Monoprinting Workshop

I attended a one day monoprinting workshop at Leeds College of Art which was tutored by Mick Welbourn. http://mickwelbourn.blogspot.it

We were not asked to bring any visual source material with us for this workshop as the workshop was more about the process of the printmaking rather than planning an end result. This was quite liberating as it allowed stress-free exploration of the masked monoprint process.

What We Did:

We made positive or negative masks out of cartridge paper in random shapes or geometric shapes and placed them on the plates. We then went through various stages of moving the masks around and overprinting.  We used Hawthorn 'stay open' oil based inks. The first prints were taken onto cartridge paper. Ghost prints were taken onto coated paper. This paper causes the ink to stay on the surface giving a glossy and more vibrant result than with a more absorbent paper. It is a commercial paper like that used for printing magazines and is quite thin. I found the results on this paper quite attractive. All of the prints were taken using an etching press.


I did not try to register the plate accurately - just plonked it on an hoped for the best - the result is lots of overlapping at the edge of the print. Registering the plate is something I must learn.

Masked Monoprint on Cartridge Paper

Masked Monoprint on Coated Paper

In the print shown above the translucency of the ink allows colour mixing on the print - something to be exploited in the future.

Masked Ghost Monoprint on Coated paper

Masked Ghost Monoprint on Cartridge paper



Mark Caused by a Contaminant on the Plate

Part of the way through the process it seems I had not cleaned the plate well enough and a piece of dust or dried ink was attached to it. This resulted in a spot which didn't print well which came out white or grainy and was repeated on several of my prints as I didn't realise when the cause of it was until I looked back through all my prints and realised that the mark was in a similar position on each of them. On one of the prints which was in shades of green, the mark seemed to glow out in a lime green colour - I really liked the effect but am sure it would be very difficult to repeat it! I suppose that's part of the beauty of monoprints as they can give unexpected results.

While I was wiping the plate clean using vegetable oil as a solvent I really liked some of the marks that were made on the plate so I decided to print from the partially cleaned plate. I placed a roughly torn paper mask on the plate. Because the ink was runny and oily and the mask was thin, the ink under-ran the edge of the mask creating a double outline.



Print Taken from Partially Wiped and Scraped
Plate with Roughly Torn Mask

Later in the day we went on to explore a collatype variation of the monoprint. We used a collection of tape which we applied to a stiff card to create a plate. These included, masking tape, duck tape, woven mesh tape and my favourite which was thick aluminium foil tape used for sealing ducting. I crumpled this tape and then flattened it out before sticking it to the plate. I then used two different colours of ink one rolled from one end and the other rolled in the opposite direction. The result was some spectacular texture.



Print Using Aluminium Tape and Cardboard Backing
in Process Cyan and Magenta Inks

Print Taken from the Same Plate Using Process
Magenta and Sap Green With Additional Marks
From Sprayed Vegetable Oil.

I also made marks on the plate by spraying vegetable oil onto it. It produced some beautiful marks but unfortunately, it also leached into the paper producing an oily mark round the edge of the print. I really loved the marks and textures created but the print as a whole would not be suitable for display because of the oily mark around it. Parts of the print could be used for example in collage. 

Aluminium Tape, Mesh Tape and Masking Tape

Additional textures were created using the mesh tape and the textured surface of masking tape.

As Above in a Different Colour Combination Plus Oil

Aluminium Tape, Masking Tape, Mesh Tape

As Above - Different Colours

I also indulged in a bit of scraping to create white marks during a spare five minutes. 

Marks Made by Scraping Into an Inked Plate

The pace of this workshop was rapid. I came away with a lot of prints compared to the number I produced on the lino workshop. I think this was largely because I didn't spend any time planning a composition but just went through the printing process to see what would happen. 

Because of the fast pace I didn't pay much attention to the cleanliness of my fingers of handling of the paper so a lot of my prints have fingerprints round the margins - not a problem right now as I am just playing at creating textures - However, I will need to address this as I move forward.

What I learnt:

• Basic Masked Monoprint technique - versatility and process 
• Moving inked masks around and reprinting from the inked side
• Using the etching press
• Some ways of making texture with household materials
• Oil can make great marks but can also ruin the paper
• Inking two different colours in opposite directions on a textured surface for interesting results
• Unexpected results or 'mistakes' can sometimes be interesting
• Coated paper is good especially for 'ghost' prints

Things to do and things to improve on:

• Learn to register the plate
• Clean fingers or paper 'picks' when handling the paper
• Clean the plate properly unless you want unexpected marks on the print
• Try monoprinting without a press
• Explore other ways of creating texture
• Combine monoprinted texture with drawing
• Think about the effect of colour mixing when overprinting inks