The Gelatin Plate

I bought Rayna Gillman's book, looked at the pictures.

never got round to trying this process.  So, it was great

to find that the workshop included gelatine printing.

Such fun, very wobbly, and additive.

My plate developed a death crack immediately as it

wobbled out of the tray.  I think it had started to

break up due to sitting in the warm sun - lesson learnt.

The top half of the picture shows a perfect print from

my fellow student Lesley's perfect plate.  Below what

you can do with a death crack and then chopping the

whole mess up and printing with 'bits'

Lesley kindly gave me her still perfect plate, transported

home with care.   I played for a couple of hours printing

in slabs of colour, all very fine, but then I really started

playing and came up with these interesting surfaces.

Tomorrow I am taking the first of the Dyeing Days

workshops here.  On Sunday I plan to paint or stencil

the cloth and see what happens.   I have just remembered

I still have the slightly shabby plate in the fridge.

Better go and check it out - still useable I wonder? 

I could managed an hour this afternoon!

Summer School

A fabulous weekend - good company, too much good food, 

fantastic weather.   Our tutor's luggage ended up in Nice,

only to be delivered two hours before the end of the workshop. 

There was just enough time for Jette to show her latest 

quilts, which then made sense of all the surface marking

techniques we had been messily making over two days.

Mark making with found objects

Rubbings

Monoprinting

At last more than one colour - my silk screen

with remains of flour and water paste resist.

All together now;  lost the white background; rubbings;

black screen print with 'voids'; flour and water paste

resist; cerise and yellow print.

Learnt lots. Dealt with the bringing wrong paints. Had only

textile screen paints black, cerise, a very pale turquoise 

and yellow to work with. Since the first exercises were

restricted to one colour, it did concentrate the mind.

And then there was the gelatin plate printing. brilliant.

More on that in next post.

Dyeing , Printing and Stamping

Last week I spent mainly dyeing fabric and thread

A basket of brights

Now I am getting ready to go to Summer School this 

weekend. My tutor, Jette Clover.  Oh, I am getting excited.   

We will be printing and mark making.  The Requirements 

List is LONG.  Fortunately I have most of the things listed, 

it's just a case of finding  everything.   It's going to be so 

good just playing.

Dress for Mess - no problem.  Dug out a couple of 

old black t shirts, already worn and somewhat stained.   

Gave them a makeover with discharge paste.   A chance to 

try something that has been in my mind for a while.  I added

 colour pigment to the paste.   It did work, although I think 

I could have added more.  Anyway, the t shirts look 

slightly more stylish, and ready for an outing.

Orange and blue, just about visable

A mix of colours here, but more pigment needed

Packing almost done - no room for these fab Indian Blocks

Too Many Hats

This one escaped from last blog.

Red plate inked in white, printed on black paper.

Last week should have been a sloppy, but creative time.  

Keith away with his chums for a golfing holiday in Turkey;

time to splash and bang, stitch, dye, make a general mess.  

Eat when hungry, raiding fridge and cupboards, shopping

only when there is nothing left but a tasty, incredibly smelly

Camembert Nic brought back from France.  In reality it was 

amazingly chaotic.

The office was open for The Paper Cinema e mail catch up 

and paperwork.  Two evenings of rehearsal.   Veggie feasts 

all round.

Found time to stitch two Journal Quilts, in between sorting 

out stock for The Indian Bazaar.

A fabulous day with collographs, then setting up shop with 

Lis my fellow shopper. A glass or two of wine and nibbles 

helped the evening along.

My daughter Amanda came up from Cornwall to join in the

fun - The Bazaar had lots of visitors, really busy.   Collapsed

in heap after cooking a delicious curry.

Sunday another busy day in The Bazzar, with the unexpected 

arrival of my sister and her husband, coming down from 

Berkshire to escape teenage angst and not doing homework 

for exams syndrome.

Home alone at last.  Do I put my feet up and sort out mess

tomorrow?   Oh dear, phone call, father in law in hospital.

He had a fall - all ok, no broken bones, but is staying over

for observations.  

Keith will be home early tomorrow morning, so I really must

have a grand tidy up!

Collagraphs

My first collograph prints.

Blue Moon

Blue Straw

Orange and Lime Straw

Red print

Red print with white

printed on black paper

I will desist with technical details like intaglio, rollered

paint etc.  Suffice to say I love it.   No time to play again

until the Autumn, although I can make up some plates

in the meantime.   A important lesson learnt - oil paint

inks get every where, unlike dyes that just sink into

skin, clothing and anything laying around.   Also a

challenge working in different media.  Had to put

my brain to work a lot over the two workshops.

interesting to work in a totally different media.

A taster

A really exciting day inking up plates and printing.

Amazing results, and this is only the beginning.

A couple of inked plates for starters.   I seem to

have mislaid my leads, camera to computer, but 

found something that works in Keith's draw.  Shh,

he is in Turkey playing golf!

This plate has already been inked in red and 

printed, second print with white rolled over surface.

A selection of plates - inked and cleaned

It's late - been a very exciting day.  Now that I have the necessary

leads I will take photos of the resulting prints.  In the meanwhile,

The Indian Bazaar has been set up ready for opening tomorrow.

Time for bed I think!

Mosaic

Lots of bitty things to do, so brain can't settle until all filed.

Enter another Journal Quilt - this time for Just 10.  Mosaic

is the theme.   How to?  Well my take is flooring - printed

with thickened dyes, stitched with a grid.   Hmm... this

needs a little something else.  What about putting textile

paints on my DM's and walking on it.  That's better.

A Woman's Work is never Done

A little segment of brain empty.

Next on the agenda is preparing for The Indian Bazaar to be held 

over this weekend.  Scarves, embroidered bags, etc. gathered on

travels.   E-mail for details.