swynwraig + spell casting

I have been on the most magical adventure as part of my Arts Council Wales Create Award this summer and I honestly can’t quite believe it most days.

Especially the day I met the awe inspiring Ellen Bills at Nomad Letterpress and the serendipitous meeting of Jenny Stringer who happened to live next door. Honest to god, If I hadn’t have taken my lovely friend and old colleague Harry with me (as senior-graphic-design knowledge and rt hon letterpress techno translation officer) I would have half imagined I’d dreamed the whole thing.

Nomad Letterpress is a British letterpress printers and type casters in Whittington, near Cheltenham. They produce exquisite short run texts, books and arts posters amongst other things using a variety of printmaking processes while keeping the magic of letterpress alive with their foundry.

At the helm of the foundary is Ellen; a letter pressing, type casting dervish. Swynwraig, Ellen is indeed a charm-caster in every sense; a whirlwind of technical know-how and complete generosity (in what appears to be a male dominated industry). Ellen has been kind and generous, happily answering my very dull and likely obvious (to a more established printmaker) questions at every stage and I am ever grateful for their time and patience on my printmaking journey.

I wanted to visit Nomad, so I might better understand the type casting process - be a fly on the wall so to speak - and discuss the styles of fount available for bilingual use... SPOILER ALERT! There was only one font option in one point size that could be used successfully for both Welsh and English. No disappointment and no mean feat given the weeks spent researching the whiff of possibility of casting a fount that could accommodate bilingual translation, but still… I wanted to see it all for myself to better understand the whole thing. Seeing is believing after all.

The monotype caster is utter wild Victorian madness when you first encounter it. Beautiful, industrial and bonkers complex to operate, it takes six years (!) to apprentice on this magical piece of kit. It is fiddly and nuanced and takes a specialist hand to know the quirks of the old girl; when the type might be cast too quick thus becoming brittle. Or issues with cooling the the lead too quickly, trapping air bubbles that create weakness. Tiny, imperceptible details that only a true craftsperson could feel, to know, over use and time.

Watching Ellen work was like watching a silent choreography between the old and new world amongst the clatter and heat of a small foundry in high summer. Victorian equipment continuing to injection mould heritage type, using digital technology in a supporting role. This innovation, between old and new, purely for the machinery’s survival as bizarrely nobody is producing the traditional punchcard rolls required to make this heritage production system work.

What I learned in that one afternoon of quietly watching and waiting for a machine to spit out entire pages of texts that would be printed onto the pages of books was nothing short of witchcraft. Pure magic. It was a joy to watch Ellen work at speed, adjusting this and that, to enhance and improve upon productivity and the execution of the type. Her passion for type and her work ethic was beyond inspiring and I knew that I had found the right mentor to produce the type that would become the new foundations for my emergent words.

While at Nomad and, ever the nosy educator, we met a lovely work placement student called Kitty who happened to mention that she was also on placement that week with Jenny next door. Who is Jenny and what does Jenny do I asked? Well I never…

Jenny Stringer is a block printer on fabrics. And a legend. A tiny yet statuesque figure, her working studio is based at Whittington Court, just down the lane from Nomad. When I knew there was a Textiles specialist so very close to where we were, I couldn’t NOT knock the door and just see…

We were greeted by family in the enormous hallway of a small Tudor manor house with Jacobean and other additions, choc full of magic and wonder. Beautiful family photos, collected pieces of furniture and curios adorn every corner, floor, door and drawer of Whittington Court - if ever you get the chance you must GO.

Jenny was mid-tuition-mid-1:1-class but kindly invited us in to see her textile archive and working studio. Having trained in Textile and Surface Pattern Design, and taught it at degree level for 18 years, it felt fated to have stumbled upon such a hidden gem.

Harry and I spent some time with Jenny talking about her working process, materials and the extensive knowledge and passion that she has for print, before we excused ourself and asked: what the hell just happened?! The universe couldn’t have planned it better even if we tried.

A day or pure joy, experiential learning, serendipity with a handful bucketful of magic, we pootled on home via the sublime Gloucester Services stopping for a late lunch of cheese pastries and hazelnut gelato. Honestly, Best. Day. Ever.

Selected photography by the wonderful Kelsey Jade Jones.