I have managed to do a few more prints at home. It is the usual - not enough time.
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What a wonderful course run by the fabulous Michael Burke. The first day was dedicated to making traditional paste papers. These are the ones that can be found in books that are centuries old. Paste papers are made by mixing pigments (dry, tempera, acrylic, ...) into a paste made from flour, starches of other kinds, or more modern materials such as methylcellulose. Patterns can be made by brush strokes, stamps, rollers, combs or any combination of these to make designs in the paper and let it dry. One of the distinctive qualities of paste paper is the rich 3-dimensional patterns and designs. The people best known for their paste paper were the Moravians from Hernnhut, East Saxony, in Germany. The early paste papers were monochromatic and the two most common colors were burnt sienna and indigo blue. So this is what we used, trying to reproduce the beautiful papers from that time. The first day we tried to reproduce the traditional patterns. The next day we ventured out into modern acrylic colours and less traditional designs. In the first week of January I attended a five day workshop on printing. Under the expert tutelage of Jo Hollier we explore dry etching, collographs and for light relief gelli printing. It was a great week. Exhausting but fun and informative. This was something very new for me like I need another hobby. I am now definitely addicted. Now I need a printing press! |