The Ficus Screen - its story

The Ficus Screen in-situ at my exhibition

Today I unearthed some photographs I had taken during the process of creating my large 3-panel paper screen.  The screen was on display at my 'Conservation of the Species' exhibition last week.

The photos show the process of creating and printing the paper.... from mulberry fibre to inking the ficus leaves. 

The process started with creating several 2.4metre long sheets of paper from mulberry fibre (imported from Italy).  This was done on a vacuum table at Dion Channer's studio in April (see previous blogs).   After the paper was dried and ironed, I took it to the Impress Printmakers Studio and inked some large ficus leaves.  The leaves were printed onto the paper using the biggest etching press at Impress.  The paper was too long for the press bed, so I had to print one end of the paper, then turn it around and do the other end.  No room for error!

The wooden frame for the 1.8metre high screen was made by my partner Craig, and prior to attaching the paper, I applied a lime stain to tie the wood in with the paleness of the mulberry fibre.

I hope the screen gives lots of pleasure to its new owner.... as much pleasure as I had creating it, from paper pulp to printing to attaching it to the frame.

Creating the paper at Dion's studio

Inking up a ficus leaf at the Impress Studio

One of the ficus leaves - HUGE!

Rolling the paper and leaves through the press

Printing in progress