Relief Printmaking Skills Set - Colour Reduction prints

 

My final assessment on my relief printmaking TAFE course was a set of colour reduction jigsaw lino prints with the theme urban landscape. The whole image is splint into 6 separate blocks which can be inked individually and then fit together like a jigsaw. The plate is inked, printed and then more cut away before the process is repeated again. There are 4 or 5 layers on these prints. Some of the blocks were also inked with 2 colours at the same time to give a graduated effect. Each print has around 20 different colours in it. 

Relief Printmaking Skills Set - Colour Reduction Test Plate

 

During term 2 we have been working on colour reduction prints. You can see how the layers are built up in this video from Harvard Art Museums.

I went random with my colours. Sometimes putting lighter colours over darker colours which gives a speckled effect as some of the first layer shows through subsequent layers. They are super bright!

Relief Printmaking Skills Set - Black & White Urban Landscape

This term at TAFE we were working on an A3 print with the theme "Urban Landscape". We took photos of buildings in Perth; mine is inside the TAFE library. To transfer them onto a lino block we took a laser copy, taped it face down on the block and wet the back with turps. The block was then run through a tight press to transfer the image.

Inside the TAFE library

The blocks were carved with lino tools and printed with oil based block ink. In this print (below) I wiped off some of the ink with a rag to give more white areas and the duct pipes.

We also made an embossed print by using wet paper and a tight press to force the paper into the spaces carved from the lino. You can see my block wasn't super clean but I preferred this to a completely white embossing. 

The next experiment was with chine colle (shin-col-ay). This is a technique where paper (in this case coloured tissue paper) is glued and then lain glue side UP on top of an inked bock. When the print is taken the paper gets glued to the background paper with the print on top. 

Relief Printmaking Skills Set - Black & White Test Plate

 

This week at TAFE we tried out our new lino tools to see how many different marks we could make on an A5 piece of lino. The test block was printed with oil based inks. 

Relief Printmaking Skills Set - Introduction

 

This semester I'm studying relief printmaking at North Metro Tafe.  Our first class was all about finding our way around the print studio, becoming familiar with the inks, roller, presses and the clean up. We used simple pieces of open weave fabric to make these abstract prints in primary colours. Some of my prints (like the one above) have a rainbow background where 2 ink colours were applied to a piece of MDF before the inky fabric was laid on top and the whole thing passed through the press.

Connecting Currents

 

Finally here are some pictures of my work showing in the “Connecting Currents” exhibition at Wanneroo Gallery. The exhibition is part of the wider “Indian Ocean Craft Triennial” with the theme “Curiosity & Ritual of the Everyday”. For the set of pieces shown above my theme was tea and coffee; an everyday ritual for many people around the World.

These pieces are either Gelli® printed on fabric and stitched or needle felted.

I also had pieces in the group show by 84 Contemporary Textiles. For this section I concentrated on the Indian Ocean and it’s inhabitants. These pieces use either silk paper, needle felting or both combined with stitch.

We also had a group poem piece. My words were “the waves” and are needle felted.

The West Australian Quilters Association also had a group display of quilts based on the everyday life at Cockman House in the City of Wanneroo. My piece near the centre depicts the shoes, the Coolgardie safe (olden-days fridge), the panels in the shed and the log slices on the floor. Its quilted first and then painted with acrylics.

Hand Dyed Quarters in Yellow and Pink

The dye pot has been out again, this time using a yellow-orange-red-magenta colour palette. All these fabrics will be for sale at new months CQG.