Variations: Masks and multicolours - Texture

For this segment I experimented with various objects and fabrics - I made impressions in the ink on a freshly inked plate and then printed the impressions onto paper. I found this worked best when I put the items through the press on the plate with scrap paper over it to make the impressions before printing the impressions onto relatively thin paper (in many cases I used regular printer paper). Below are some examples:

Texture made using lace and embroidered fabric
using an etching press

Impression of leaves using an etching press

Texture from coarse hessian -type fabric and
from Lacey fabric with lots of holes - etching press

Print using the lacey holy fabric as a mask leaving areas of white

More subtle impressions using leaves and a bottle jack press

Impressions made by hand using fabrics
printed on the etching press

Impressions made using a foil pie dish

Impressions from hessian and masking tape

My favourite from this series using the texture of a woven placemat and a sprinkling of talc - the talk leaves
bright white spots and spatters which look quite cosmic

The instructions also suggested using solvents -  I had already had a try with this in a previous exercise and really enjoyed it (see the image below)

Image created by flicking and pouring spirit onto
oil based ink

I also had fun putting bubble wrap through the etching press to create an impression on an inked plate and the printing this. The bubble wrap burst in the process of making the impression so was quite noisy. 

Print made using bubblewrap and overprinted using
a negative mask. An attempt to backdrop into it
was unsuccessful owing to poor alignment but I like the
texture created using bubblewrap

At another workshop led by Mick Welbourn at Leeds Print Workshop, I experimented with more texture. We used a rapid collagraph type technique which required no varnishing as it employed various types of tape stuck onto card. The tapes used included duck tape or gaffer tape, masking tape, anti-slip tape (which is like coarse sandpaper), mesh tape and foil tape (used for sealing ducts and flues). I just made a random arrangement of sections of these tapes to try out the textures. I printed directly from this collagraph-type plate using various colour combinations. 

Print from collagraph plate using various types of tape in process yellow and cyan

The mesh tape gave a very distinctive texture with the mesh picked out against the white background. I especially likes the anti-slip tape which gave a less distinct shape with a grain appearance. The foil tape gave different appearances depending on the degree of crumpling it got before being stuck down. Duck/gaffer tape came in various textures depending on the thread densities and masking tape gave a relatively close/dense texture. A lot of potential for future development here. I also liked the way that overlapping two different types of tape altered the textures as well at the halo that occurred around some of the thicker tapes when they were printed. 

Print from the same plate as above (inverted) printed in cyan and magenta

The same plate again printed once in process yellow then inverted and overprinted in magenta. I
especially like the overprinting of the red mesh over the yellow shapes and the bright yellow
halo around the denser red shapes

The same plate again - printed three times, once in yellow, once in cyan
and once in magenta with deliberate offsetting between layers

The next step was to ink up the cardboard collagraph plate and to transfer that ink onto a plastic monoprint plate. Essentially this is like 'offset printing' - and almost the opposite of what I had been doing by making impressions of objects onto a fully inked plate. This meant that the image could be worked into further by the addition of masks and scraping and drying into the ink on the monoprint plate. 

Monoprint made by offsetting the inked up collagraph plate onto a
monoprint plate then adding masks of the holey/lacey fabric as well as
drawing with a sharp point into the circular shape near the centre

Another impression of the above plate taken onto coated paper with
reversal of the masks so that the ink soaked side made contact with the
paper

Further variation of the above with overprinting in yellow

Yet another variation of the yellow/blue combo with additional masks
including feathers

 One of the ghost prints was not particularly interesting - it was a bit too thin. I decided to continue to work on this one using a circular mask. I printed lots of further layers on this one including a layer in which I used two colours rolled in strips across the plate. I also included indigo as well as the three process colours. I was quite please with tis one it some to have quite a good tonal and colour balance and there was just a suggestion of the previously added texture showing through to add interest. 

Multilayer monoprint using process yellow, magenta, cyan and indigo with applied textures and using a
circular mask with reversal. 

What I learnt

• There are many many ways to apply texture to a monoprint
• Textures can be stuck onto cardboard and the offset onto a monoprint plate 
• This then allows the subsequent use of masks and drawing or wiping on the plate
• Distinct impressions can be applied to ink by putting the items on the plate through the etching press
• Care must be taken not to put thick or sharp items through the press as they will damage the blankets
• More subtle textures can be made by making impressions by hand on the plate with the chosen textural item
• Sometimes a print that looks uninteresting can become interesting by several layers of overprinting

Things to work on and learn

• More textural experiments
• Trying to incorporate these textures into some kind of figurative work
• Still need more registration practice