Hobs really can print anything! The world record attempt for the biggest colouring-in book was printed by Hobs Bristol and was organised in partnership with the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) as a centrepiece of the “city green” for Bristol Habourside Festival.
The sixteen pages of the 5m by 2.2m (16ft by 7ft) book, featured 24 scenes from around Bristol, drawn by twelve local artists. The previous record was set in Poland in May 2014 and was 10 square meters.
The book was so big that it had to be carried by hand from Hobs Bristol and had to sit on a specially made easel in its own marquee. It was coloured in by hundreds of visitors to the weekend festival and was finished by Sunday afternoon.
Guinness Book of Records rules meant two independent witnesses had to see at least one of the book’s pages being coloured in. TV’s Laura Rawlings and Amanda Parr from BBC Points West attended in these roles and the book was officially measured by a surveyor.
An Arizona printer was used to print the book, onto paper which was especially cut to size. As the pages needed to be double-sided, the paper was passed through the printer twice. The pages were then layered and spiral bound by hand.
Regular sized books were also printed and bound using the same materials, which were sold to raise money for the Wallace & Gromit’s Grand Appeal which exclusively raises funds for Bristol Children’s Hospital and St Michael’s Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (Special Care Baby Unit).