Courses
We are back! (Actually, we've never gone away. We've just been busy and have had quite a few overflow courses that ran into this year. It's nice to be popular.) Our Summer season of courses are live and ready for you to book your places! There's lots to choose. From popular favourites to brand new courses. Something for everyone?!
Course listings
Monoprinting
Short Course
Spend a weekend taking your drawings, sketchbooks, and photographs in a new direction. You will be taught to vary your mark-making adding colour, overprinting and overlaying lines and marks to build an image. You will go on to a more expressive approach in painterly monoprinting, painting and rolling ink directly onto a metal plate, using stencils to block out areas and printing through our etching presses. These one-off prints, (officially called ‘monotypes’), are full of vitality and expression and open a new treasure trove to those interested in getting to know printmaking and anyone wanting to freshen up and bring new life their drawing practice.
Block Printed Textiles
Short Course
This two-day course will teach you all the basics of lino cutting, before you put your new knowledge to the test by creating your own printing block. Natalie will teach you different ways to repeat patterns using your print blocks to produce your own unique fabric designs. On day two, you will then use your printed fabrics to create a 20cm lampshade and a small cushion for your home. All materials will be provided.
Drypoint
Short Course
Bring new life and a fresh vocabulary to your drawing and sketching. Working with drypoint tools you will be shown how to scratch into metal plates with a variety of tools creating a range of marks. The plate can then be inked, wiped and printed. You can work back over the plate adding more marks and will be shown how to ink in different ways to change the atmosphere, depth of tone and colour of your printed images. This course marries up the best of both worlds of drawing and printmaking and is ideal for beginners.
Introduction To Screenprinting
Short Course
Spend a weekend being shown how to screenprint. From mixing your water-based inks and printing using simple paper stencils you will go on to layer and build up colours. Mandy will show you how to coat and expose a photographic image onto screen, register and print your final ‘key’ colour bringing the image together. You will come away with a small edition of screenprints and can go on to print further designs and editions.
Collage / Paper Assemblage
Short Course
Do you have a drawer full of work that didn't quite land? Misprints gathering dust? Offcuts too beautiful to bin? This single-day course invites you to transform those forgotten works into abstract collages. The art of the remix! Spend a hands-on day at Hot Bed Press learning to see your old work with fresh eyes. We will discuss layering, ripping, and cutting your way toward unexpected compositions. You'll explore how to combine your own work with found papers, textured scraps, and other ephemera, discovering new relationships between colour, shape, and surface. It's a chance to see the creative potential hidden in every "mistake". Whether you're a seasoned printmaker looking to experiment or a curious beginner drawn to tactile play, this course is your invitation to slow down, get messy, and rediscover the joy of making something purely for the pleasure of it. In collage there are no mistakes.
Introduction to Etching (4 evenings)
Short Course
Over 4 evenings Jacob Longcake will take you through applying wax grounds to a zinc plate, drawing through the ground with an etching needle, etching different strength of lines from fine to deep lines in nitric acid, and printing your first ‘state proof’. You will go on to add tone with resin aquatint, ‘stopping out’ and etching your plate in 3 stages of tone. Used by artists like Goya, Whistler, Rembrandt, as well as Paula Rego and The Chapman Brothers this traditional etching technique is an artform artists can’t help falling in love with.
Collagraphs
Short Course
Learn how to transform a plain piece of mountboard into a printing plate, cutting fine lines, subtle areas of tone and adding texture & surface pattern to your plate. The varnished plate can be inked and wiped for different effects to add atmosphere and depth. You can ink the plate in different ways and work in colour working a-la-poupe or with a colour roll up. Across the weekend you can work on 2 to 3 plates and will come out with a set of prints to amaze your friends and family.
The Art of Lino
Short Course
Niki will show you how to design and cut your block to get the best out of a design. You will learn how to ink your lino consistently and print your block. Starting with black & white printing on Saturday, on Sunday you will go on to be shown the difference between multi-block and reduction printing and produce a two-colour printed edition printing on our lovely Abion and Columbian relief presses for perfect results.
Paper Marbling
Short Course
Come and spend a weekend with artist and bookmaker Bev Doughty as she introduces you to the colourful world of paper marbling. You will be able to create your own decorative papers to use as wrapping, covers or end-papers for artists books or resources material for your creative projects. Day one will start with an investigation into western marbling techniques creating intricate patterns using a variety of traditional implements. This will be followed by a calming dip into the Japanese art of suminagashi using water, ink and brushes. Day two will be spent exploring different ways of using marbled papers which will include making books, gift bags, bookmarks, cards and other creative projects. At the end of the course you will come away with your own selection of decorative papers, some useful makes and the skills to continue your marbling journey.
Coffee Can Pinholes
Short Course
Embrace your inner analogue and spend a day exploring pinhole photography and darkroom image-making on this introductory course to pinhole photography. Working with Andy’s own collection of hand-made pinhole cameras you will explore the urban environment on our doorstep learning how to create paper negatives. We will learn about how slow exposures can capture movement and light; sculpting in time itself, whilst investigating the possibilities of image making and digital manipulation of the negative. Exploring the art of capturing and bending light on photographic paper we will create a unique suite of prints to take away with you whilst introducing you to the darkroom process and the vast possibilities of one of the oldest photographic techniques.
Screenprinting With Natural Dyes
Short Course
Explore the world of sustainable screenprint with artist Nell Smith. Using a selection of foraged plant materials, kitchen waste and natural dye extracts, you will learn how to make plastic-free print pastes and how to use modifiers to unlock the magic of natural colour. Then use simple cut paper stencils to create your own designs. This course is suitable for those with a basic level understanding of screenprint who want to challenge and change their practice. On day one we will make and test colours and use modifiers to alter them. Day two will cover cutting stencils to make your own print designs.
The Complete Printmaker
Long Course
Bookings for 2027 will be open from August 2026 and we expect high demand. Our very popular Year-long adventure in printmaking, The Complete Printmaker, has been running since 2013. It's so popular that we now run 3 first year courses, (2 second years and a full 3rd year course), so you can do the equivalent of a degree course in experience. In fact we think you get better value for money at Hot Bed Press with our amazing facilities, expert teaching and support and the extra access across the full year.
The Complete Letterpress 2027
Long Course
We are full in 2026 and will look to run another Compete Letterpress course in 2027. Details are not yet confirmed for 2027, but this year's course ran over 20 weeks, from 4th Feb to 22nd July giving students a full and comprehensive grounding in Letterpress Printing
The Complete Book Artist 2026
Long Course
Bookings will be open for Complete Book Arts 2027 from August. Run over 30 weeks from early Feb 2026 to mid December with membership running until 31st January 2028 this course gives students a full and comprehensive grounding in Book Arts, with a sprinkling of printmaking to incorporate into your beautiful books and design your book forms around. The course usually takes place on Wednesday evenings between 6.00pm and 9.00pm. We hope to confirm dates with our expert tutors, George Gibson, Sylvia Waltering and the 3 guest tutors who ad da sprinkling of printmaking to the book arts teaching.
Enquire about a course
faq's
We are happy to answer any questions on the phone but here are some commonly asked questions and answers below.
Do I need to be experienced to come on a course?
No experience necessary! Some courses are specifically designed for beginners; such as Introduction to Screenprint, Print or Letterpress, Painterly Screen-printing or The Art of Etching. Other courses such as Mokuhanga, Screen-printing with Natural Dyes or Photopolymer Printing are more tailored to those with some previous experience. However, if in doubt phone us to discuss.
How do I book a place on a course?
The best way to book a place is to phone us on 0161 743 3111. Our courses book up so quickly that we can be answering the phone all day whilst e-mails may take more time to get through every enquiry and still need us to phone or e-mail you back. We are a friendly bunch and can answer any of your questions when you ring to book.
Do you take a deposit to reserve a place?
No sorry, we are a small team and don't have capacity to have multiple systems in place. We only confirm bookings on full receipt of payment
What materials do I need to bring?
Nothing! We provide all materials for courses. All we need you to bring is some inspiration and clothes you don't mind getting ink on. You will receive an introduction letter letting you know what to prepare, such as drawings, photos, photocopies, collected images, and what size you can expect to work to.
Is food provided?
If you are on a day or weekend course please bring your own food. In our small kitchen we have tea, coffee, milk, and sugar and an urn as well as a microwave. The Co-op and Sainsburys are both nearby and we have the luxury of a couple of cafes nearby now with fancy coffee.
Are you accessible?
We recognise that our current building has some limitations in terms of accessibility. We are actively working to secure funding to make improvements and adapt our facilities so that we can better meet the needs of all our members. In the meantime, we welcome open conversations about individual requirements and will do everything we can to provide support and reasonable adjustments. We want everyone to feel included and supported when visiting Hot Bed Press so if you have a disability, need or concern, physical or not, please don’t hesitate to reach out so we can support you to access our print studio.
Membership
Come And Join Us
We welcome new members all year round. Anyone can join. You need a little bit of experience; but that can be from doing one of our weekend or evening courses, after which you can carry on and practice what you've learnt on the course. We've got a few types of membership to suit your purse or your time. Just g to our Membership section for more details.
Send us a message!
Let us know what you are enquiring about.