Letterpress Learnings

A few weeks ago I took a mini course on letterpress at the city TAFE. Letterpress involves using type made out of metal or wood and depending on the project, will also use different kinds of presses -- either a cylinder, platen or rotary press. I don't know if I had too many expectations but most assumed that it would be a breeze. What we learned was that letterpress is a fiddly process.

We had access to a limited number of typefaces for our projects--and for good reason. You could spend a lot of time (at least I could) figuring out which one to use. As it turned out, I didn't get to produce very much. It may have been easier if I took one concept and did a few things with instead of trying to do too many ideas. If I decide to do it again at least I know for next time.

bits and bobs at the workstation 

That metal frame is called a chase and all the bits around the type furniture. The most time consuming part I found was adding the right pieces to put enough pressure on the type to keep it in place when taking it over to the press for printing. For all that Tetris playing the result was simple:

Part of a quote from Baha'u'llah's Hidden Words

The next day I worked on a different passage excerpted from Dante's Inferno. 

The time was the beginning of the morning;
the sun was rising now in fellowship
with the same stars that had escorted it
when Divine Love first moved those things of beauty

I was able to get an initial print from it earlier in the afternoon but that's where it ended. I just needed to fix a few backwards letters and change the spacing a bit but after making those edits I wasn't able to get everything to stay as it did before. Unfortunately, by the time I flagged down the instructor there wasn't enough time to remedy the situation.

Me and another lady who finished last stayed to help clean up, including scrubbing off the inks we used to print with vegetable oil. When I pulled off the scrap paper I had laying around for the rollers to sit on, an interesting print was underneath. I didn't keep it but thought I'd at least take a picture of it as evidence of producing *something* even if not intentional.

Collagraphing

I'm thankful to have been able to take advantage of a free printmaking workshop sponsored by the Tea Tree Gully Council and taught by none other than Simone. 8 of us got together and learned the basics of collagraphing using recycled materials. Collagraphs are basically a type of collage that you can ink up and make some interesting prints with anything from onion bags to paper doilies.

I spent most of the time chatting to others while I waited to use the press. Even if people specialise in different mediums I like to hear what people are up to and what influences they use for their work. I tend not to make friends that easily but conversation seems to flow a lot smoother when it comes to creativity.

When my turn came around, I learned I had some issues with the design placement. I wanted to layer everything in one go but you can't really pile things on top of each other and make it work. The plate also didn't really want to stay in place at first and neither did the objects placed on top. I think the image below was made by printing the inky plate after removing all of the objects.

For the second one I just used the bits of plastic I removed, then ran it through the press again to get kind of a 'ghosting' effect. I wasn't really sure what to do and there wasn't a lot of time to be indecisive. Not quite what I imagined (with printmaking it usually isn't) but hey - it was free, got to meet some cool people and managed to score some free rollers!

Adventures in Drypoint

This Saturday I returned to Union Street Printmakers with Chad for a casual Saturday class. Simone, the instructor, thought drypoint would be a good entry point for us to get into intaglio printmaking. Intaglio techniques are just ones where you etch your image onto a surface, ink it up and then print. Drypoint uses a needle or sharp instrument and in this case, was etched onto a plastic surface. The act of scratching into it makes a sound that personally makes me cringe but I managed to block out some of it and just go with it! 

The technique and the effect is similar to drawing, which is probably why I found it a bit easier to get my head around in the first go than with lino cutting where you have to carve away surfaces. I still have to get used to the image printing from back to front which sometimes makes a slightly more abstract image, like with the orchid below. I chose the initial print to add a little watercolour to when I got home. The second print I decided to leave alone, but it has a cleaner look because I took off more ink before putting it through the press.

I drew the second image more quickly. It wouldn't pass as a scientific illustration but it's sufficient for the experience.

 

At least I'm keeping up momentum a little. There's a few classes in my line of sight in the near future, and I'm in the process of hunting around for some projects to fiddle around with at home ... so stay tuned.

Yes, I'm Still Alive

Well, well, well ... look at what the cat dragged in. Is it really me? I haven't updated in over a year. Needless to say the creative energy hasn't quite been there. Sometimes there would be a spark and then nothing. Or sometimes there was a something but no motivation to post it online.

The other day, however, I did an intensive at Union Street Printmakers on lino cutting. It was me, the teacher, another participant and a couple of others who were using the studio space for other projects. It was a good atmosphere, and the garden outside was peaceful to hang around in during the break. You wouldn't know a little oasis existed in the industrial side of town.

The first part of the class we practiced basic cutting and stamping. Much easier to begin carving this way. It's like a potato print. You could even use old flip flops or erasers if you wanted to. But even if the material is simple to deal with, as with anything, learning to work with new tools takes time. You start to learn which tool does what and how. Alongside this you also have to train yourself to think about how image making works in relief printing. Cut away what you don't want to show and the rest stays.

Design 1

 

Design 2

After lunch, we did some actual lino cutting. Lino is a little harder to deal but the process can be made smoother if you have sharp tools and warm linoleum. At least if I start doing some at home I'll have another use for the electric stove! I found my carving to be pretty jagged, not really what I was dreaming up in my head but what can I expect for a first time? Well, when you're a bit of a perfectionist, probably a lot. But it was all in good fun. You also learn some basics in printing and what prints can look like with different techniques and papers. Take a two-toned effect on a thicker more absorbent paper:

 

and then you compare it to a print on lighter, textured paper and you get another type of effect. Line integrity aside, in this case I preferred this type of print. It has a bit of a redeeming quality to it...