More Printing on Paper

We are so lucky to have this facility at Uclan with excellent help and guidance, so I decided to print on paper again. Maybe these 2D prints can be displayed in the end with my ceramic work?

I chose nice bold colours, and it was amazing how the change of colour on an image, totally changed the mood and feel of the print!

The print process is as follows. First you need to scan in your images (or bitmap them ) if using ones with tonal shading. The library then produces transparent acetates, and from this the Printlab makes screens using uv light. One screen can contain 4 or 5 A3 images.

The edges of the screen have been taped using wide transparent tape to help keep the ink medium on the right area.

First the paper needs to be aligned in the correct place. The acetate is fixed loosely with masking tape onto the sheet of paper. This is then place under the image on the screen. When the two images line up exactly, the dimensions of the paper placings are marked again loosely in masking tape. The acetate and paper are then removed and the sheet of paper that you're using is aligned according to the masking tape markers.

You then select a scraper of correct width and lay a generous line of medium above the image. You then need to prime the image. You do this by lightly drawing the ink across the image. Once primed you can draw ink down over the image using firm even pressure. You may need to do this two times.

Hey presto an image is printed on the paper, which is revealed as the screen is carefully lifted.

Once an image has been finished printing, the ink (which is water soluble ) can be washed off with a sponge. At the end of all printing on that screen it is given a thorough wash. Different colours of ink can be used, and images laid on top of each other. The process is fundamentally different from monoprinting, which I have documented in an earlier blog.

What a great way to spend a morning - these are my images:

Luka

Southern White Rhinos

A Fell Pony

Rugged up for winter