A2: Proj4 - stage 2 - experimenting with techniques

A2: Proj4 - stage 2 - experimenting with techniques

Note: this section is not numbered as a separate Project, but it had Stages 1-2, so I've called it Proj4z on my blog to keep the posts ordering in order.

in this exercise, I experimented with lots of printing techniques.

blotted line printing
I like this sort of printing as it is a style that Andy Warhol used during his early commercial art career. he used to print multiple versions of his drawings for clients and colour them in different colours to show them. this helped him to get more work, as he had multiple options for his clients.

it's fairly slow work. you draw an image, then draw it onto tracing paper. then tape the tracing paper adjacent to where you want the print to appear. fold it over so you're working on the underside of the tracing paper. then apply ink to the drawing on the tracing paper. and then fold it back onto the page, and it prints the lines. it also leaves "blotted lines" ie lines made up of small dots and ink blobs. you should only ink a small section at a time as the ink dries quickly so you can only "print" a small section at a time.

my prints have quite large "blots" compared to Andy Warhol's prints, but I had read that he practiced this technique for months, every day, late into the night. so I can be forgiven for my attempts. I spent about a week altogether on this technique, and it's one I like the look of, so it's something I'd do again on future work.

I made some others too - see "Andy Warhol's blotted line print drawings" under "play" menu

block printing

I tried a few types of block printing, using different objects from around the house to create textures and shapes — bubble wrap, rigatoni pasta, a wooden peg.

lino cut prints

I also tried a lino cut print — I carved a simple shape into the lino and printed a few copies. I didn't get an even coverage of the paint though I actually prefer some of the "ghost prints" as they have more shading and texture.

other masks and stencils

I also tried using a strip of lace as a mask, and printed with this in orange and black. I think this looks quite effective.

and some random prints with objects such as a dried leaf, a woven grass spiral I'd made at another workshop.

mono prints

and then I started mono printing using my newly arrived gelli plate to print from. this is so much fun. I'd done a short class on "gelli plate printmaking" with Carla Sonheim so had some great ideas from this.

I even like the "cleaning prints" — where I put a page down to clean the gelli plate and pulled a print from it.

some later mono prints — one is using a leaf as a stencil/mask

mono prints onto fabric

hand printing onto fabric and using paintsticks

I tried a couple of these, but preferred the mono printing.

marbling

I tried some marbling too on paper and fabric

on paper:

on fabric:

marbling - in progress photos:

transfer printing

I also tried a transfer print — one using gel medium and the other using sticky tape

tea dyeing

I tried dyeing some small strips of fabric in tea — black tea and rosehip tea. it looked great in the liquid but the colours are quite muted once the fabric dried

silk painting

I also tried some hand painting onto silk. I masked off areas with gutta to try stop the paint spreading. by the end of the painting session I was getting the hang of it, but the initial attempts are not very neat.