Printing patterns

I've been going on about making a DIY printing zine for a while now, and this week I've made a start on it- but things have not turned out how I wanted them too, so I decided to use all the drawings I had done for it to make a repeat pattern- which I haven't done since my degree. I was abit rusty but I think the result is pretty cool, so I've adopted it as my background on various social-networking sites for abit, in the hope it will encourage me to get this little booklet finished.

Seek Project

So along with KiosKiosk that I'm doing in London soon... have I mentioned that already? www.kioskiosk.co.uk, 7th-8th July I'll be there.
ANYWAY, I have still been printing commissioned stuff around my hectic schedule of the shop and printing all new and exciting things to sell, here's one of the highlights- printing a merchandise package for Nigerian Graphic Designer Karo Akpokiere, you can check out his project 'Seek' at http://www.seekproject.com/ GOOD STUFF

Busy week

I've had the busiest few weeks since the start of Cut-Out and now I have come to the end of all the current commissions I had on, and I'm now ready to print up all the new stock for the Summer and moving into the shop collection. It's all very hectic/exciting/terrifying/amazing.

One of the highlights has been printing some tote bags for Wolverhampton Art Gallery, I absolutely love the bright Barbie print ink. I took some awesome photos of the screen I used for this, the pink ink against the blue emulsion on the screen looked crazy- but whilst putting the battery pack back in my camera in haste to photograph it all the memory card fell out and therefor none of the lovely photos were saved. So use your imagination, and here is the finished article.

Ain't no hippy

At Cut-Out we don't preach about the environment and human rights, we do it without thinking. But just to let you know and give you peace of mind, here is how we try and look of after our world in our own little way:

Cut-Out tries to use as little packaging as possible, so you will not receive your items wrapped in tonnes of pointless tissue paper, we have also recently decided to post out items in reusable Degradermail postage bags which are 100% degradable, our labels are 100% recycled card and strung on biodegradable string.

We only print using waterbased inks, mostly used are Permaset Inks which are 100% solvent free, environmentally friendly and even good for the garden when we wash screens out on the grass rather than straight down the drain.

All Cut-Out's own garments are sweatshop free, whether Faritrade Contintental, American Apparel or EarthPositive, and we encourage our clients to use these brands when we print on commission.

Overall Cut-Out is not an 'Eco-label', but rest assured we constantly look out for more environmentally friendly alternatives to make our business just that little bit better for you and us, from cutting down the paper we use when doing our accounts, to reusing and recycling 'found' objects to make into pretty new products in our collections for you to love.

The "Cut-Out wants to sell your designs" T-shirt deal

I am looking for artists and designers who would like their doodlings on T-shirts and sold through Cut-Out (which will be online, in the Custard Factory shop we are moving into, AND in a large concession stand in the centre of Birmingham in the Oasis)

Quite a few people have been interested in this little offer, so here is the final deal

You pay £150 for 30 fairtrade slim fitting jersey continental T-shirts in sizes small/medium/large in either the Women's or Mens style. Cut-Out prints your design onto them and puts them in our two shops and the online shop for about 3 months.

T-shirts are sold at £20 each which we split 50/50 and at the end of the selling you will recieve a cheque for what has sold (which could be up to £300, making you £150 on top of your original investment) and any T-shirts that haven't sold so you can sell them to your friends, online, use them as promotion etc.

The online shop has been getting more and more features on blogs and websites in the UK and worldwide, traffic is constantly on the up and the feedback I have been getting has all been positive. Now the Custard Factory shop and the Oasis concession is going ahead, there promises to be alot of Press attention and alot of exposure we just couldn't buy, so this opportunity is a really good one and I want to help as many awesome designers and illustrators as I can.

Please get intouch if you would like to do this kay@cutoutshop.com

Jonah Matranga

Been busy printing these lovelies today, 3 colour prints for Jonah Matranga's UK tour starting this weekend.

Issue Six!

Article Magazine have kindly printed an article written by me about screen printing in their latest issue, check it out at www.articlemagazine.co.uk

Bangers

I've been busy printing yet more merchandise for Bangers, this time designed by Joseph William from Calvinball. He's already done pretty awesome artwork for Break the Habit, and I think this T-shirt design is pretty much the most ace thing I have printed. They will be availible to buy off the band on their UK tour starting at the end of this week, www.myspace.com/bangersbangers

The "3 shows is a tour" Tour

I've been busy printing posters today designed by the awesome Lee Nutland for bands Bangers and Ssssnakes to sell at their shows this weekend. I really really really like them!

Clever boys

My, Southampton band Burn the Fleet are clever boys taking advantage of Cut-Out's merchandise deal. They now have 30 premium T-shirts, 10 sweatshirts, 15 tote bags and 50 badges and it only cost them £250. Check out the boys at www.myspace.com/burnthefleetband

Guest Artist

Printmaker Gwilym Neeld has designed this tshirt for Cut-Out.
They will be availible to buy from very soon. Let me know if you would like to reserve one as they are going to be very limited.
They are printed on unisex American Apparel grey track Tshirts from Xtra-Small to Medium

If you don't know Gwilym you can check out some of his work at
www. iamgwilym. co. uk