A day at Ryantown HQ

After winning the Rob Ryan Christmas Competition and visiting Ryantown HQ to collect my prizes, I was offered a day's work experience with them.

My main task for the day was trimming their hand printed Valentine's cards (available on Etsy). I managed to trim 60 in 5 hours. I guess this is quite slow, but I think it was more important that they were trimmed perfectly.

Rob took my photo and I have been added to their 'Toilet Door of Fame'.

I've been doing a lot of paper cutting since 2009, and I was very quickly getting blisters from the metal scalpel. I tried various things such as wrapping paper, tissue, plasters and tape around the scalpel. In 2011 I made my first scalpel sleeve out of a small strip of moleskin fabric. I machined the tops and bottoms, then stitched up the side with the scalpel inside so that it was a really snug fit. It did the job perfectly – it was quick to get on and off, protected my hand from the metal, cushioned and improved grip. When I visited the studio I noticed that they were using tape around their scalpels. So I made up a few sleeves for them to try. Everyone was thrilled with them, especially Rob. 

We all sat together for lunch – pie and vegetables. I thought this was a really lovely event for everyone to catch up. There was a very pleasant atmosphere in the studio all day – a small artist's studio is a wonderful place to work!

I spent the last few hours of the day fixing screen-printed transfer decals onto mugs. It was painstakingly difficult to get them straight and get all the air bubbles out, but not entirely impossible. I hope they turned out okay! 

Thanks for a great day! x