Printing Press

I am now the proud owner of a printing press! The 545 Hawthorn Printmaster from Hawthorn Printmakers. Here it is taking pride of place in my studio:

When I regularly commuted to the UK for work, I used to attend open access printmaking studios in West Yorkshire. I had used this press at Leeds Print Workshop and found it easy to use especially because it has a gearbox so turning the handle doesn't require a lot of force.

There are no open access printmaking workshops where I live, not even in the nearest city (which is about an hour away). Having decided to continue on my printmaking journey, I was finding the lack of access to equipment frustrating. I researched printing presses in Italy and found that they are ridiculously expensive. (Plus I wasn't impressed with the FOME school etching press that I had tried at the beginning of the course). 

I considered trying to convert a mangle or buy a cheaper type of press which I found on eBay so I asked for advice on various printmakers' groups on social media. In the end I decided  to go with a press which I knew was easy to use. I had also had great customer service from Hawthorn when I had ordered inks from them in the past. 

My husband, son and I were planning a trip to the UK to visit family. Normally we would fly, but this year we decided to drive over and pick up the press at the same time. It fitted relatively easily into the boot of our estate car. The journey itself was a bit of a nightmare but now the press is installed, I'm so glad we did it!

This is a large investment for which I used some of our savings plus a small loan from family. It is my 50th birthday present to myself! I'll be living on plain pasta with veg from the garden for the next year or two while I try to pay it back! However, this is a sign that I really want to take printmaking more seriously and develop further as an artist. Having made this investment, I am even more determined to set aside the time necessary to work on my projects. 

A New Start

I have been out of action on the OCA course for a very long time. I had completed much of the work for assignment 2 before I stopped work but had not written it up. 

I am very grateful for the help of the Learner support team at OCA. In particular, I'd like to thank Lia who has been corresponding with me via email over recent weeks. 

My original date for completing the course would have been 10th August. However, I am very much relieved to have been grated an extension due to mitigating circumstances to allow me to have sufficient time to complete printmaking 1. I fully intend to take advantage of this extension to complete the course to the best of my ability. 

Some of the posts that follow relate to work which I had done before I stopped work. I can't remember the exact dates on which I completed everything so I won't backdate the posts. 

Bottle Jack Press

In preparation for the relief printing section of the course I have acquire a 'bottle jack press'. 

I had been looking at resources on the internet for printmaking. I really would love to have a decent sized etching press in my studio at home but the cost of something like that is prohibitive. While I was searching online I came across the design for a relief press which uses a car jack to apply pressure. The design by Charles G. Morgan can be accessed on the website monoprints.com by clicking here

I showed the design to my husband Luigi. To my surprise he was enthusiastic about making one. I think that may have been partly motivated by the suspicion that I might decide to buy a press instead. However he does regularly like to inform me that he is a 'trained technician who doesn't need to read the instructions' (!) He also decided he could improve on the design by making the frame in steel and welding it together. Below are photographs of the work in progress:

And here is the completed press positioned in my studio:

The total cost of the materials to build this came to about £200 - however I suspect it would be even cheaper using the materials from the original design plan - steel is a more expensive material - the springs were a bargain though! Our neighbour gave them to us - they're shock absorber springs - not sure if they are from his old car or his old tractor - they work well to push the platen back up when the pressure is released.

I am feeling very fortunate to have such an indulgent and practically skilled husband - I can't wait to get started on Part 2 of the course to try it out.

First day at West Yorkshire Print Workshop

I had my induction session at West Yorkshire Print Workshop last week. Today was my first session in which I was 'let loose' to get to grips with the equipment without an instructor.

I had limited time as this was a morning session of two and a half hours before work. I decided to keep things simple and do some subtractive monoprints using only black ink (hawthorn 'stay open' ink). I used a thin perspex plate and, because I was not anticipating producing any masterpieces today I chose to print only onto newsprint to keep the costs down.

I first attempted a subtractive print based on one of my 'immigrant' sketches from my small sketchbook. The result had some interesting passages but there were some problems - I felt I had subtracted too much ink on one side and the print was quite light. Not as powerful as I would have liked for the imagery used.

I tried selectively re-inking certain areas and re-printing a ghost print. The ghost print was not impressive. It was really too light but would potentially serve as a base to work back into with other media.

Having had little success with the figurative drawing I decided to just go abstract with mark making for my next attempt. I re- inked the plate all over and splashed what I thought was white spirit onto the plate. Waited a while for it to eat into the ink and then blotted it off with more newsprint. It was only later on when talking to another printmaker that I realised I had used Lincoln wash by mistake. Nevertheless, the marks on the plate were quite exciting. I drew into the areas around the solvent marks and did some repetitive lines. I printed this onto dry cartridge paper. The result was far too light and the marks made by the solvent just weren't visible.

I tried again and this time I but a thicker layer of ink on the plate and printed straight away after blotting off the solvent rather than hanging around and drawing into the plate. The result was darker and there were some more interesting marks. However, it was only at this point that I noticed that it had printed much lighter on one side of the paper than the other. I realised that I had adjusted the pressure on the small etching press incorrectly and the pressure was much higher on one side than the other. I adjusted the pressure and tried again - this time I inked the plate and just drew a rapid continuous line drawing based on one of my sketchbook drawings of a sheep. The print showed that I still had not got the pressure equal.



I took the pressure completely off the press. Adjusted the printmakers blankets and re-established the pressure as high as I could manage, attempting to get the pressure even on both sides (this has to be done by feel on this particular press as there are no numbers on the bolts). I re-inked the plate and did another quick line drawing of a sheep which I printed as a bleed print (on paper slightly smaller than the large plate). The pressure and inking at the edges was much better but the print was still a bit thin at the centre. I don't know whether this was because there was insufficient ink in the centre or whether a bit more padding is needed at the centre.

Unfortunately, by this time I had to clean up so I came away somewhat frustrated that I had not produced any presentable prints. However, I was also satisfied that I had got more experience and was able to identify some press-related problems and find solutions without having someone standing by to advise me.

What I learnt:

• Pay close attention to the adjustment of the pressure on the etching press
• It would be good idea to print a trial print from an inked up plate of the same thickness as the one you will be using to check the pressure on the press is even
• The amount of in on the plate and the pressure of the press make a great deal of difference to the final result.

 

 

Setting Up the Studio

I am lucky enough to have a reasonably large spare room which I have converted into a studio. This means I can make a mess without having to clear a space for everyday life and mealtimes. It is my own space.

 The floor is tiled with ceramic tiles which means I am not too worried about mess and spillage. 

I have abundant bookcases, shelving and cupboards as well as a chest of drawers from IKEA which takes paper of up to A2 size. I have two tables on which to work. 

Studio

An old set of bunk beds has been converted into a deep shelving unit for paper and canvas of greater than A2 size

Bunk Bed Shelving

For the printmaking course I have bought a ceiling mounted laundry drying rack. It has five bars, each of which can be raised or lowered individually. I will hang prints from the bars using bulldog clips. This allows me to dry my prints up out of the way.

Drying Rack

I have invested in basic equipment for printmaking including rollers or brayers and various inks. The spray bottles contain vegetable oil and water with washing up liquid for cleaning up oil-based inks. I also have a very large stack of rags (mainly vests and tee-shirts which my son has grown out of and are too scruffy to donate)

Rollers, inks and cleanup equipment

When I attended the mono print workshop, one of my fellow students gave me a tip that cheap glass chopping boards make great inking slabs so I bought a couple of these from Wilko.

Chopping board for an inking slab with
palette knives and lots of gloves

Although I will be mostly doing my printing by hand throughout the course, I found a small school etching press on special offer (FOME Italia). I couldn't resist putting my hand in my pocket. I have no idea how good or otherwise this will be. Its scope is limited because the print bed will only enable me to print up to A4 size but it looks reasonably sturdy and I have fixed it to an old MDF desk to make it stable. Even if it isn't much good I'm sure it will manage a few christmas cards each year!

FOME school etching press

Now I have my space organised it's time to make a start.