Monday 18 March 2013

Print Club (Intermediate) 10.03.2013

Apologies for not having posted in over two weeks, the day job has been somewhat getting in the way… a double-edged sword! However, T and I still managed to find the time to undertake Iain Perry’s (aka Print Garage) Intermediate Print Club last Sunday. This time, rather than printing using paper stencils, we exposed our designs onto the screens using a light sensitive emulsion. T went ready prepared, having designed for his screen on the computer, but I’ve been so busy, I had no choice but to wing it by hand… it’s more fun that way.

Design development
(Left) Photograph courtesy of Toby Lea
(Right) Photograph originally uploaded by Abby Swanwick


Once again, I went along armed with photographs from my trip to New York some five years ago. By tracing from these, I developed a design incorporating the repetition of the Chrysler building, overlaid with an illustration of Brooklyn Bridge and an authentic New York-style lamp/sign post.

Deciding on which elements should be which colour – planning my screens/layers/separations
Photograph courtesy of Toby Lea

The brief was to create a print, using at least two colours, but using only one A3 screen. Therefore, each colour separation/layer could be no bigger than A4 in size and would sit side-by-side (slightly unconventional, but both effective where cost and time are concerned – so why not?!). This meant we either had to use registration marks (small crosses in the same place on each layer) to line up the separations, or be content with lining it up by eye. 

Tracing my design out onto the acetate 
Photograph courtesy of Toby Lea

If the truth be told, I took so long in designing and tracing my design onto the acetate (ready for exposure), that for once I was content with lining the elements up by eye… very unlike me!!!

We traced our designs onto special acetate using black markers, so as the light wouldn’t penetrate the emulsion/screen below where we’d drawn, during exposure. 

Two of my three colour separations, Magenta & Cyan
Photograph originally uploaded by Abby Swanwick

We used the same print beds, screens, squeegees and ink as we did during printclub for beginners. I decided I’d repeat the image of the Chrysler building three times, in three colours. Two of the separations were of the same silhouette-type image, for which I reused the one screen twice, by washing it out in between colours and repositioning the paper, rather than exposing the same design onto a screen twice. I simply had to use cyan (turquoise) as one of my two colours since it’s my favourite – can you tell? By overlaying the magenta (pink) with the cyan, I was able to achieve purple too – a free colour as it were!

The third of my three colour separations, Black
 Photograph originally uploaded by Abby Swanwick

The third, a more detailed illustration, was effectively my second ‘screen’ - although both designs actually resided side-by-side on the one screen. I’m really impressed that such a fine, hand-drawn line printed so well on this layer – love it!

Finished print
Photograph originally uploaded by Abby Swanwick

I adore this print – even if I do say so myself. It will definitely be going up on the wall! Finally I’ve done something with those mementos from New York and what’s more, Iain‘s Print Club has given us the perfect grounding to get set up at home. T and I can’t wait – just watch this space...

You can see the work of the other students who took the intermediate workshop (including T’s delorean) here.

To see the work created during previous Print Club events, click here… and then why not sign up for yourself?!


No comments:

Post a Comment