Before starting at Uclan, I had hardly done any printing. I had spent a lovely hot day a few years ago monoprinting on clay with slabs, and coloured slips. Under the instruction of Libby, one of my students, we used newsprint to paint ( or could have sliptrailed a design). This was left outside in the heat for a few minutes until the sheen had just gone off the slip. This paper was then placed facedown on a slab of clay and interesting marks made with tools on the other side. When the paper was peeled off, a coloured design was left. It was a revelation. I loved the colours and the freeness of the design.
My other experience of printing is simple sponge shapes.

So it was one of my ambitions to try print at Uclan. Quite early on in the first year, Rob, my tutor suggested that I try drawing in ink on a large scale canvass, as my primary research. I just loved this , before drawing was a chore, now I love it. I have been using wet paper and wet brush techniques to add softness and depth to the drawings. Friends have kindly leant me their animals to draw, and then I ventured out to South Lakes Safari Zoo, and to Chester Zoo this summer, with a recent visit near home to Lakeland Wildlife Oasis near Milnthorpe. I enjoyed the experience of drawing the animals 'en plein air', which turned out to be a very satisfying experience. The ink and large canvass leant itself to capturing the moment and movement in the animal. Wild animals do not usually sit still and pose!
I started drawing with black quink ink, and now have added red, olive and turquoise. My friend, Emma, bought me some acrylic inks to try, which I did for the first time this week. It is a different drawing experience with brighter colours.

The initial intended outcome of these animal drawings was to use the images to transfer onto clay. You first need to convert the drawings onto a clear acetate. This is done by bitmapping the image through photoshop and sending the result to Uclan Digital Print. They make the images into an acetate, which in turn is placed on a treated screen, UV light is passed through and a screenprinting screen is born.
A screen can normally hold 6 A3 acetates.
I have been lucky enough to meet lovely people in the print lab. On my first screenprinting experience I was amazed to have Nick helping me and showing me the different stages, after the screen has been made up to the finished A3 or A2 prints. The process is a whole day in the print labs and it was an amazing experience.

After my first few paper prints, I had decided that I would like to use my images ( gathered from first principles, en plein air drawing at the zoo) to print on ceramics. This proved quite a difficult process to execute, as I have experienced problems with the stoneware clay I was using keeping its shape in the firings. When I come back to this, I will use earthenware grogged clay - as I have done for my project with sgraffito. I find this helps to keep the shape well and doesn't disappoint in the firings.
The other problem I encountered was finding the correct print medium. I have enquired at various pottery merchants, and now Michaela has told me of a specialist print medium that she uses. Could this be the answer? I hope to find out.
So after printing the slab of clay I shape it in a drop mould....I do now have a couple of slump moulds which could be used to shape a dish as well ( by draping the slab over. See Fitch and McAndrews demo at Aberystwyth International Ceramics Festival.) In these early days of printing, I did draw African designs on the printed slabs using the print medium which acted like an underglaze colour and I sometimes would sgraffito this.

I made my print mediums from underglaze medium ( plus small amount of frit sometimes) and either a mix of oxides or glaze and body stains. The ready-made pots of underglaze produced too feint a mark.

First you need to use guides to line up your image/screen so as to position the paper under the screen correctly. The screenprinting process itself involves lining up a portion of the medium at the top edge of the screen. First you 'prime' to load the screen which is a light upright stroke with the squeegey. Before this you need to use guides to line up your image/screen so as to position the paper under the screen correctly. Then you pick up the excess, take along the top and draw it through, forcing the the medium through the holes where there has been the black image. The process is then repeated with another sheet of paper and an edition is born! On clay there is still quite a lot of work to be done before the finished piece, so only a few copies of each drawing are done on maybe 2 or 3 slabs. However different coloured images can be layered.
It was heavy work transferring from the print studios to the clay labs. Both the shape of the vessel and the clarity and intensity of the image need more work done on them.

Even with the difficulties with the medium/ firing process, one or two pieces came out very nicely. My favourite is the Lynx plate in stoneware clay and cobalt/oxide mix medium.

After deciding that the process of refining the printing on ceramics and with other factors, I decided to pursue sgraffito decoration for my MA project. I must admit I have greatly enjoyed this and now look forward with enthusiasm to hopefully returning to printing on ceramics.

However I have continued the drawing, and now have quite a library of acetates. I have been using the great facilities and technician at Uclan Print Labs, fitting print days in apart from my clay work. With printing on paper, I have done quite a few editions, and I now feel happy setting up and using the printing facilities. Thank you to a friendly print team for your hard work and for accommodating me.

I have also had the pleasure of Amanda Hancock showing me how plate lithography is done. It was a fascinating process and the finished print was very sharp and clear. It was a longer, more complicated process than screenprinting, but I liked the clarity of the image. Amanda has given me a metal tile to decorate with the special waxy crayons and pencils used in lithography. I can draw in the field! I look forward to doing this and having another day as Amanda's pupil!