Print Scilly is the wokshop of Vickie Heany at Porthmellon on St. Mary's, the main island of the Isles of Scilly. Because we just dropped in on the off-chance of meeting Vickie, we happened to turn up on a day when she was out of her studio. Fortunately, the Phoenix Craft Workshops are a collective, which at any given time is open to the public and looked after by one or more of its members.
Walking into the studio was just like walking into our own. Lino blocks lie about everywhere. There are sketch books, inks, cutting tools and prints in various stages of completeness. I loved it immediately. In particular, I was taken with a converted mangle, the rollers of which had been cleverly re-sleeved, and additions made which facilitated a flat tray to pass between them. On the mangle was a small sticker with an out of date maker's name and phone number pre-dating the introduction of the '1' after the initial 0. It was press number nine, I think, by Mr John Tilley. Sadly, we missed Vivkie (but bought a lovely lovely lino print of Peninnis Head Lighthouse), but happily I discovered that with a very slight amount of Googling and a phone call, that Mr. Tilley is happily alive and well and living in Leicestershire, and better still, he remains (amongst many other things) in the press-making business. But more of that anon.
Walking into the studio was just like walking into our own. Lino blocks lie about everywhere. There are sketch books, inks, cutting tools and prints in various stages of completeness. I loved it immediately. In particular, I was taken with a converted mangle, the rollers of which had been cleverly re-sleeved, and additions made which facilitated a flat tray to pass between them. On the mangle was a small sticker with an out of date maker's name and phone number pre-dating the introduction of the '1' after the initial 0. It was press number nine, I think, by Mr John Tilley. Sadly, we missed Vivkie (but bought a lovely lovely lino print of Peninnis Head Lighthouse), but happily I discovered that with a very slight amount of Googling and a phone call, that Mr. Tilley is happily alive and well and living in Leicestershire, and better still, he remains (amongst many other things) in the press-making business. But more of that anon.
