Printmakers at Work

Eva’s been busy during the lockdown and is happy to share her adventures with viscosity printing.

I started making collagraphs last autumn. Initially, I only worked in monochrome – but after about six months, I had got through a whole pot of Prussian Blue and was getting a bit bored with it. 

During lockdown, I decided to learn how to combine intaglio inking with surface rolls in a different colour. In this method, the plate is inked and wiped intaglio with a fairly dense ink, usually in a darker colour, and then a loser, more transparent ink is rolled on with a single pass of the roller. Because of the difference in viscosity, the intaglio ink will repel the ink from the roller. 

I have been experimenting with this method for a few weeks now, and this is what I’ve learnt so far:

• There’s no point in trying to save money by buying a small, cheap roller, as it’s almost impossible to cover the whole plate in one pass with one of those – it always skips a section, no matter how hard you press down! I eventually gave up and bought a soft “mini spindle roller” from Hawthorn, which is anything but “mini”! It’s a whopping big beast, and works beautifully.
• You can’t use Linseed Reducing Jelly to loosen the ink – it has to be oil.
• You need a lot of extender (transparent ink) to make the ink for the surface roll really transparent.
• There’s A LOT more cleaning up to do!

In my “Foxgloves” print, the darks were created by cutting into the mount board and peeling off the top layer. These areas retained the blue intaglio ink when I wiped the plate, and repelled the pink ink from the roller. The sky and the highlights on the foxgloves were created with diluted PVA glue. When I wiped the plate, most of the blue ink came off these areas, so they readily accepted the pink ink from the roller. I think the most interesting areas are those where the two inks have mixed, like on the leaves. For these, I used the surface of the mount board, which retained some of the intaglio ink.

My next step is to really get to grips with the viscosity principle by rolling on a third colour. Even though I think I understand the theory behind it, getting it to work in practice is another matter!

The Xcut Xpress Die Cutting Machine has found a new use amongst printmakers as a mini printing press.

During the lockdown Maude Tricker has been producing prints using the inside of drinks cartons as drypoint plates. Here’s what she has to say about her new mini prints.

“Over the past few weeks I have been busy with my Xcut press, experimenting with dry point etching, using various cartons as plates. 

So far can recommend Tesco milk, Napoli passata, and Ambrosia custard”

Jenny Bowden has been busy with her creative practice during the lock down, here’s what she has to say about her working process during this difficult time. 

“During Covid I have been struggling to keep a sense of personal creativity going as we are in lock down with my 96 year old Mum. I started keeping a ‘diary’  in  the form of Haiku or ‘moment poems’ with little sketches and ideas, things that seemed important in the midst of chaos.

I don’t have a press at home so I began to cut up old prints and collage them into ‘new landscapes’, all are empty of people and are mixes of different places I have been to or know well but they feel slightly eerie. They are places I have been yearning for.

During the lockdown, Frances Lewis has been busy making video tutorials using her phone and a homemade tripod constructed from empty Pringle tubes. In these videos she demonstrates her method of using screen filler and drawing fluid to make screen prints. You can view her work on her youtube channel Redkite Press

Angela Harpham has been busy working on a series of cut and etched lino blocks and has had this to say about her approach to developing this particular series of prints.

“I have been working on a number of lino blocks making make Japanese style images, and exploring the potential of crisp cut lines in combination with the softer marks achieved when etching lino using caustic soda.

To add more interest I have also been experimenting with different papers including my own handmade paper. I hope to be at a craft fair at the Millennium Gallery in November and have participated in a couple of online exhibitions too”.

The current ‘lockdown’ hasn’t meant the Sheffield Printmakers have stopped making prints, quite the reverse!

This quieter time has provided many with the opportunity to develop and produce new work, finish off outstanding projects and plan new ideas for the future.

The creative activities involved in producing prints are often varied, experimental and sometimes unconventional. There are many ways to make prints sometimes through simple processes or by the use and practice of  traditional skills.

Take a look!