Workshops & Demonstrations at Print Festival 2026

7th & 8th March 2026

Find out more about our tutors and demonstrators and book onto a zine, bookbinding or print workshop as part of our annual Print Festival!


IRONBRIDGE FINE ARTS POP-UP

Join our friends from Ironbridge Fine Arts on the 3rd floor of the 1912 Mill, where they will be showcasing techniques including photopolymer, etching, lino, and woodblock printing throughout the weekend.

Visitors are welcome to watch live demonstrations, ask questions, and even pull a free print on the press. A full range of specialist printmaking materials will also be available, including Ironbridge etching and relief inks, rollers, and registration pins and tabs.

Based in Ironbridge, Shropshire, Ironbridge Fine Arts are a family-run printmaking studio and gallery, and the home of the Gunning Etching Press.

Across the festival, Jenny Mason-Gunning (specialist printmaker and author) and Dave Mason-Gunning (press designer and builder) will be demonstrating a selection of Gunning presses alongside two additional printmakers. Jenny will also have her new book, Printmaking: A Step-by-Step Studio Guide, available during the event.

Saturday 7th & Sunday 8th March | 10:00 – 17:00 | Free entry

Intro to Block Printing on Textiles

Spend a few hours with printer Aidan Liggins exploring the joy of printed patterns!

Using Aidan’s carved printing blocks and water based inks, you will experiment with colour, composition and pattern to come away with your own printed piece of fabric. You are also welcome to bring your own fabric / clothing to print onto too!

Saturday 7th March | 10:00 – 12:30 | £30pp

Suitable for ages 14+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

TICKETS

Intro to Collagraph Printing

Join illustrator and printmaker Abbie Mooney for an introduction to collagraph to create your own abstract prints.

In this introductory session, Abbie will guide you through the process of layering textures and marks, and building tone, to create unique printing plates, both abstract and illustrative, that will then be inked up and hand printed to create a range of original artworks.

Saturday 7th March | 11:00 – 13:00 | £35pp

Suitable for ages 16+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

TICKETS

Lego Relief Printing

Discover the basics of relief printing through a fun, hands-on approach using Lego tiles with the folk behind Overlay Press!

Build your own designs step by step with the help of guided worksheets, then bring them to life through printmaking.

Saturday 7th March | 11:00 – 13:00 | £20pp

Suitable for ages 14+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

TICKETS

Suminagashi Marbling and Orizome

Explore the traditional Japanese art of suminagashi and orizome with Carrai Samson.

In this hands-on workshop, you’ll explore suminagashi, the traditional Japanese art of marbling by gently floating ink on water and capturing the organic patterns created on paper. Then you’ll experiment with orizome, a traditional Japanese papercraft method of folding paper and dyeing – the ink travels along paper creases to create striking patterns.

Saturday 7th March | 13:00 – 15:00 | £25pp

Suitable for ages 12+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

TICKETS

Avocado Ink Notebook Making

Using natural avocado inks, you’ll create your own paper and notebooks with printmaker Wendy Roby.

In this workshop you’ll get the opportunity to draw with gorgeous, rose-pink avocado ink, warming up with a mark-making exercise. We’ll then move on to using liquid wax, covering a piece of card with interesting shapes before painting over it with avocado ink – made from the stones. With your new cover paper, you’ll make a small notebook with a clever card and bakers twine closure.

Saturday 7th March | 13:30 – 15:30 | £35pp

Suitable for ages 16+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

TICKETS

Coptic Sketchbook Workshop (with pencil holder!)

Join George of Overlay Press to create a coptic sketchbook with built in pencil holder. Learn the traditional bookbinding technique of Coptic binding, a durable method that allows books to open fully and lie flat—perfect for sketchbooks and journals.

In this hands-on workshop, Overlay Press will guide you through the fundamentals of Coptic binding, including sewing, folding, and assembling your own custom sketchbook. You’ll also learn a special add-on technique for creating a built-in slot to hold pencils or pens.

Sunday 8th March | 10:30 – 12:30 | £25pp

Suitable for ages 16+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

TICKETS

Drypoint Printing

Learn to create your own detailed and textured drypoint prints with artist Cath Brooke as part of our annual Print Festival weekend!

This 2-hour workshop will involve making an intaglio drypoint printing plate using a thick acetate as our plate and using a variety of subjects as our inspiration – images can be from sketches or photographs or you can work from your own imagination. Please bring along any sketches or photographs you’d like to work from, or Cath will have a range of images that can be used as a starting point. The advantage of using acetate is being able to trace our images directly from a drawing or photograph onto the plate, meaning the technique is suitable for those who don’t feel as confident at drawing.

Sunday 8th March | 11:00 – 13:00 | £25pp

Suitable for ages 16+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

TICKETS

Comic Drawing

 Develop your visual story telling with comic artist Molly Pukes!

Join local cartoonist Molly Pukes for a creative workshop exploring comic drawing, cartoon writing and visual storytelling inspired by your own characters and stories. Through fun, guided exercises you’ll create your own fictional characters, develop short stories and turn your ideas into comics.

Sunday 8th March | 11:00 – 13:00 | £16pp

Suitable for ages 14+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

TICKETS

Lino Printing

Join scientist Abbie Byford and learn the art of Lino Printing.

First you will come up with your pattern or design (ideas and pre-made designs will be provided if needed!). You will then trace this design onto your lino block and will learn how to carve the lino using specific carving tools.

Sunday 8th March | 13:00 – 15:00 | £25pp

Suitable for ages 16+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

TICKETS

Cyanolumen: Light, Chemistry & Botanical Traces

Step into a slow, tactile photographic process with artist Jie Wang and watch plants, light and chemistry collaborate.

This hands-on workshop introduces cyanolumen – a cameraless photographic process that combines cyanotype chemistry with traditional photographic paper.

Sunday 8th March | 13:30 – 15:30 | £30pp

Suitable for ages 16+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

TICKETS

DROP-IN WORKSHOPS

Visit the 3rd floor of the 1912 Mill for free drop-in workshops running throughout the weekend.

Saturday 7th March | Approx 10:30 – 16:30 | Free to take part!

Join student volunteers from Leeds Arts University’s Fine Art Course for drop-in ‘failed print collaging’. Participants will be provided with discarded or ‘failed’ prints to repurpose as a new artwork. They will learn a variety of paper folding techniques to learn new skills and support a sustainable approach to reusing materials.

Suitable for ages 4+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.

Sunday 8th March | Approx 10:30 – 16:30 | Free to take part!

Join Alex from Hull Zine Library a Do-It-Together (DIT) Studying-through-sticker-making workshop exploring sticker making as a method of studying and learning. 

In this drop-by workshop, you’ll contribute to a growing sculptural display of DIY stickers, using images from local and digital archives and individual writing as a way into the world of things you stick on lamposts! During the day you can also sit and enjoy reading zines from the Hull Zine Library collection. 

Suitable for ages 12+. Under 18s must be accompanied by an adult at all times.