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The Hazelnut Press
Hot Off The Press

The Hazelnut Press - Fine Art Printmaking

The finest presses and materials are used to produce award-winning art prints. Printmaking courses are tailored to users. We offer an editioning service for artists. 
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Hot Off The Press​​
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Woolwich Contemporary Print Fair

Heather Haythornthwaite showed prints at this large annual Print Fair in Woolwich Arsenal.

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​New Light
Heather Haythornthwaite's work was selected to tour with the New Light Prize Exhibition. Here are the dates and locations: 
Until 22 December at the Williamson, Slatey Road Birkenhead, Wirral CH43 4UE;
27 Feb-03 March 2024: Bankside Gallery, Southbank 48 Hopton St SE1 9JB;
14 March-02 June 2024: Rheged Arts Centre Penrith CA11 0DQ;
29 June-22 September 2024: The Biscuit Factory Newcastle 16 Stoddart St NE2 1AN;
12 Oct-31 December 2024: The Mercer Gallery Harrogate 31 Swan Road HG1 2SA.
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​Hotbed Press 20:20 Print Exchange
We're delighted to have participated again, and we've been twinned with the Hot Bed Press this year. We've fixed a date for the Reveal and Swap party. Any remaining prints will be for sale at our next Open Studio event.
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Halpern POP at Nucleus, Retrospective Exhibition:
Heather had a show at the Pop, called "Rochester, Mostly" - of etchings and linocuts with close local themes.
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Southeast Open Studios:  was on this year, coinciding with our tour to the Historic Dockyard so we participated in this regional event .
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Medway Print Festival:
It is always a joy to be part of this local celebration of all things inkyprinty, we were On Tour at the Historic Dockyard. It was so lovely that we're coming back in 2024!
A highlight of our time was the Sketchbook event . Working with Wordsmithery's Sam and Barry Fentiman-Hall they invited writer Sarah Hehir to inspire us to consider and use evocative words in our hand-made concertina sketchbooks. We look forward to exhibiting them next summer.
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Medway Open Studios & Art Festival
It's a pleasure to be part of this local celebration, we took space in the glorious Chatham House, Chatham Intra.
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Teatowels! 
The "Thomas Waghorn", "Ban The Mindreader" and "Isaac Newells Old Boys" tea towels are for sale through this web-site and also through our partners Ed and Stephen at Medwayish. They make exciting and practical presents.
Click here to find out more, or go to the Medwayish website.
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Welcome to The Hazelnut Press In Rochester
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  • The Hazelnut Press has established a fine printmaking reputation. 

  • The Hazelnut Press is an artist led printing studio in Rochester, Medway for intagliorelief, letterpress, screen and hybrid printmaking. It is owned and run by Heather Haythornthwaite.

  • We offer taster days and short courses for all ages, tailored to your skill and abilities. The studio can accommodate four printmakers at any one time.  

  • The widest range of relief plate making is possible using diverse proprietary printmaking lino: softcut, japanese, clear, traditional, foam board as well as hand made relief plates, printmaking ply, floor tile and repurposed flooring.

  • Intaglio plate making of collographs from found materials, Karazuri blind embossing,  drypoint engraving into plastics and metal plate, as well as traditional safer etched platemaking and aquatinting enabling the printmaking experience to be enjoyed at all levels.

  • Water based, non toxic inks and materials are available, as well as more traditional oil based inks.

  • Our attitude is both supportive, and open to experimentation. We encourage our students and members to exhibit their prints and participate in the Hot Bed Press 20:20 Print Exchange.

  • We provide an editioning service for artists and accept commissions. 

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Workshops

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Booked Courses: Thurs am.

Regular Printing Sessions: Wed pm, Wed eve, Thurs pm

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Please Contact Us or follow links for details, recent Workshops and Exhibitions.

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Welcome
TeaTowels

Ban The Mindreader and Thomas Waghorn Teatowels

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We now have three tea towels for sale.
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‘Ban the Mindreader’ celebrates the striking graffiti that remained in three places in the Medway towns for many years.
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Thomas Waghorn' celebrates the local hero who instigated the building of the Suez canal, and regularly sports a jaunty traffic cone and other accoutrements.
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'Isaac Newells Old Boys' celebrates a teacher from Strood, who brought football to Argentina in 1869.
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​The price is £12 each, excluding postage charges.​

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How to Order

 

Email us  Info@hazelnut-press.com to arrange a collection time, pay with cash or bank transfer on collection.

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Or email us with your name and delivery address. We’ll send you PayPal details, and post them to you. Please add £3.00 to your order for postage and PayPal fees.

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They are also available from our friends and partners Ed and Stephen at Medwayish.

20:20 Print Exchange

The HotBed Press,  Salford organises an international exchange of prints, and we have enjoyed participating in this annual event for several years now. Our earliest entries are not well documented, but more recent years are here to be seen. Each artist prints an edition of 25, and receives an eclectic box of 20 prints from a wide range of Presses. The remaining prints become touring exhibitions. We hosted an exhibition of over 350 of them in Sun Pier House in July 2015. 

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It is a fun way to be part of something big, improve your skills  and broaden your knowledge of printmaking. We welcome applicants, and expect you to make your prints here, where we can offer advice, opinion and practical support as you work. In this picture you see Liz Howe with her edition ready to post.

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On receipt of the prints we meet for an evening to discuss, compare and swap prints, and our prints go into the Hazelnut Press calendar, which is available to buy.

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Contact Us if you would like to take part, or if you would like to buy next year's calendar when they are released.

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You can see our 20:20 submissions below.

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The 2019 20:20 Cohort

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2023
2022
2021
2021
2019
2018
2017
2017
2016
2015
2014
2019 20:20 Print Exchange

Equipment

Presses, Inks & Paper

We have an 1822 Albion press which we've recently found out was used to proof the Evening Standard from 1822 to 1956, click here for details. It will print relief images (linocuts, letterpress etc) larger than A2 (24" x 18"), plus border.

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The Etching press is a geared Rollaco Boxer made for us in 2009, bed size 100cm x 50cm. It can be adjusted to print relief prints.

 

The foolscap Albion Press, made in 1863 has an A3 bed. It does letterpress, linocuts and any other relief processes.

The Adana 8-5 delivers small prints quickly prints, and our nipping press is invaluable for bookbinding and Colographs. In addition we have various hand printing tools and techniques.

For workshops outside the studio, we have a portable etching press.

We also have an A1 vacuum screen printing bed.

We use a wide range of equipment for various plate making processes involving heat , light and an aquatint box. There are diverse tools for cutting and mark making, and rollers in a range of firmness and sizes for inking. Both oil based and safer water wash based inks made by Caligo, Charbonnel and Hawthorn are available as well as mysterious old tins of letterpress ink. 

We keep good but small range of paper for proofing and trials, and recommend you bring what you want to work on. Suppliers are listed here.

Hazelnut Press Medium Albion Press
Hazelnut Press Aquatint Box
Hazelnut Press Linocutting Tools
Hazelnut Press Caligo Inks
Hazelnut Press Foolscap Albion Press
Hazelnut Press Rollers
Geared Rollaco Press
Hazelnut Press 8"x5" Adana Press
Hazelnut Press Ink and Roller
Equipment
Studio Calendar

Studio Sessions & Calendar

Regular Studio times
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09:30 - 12:30, 13:00 - 15:30, 18:30 - 21:30

Monday, Tuesday and Saturday

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Time to discuss and research ideas 18:30 - 20:30 Thursday.

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To book courses or discuss your needs please Contact Us.

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