Days 4 and 5 - Printmaking workshop

Print

This week workshop rotation began and my first one was print. The sheet we were given states that 'In the most general terms, a print is a piece of paper on which a design has been imprinted from a matrix made of some selected medium, usually stone, wood, or metal.' It then goes on to explain the different methods of production: relief, intaglio and planographic. In our introduction to printmaking we were to explore lino cutting - a type of relief print, and silkscreen - a type of planographic print.

Silkscreen

The silkscreen process:

Prepping my screen

1. Photocopy chosen image (photographic, hand-drawn, collage) to acetate. 
2. Arrange composition on ultra violet exposure unit and place screen coated in light sensitive emulsion on top. 
3. Vacuum lid and set it to expose at 17. 
4. Wash down on washer unit until image appears. 
5. Place in heating cupboard to dry. 
6. Mix the ink colour of choice (60% medium to 40% acrylic). 
7. Put screen on table, fix in place and tape over any yellow spaces around the edge of the image. 
8. Place ink across the top edge of the screen and place paper underneath the screen on the table top. 
9. Use squeegee to drag ink across the screen. The ink goes through the yellow (exposed) sections of the screen like a mesh. 
10. Flood back ink to the top if you are making multiple prints, if not just release table and collect the printed paper from underneath the screen. 
11. When finished printing, take the tape off of the screen and then wash off ink in washer unit.

Image:

I chose a page of photographic images (wallpaper samples) from my summer project (below). I chose this page due to it's composition and contrast of black and white. I thought it would work well as a print and expose well on screen to be crisp and clear.

Page in summer project book

Photocopied onto acetate

Exposed onto screen

(need to take photos of my finished prints)

Reflections on silk screen prints

The image I chose for my silkscreen print did not work as well as I'd hoped. It came out quite faded and blotchy and looking back I wish I'd chosen a clearer composition that didn't have as much grey in it as this is what didn't expose as clearly onto the screen and therefore didn't translate well into the print. However the process was enjoyable and I would consider returning to it again so I could experiment more with colour.

Lino cut

Before we began our lino cuts we were given some tips on choosing our image and completing our lino cut: the blade must be flat against the lino, the print will be backwards so complete the cut as a mirror image if necessary and the best prints are 50% white 50% black. 

I chose an image from a wallpaper sample that I'd stuck into my summer project book to cut into my lino. I chose this because of the variety of line in it which would allow me to use a variety of mark making. The image is also around 50% white to 50% grey which I could translate into the lino when I cut it and then into the finished print in black ink. 

Image chosen

I found this lino cut challenging as getting it symmetrical was difficult and I couldn't get it as even I was would have liked. I got frustrated with it as I kept jogging and this created very fine lines which I hoped wouldn't show on the print, but they did. 

I decided to do a second lino of a more sketchy nature as I liked some of the others completed that were like this. It also didn't matter as much if I jogged and I didn't have to make it perfectly even and symmetrical. I found cutting this lino much more enjoyable as I was more relaxed. I liked the way I could layer coloured tissue paper under the print in relation to areas in the image such as the water.