Printmaking using the sun...except it was raining!

Yesterday I did a workshop creating printing plates using UV light.  The workshop was run at Impress Printmakers Studio by Belinda Sinclair.

We used specially pre-prepared plates, exposing them to UV light using a light box and dark room at the studio.  Sunlight is another exposure method, but obviously not an option on a rainy day!

Images used in the process ranged from artist sketches, copyright-free images and vintage woodcut prints.

I am really excited by this process as I will be able to use solar prints with my monoprints.  It will enable me to get sharp distinctive imagery that may be difficult to achieve using my monoprinting stencils.

The only downside is the cost of the plates and if during the exposure process you make a mistake, then the plate is wasted.  I had already experienced this when I first played around with solar plates last year, when I accidentally turned the light off in the dark room when exposing a plate.  Needless to say, not a lot happened on my plate!

Below are a couple of my prints from the workshop, using chin colle (ie collaged papers).  I can't wait to do some more, it was heaps of fun and the results were great.

Jelly fish image with text behind.
I used a piece of coloured paper on the
head of the jelly fish.

The dodo! 
I used chin colle on this print,  unfortunately
my cutting technique was a bit off,
hence the 'jaunty' angle!

Its a mystery to me but....

Its amazing what you can find in a second hand shop.  I found this little beauty in a Lifeline shop on Tuesday and been wondering ever since what it is.

Its shaped like a rolling pin with 4 rubber sections that roll independently.  Each section has little rubber suction cups on it.

I thought that perhaps it's a massage tool but after testing it on my partner Craig, we're not too sure (he didn't seem to enjoy it, complaining that it was cold!).

I'm open to ideas, so please make some suggestions, hopefully someone can enlighten me as to what its purpose is. 

Being a typical artist, when I saw it of course I thought 'printmaking'! I'm sure I can make some really interesting organic marks with it...... 

A box worth a thousand words

On Saturday I attended a workshop run by Amanda O'Sullivan at the Impress Printmakers Studio at Camp Hill.  The workshop was to create a Japanese Bone-Clasp box.

As you can see from the images below, I created a box suitable to house my recently completed Altered Book.  The box is covered in a red Thai fern paper and a red mulberry paper lining.

The box was reasonably straight-forward to construct once I painstakingly planned every component, making precise measurements and cuts.  I've made clamshell boxes before, but this one was a bit more complex.  We used 3mm acid-free grey board with mulberry paper hinges which made the box very sturdy.

I'm not fond of being overly accurate and neat (especially when dealing with glue!) but I am very chuffed with the results.  The box and book will be exhibited in the 'Papers Pages and Prints' exhibition at the Pine Rivers Gallery in September. 

The completed box with the bone clasps

The box open showing the inner lid
and mulberry paper lining

My Altered Book "Gardens in Art"


My Altered Book open at one of my favourite pages