Stamps

I have been working on my sketches, but I do get carried away. I have been using

some images from my Life Drawing Class to make stamps from ‘fun foam’. It nice and easy to cut and gives plenty of scope to play around with the shapes.

 I have used an ink pad, gouache, printing ink and acrylic. Acrylic has the advantage as you can put a wash over it easily. The ink pads are very tempting as they are so easy to use, but as I only have one colour this limits me. I have plenty of paint so I should stick to that.

 For lots of information about stamp making you can look at Melanie Testa’s blog and a video by Diana Trout  on You Tube

An issue you may like to remark on, I have a new Stats Counter now. It’s always fun to look where readers come from. One of the categories that can be tracked is the material which readers download. I was surprised to find how often this happens, I have never thought to download from a blog but I have done so lots from Flickr; especially when ‘gathering’ images for a project to show people with whom I work. I must admit to not having always thanked people, although I do try to do so. I am pleased readers like my images enough to want to keep them, and they are there for anyone, however, my point is that I now notice that readers regularly come along, download an image and never even comment. Thank You is recognisable in most languages I think. Moan over. The good news is that Blogger is now making an attempt to stop and track spam, which has become more of a problem recently.

Definitely my last post for a while, so don’t forget to sign up for the Summer Giveaway on the August 9th post before I draw in early September.

Fabric Printing

I’ve just been to a course at the City Lit in London, over three Saturdays the theme was Artists Books with Print Making. It was very enjoyable with a good mix of people. It was good to see their work and examples which the tutor brought along. More about that when I get round to take pics of my books. On the course we used polystyrene as one way to make relief printing blocks and I tried this method with fabric paint. I enjoy printing and finding out about some of the methods of interpreting marks, but it is frustrating to not have access to the equipment needed at home, which is why the polystyrene appealed.

I have been using some marks which I found in the snow, a boot print, which has the look of writing in some unknown language. I used this to make the printing block. The experiment was made into a small quilted bag which I have put on Etsy.

Print Paste

Cornstarch Paste (courtesy of Collage Source Book. Karen McCarthy)

Dissolve 1 cup into 1 cup of room temperature water.
Heat slowly.
Gradually add 3 cups more water, stir over heat until boils.
Stir 2/3 minutes until it is thick and forms a gel.
Let it cool completely.
Remove 1 cup and place in blender.
Add 1 cup of water and blend until smooth. This makes a thin paste.
Adjust the quantities proportionally as required. Add less water
for a thinner paste.
Strain.
Add paint or pigment.
Will keep in the fridge, but be aware that after a while it will
start to smell!
On thicker paper, such as rag paper or watercolour paper, use
Combs, end of paint brush etc. to make marks.
You can add shading with fabric paint, pencils etc..

Tribal Messages

My book is finished now and I am busy trying to complete all the assessment paperwork. This week we set up the studio for the end of year exhibition and next week will have the stage three assessment, before the exhibition opens with the private view on 12th May between 6-8pm..
The paperwork is mind-boggling and I sometimes think is it worth it, but I suppose it is about wanting to finish the course properly at this point. Some people will be going on to do degrees and I do envy them but I know it’s not for me at this point in my life.
Someone called the book a' modern relic’ and that was the idea I was trying to convey, so that if an archaeologist in the future found it he would be faced with trying to work out what our society was like from some of the signs and symbols which are about everywhere , even if we rarely notice them. On the front are supposed to be talismans, which in Africa used to contain writings thought to have magical powers, in mine I have put signs for 'corrosive','biohazard' ,'keep dry' and 'don't litter'.

Printing Workshop

Over Easter I did a four day workshop in printing; as usual it was exhausting but really interesting. Fortunately there were a range of different presses to use, and as I have a problem with my back the easey peasey electric one was made for me - just press a button and away you go. This really is the way to make monoprints, so much better than by hand. After the first impression you use a weight to hold down the paper and then you can move the masks, lace whatever to a new area. The oil based inks give a really clear colour. I also had a go at collograph and an etching using a leaf to make marks in the soft ground. The leaf was hard work as it took lots of patience to get it away from the ground and still leave enough to be etched away in the acid bath. I am going to use some of the prints in my book about signs and symbols and will show you those as I go along. See my current header for one of the prints using an Adinkra symbol.

Adinkra symbols

For the final project I am going to be working with images from packaging. I started by scanning in lots of bits of packaging I had saved, one of which was an elaborate wrapper from a bar of Fair-trade chocolate. When I looked at it in detail I found that the symbols were called Adinkra and were traditional allegorical symbols used on the robes of chiefs in Ghana. I really had not noticed them on the wrapper but just thought it was a nice piece of paper. The symbols tended to be used on mourning robes and only by people of special standing. Now they are used on many types of festive occasions and also as logos on a variety of items. I have made some printing blocks from cord and also a couple of lino prints.
The bird symbol is called ‘return and get it’ and is the symbol of the importance of learning from the past.

The ‘Siamese Crocodile’ is about the animals sharing one stomach but still fighting over food. As I understand it the message is that infighting and tribalism is harmful to everyone.
My plan is to juxtapose these symbols which carry a thoughtful message with those which are on nearly every piece of packaging we throw away but are hardly ever noticed.

Circles

One of the ideas I had for the Space project was to work on the idea of a circle, a shape ‘which separates the space it surrounds from the space surrounding it’. I took some photos of round objects and played around with printing from bottle caps and lids for a while but that’s as far as I got. I can recommend Koh-I-Nor water based dyes which are brilliant colours and work well on paper when discharged with bleach. I have also sprinkled salt in places. In the UK I got a small palette of them from Art Van Go.

I used discharge paste to try to replicate the result on procion dyed fabric.

I have also been playing around with the settings on my camera which I have not used before; Sepia, Vivid Colours and trying to get less depth of field. As you can see this is a cotton reel which I used in my printing and discharging experiments.

Fish

We have been encouraged to join in an exhibition which calls for artwork on a yellow post-it note. As it was small I thought I would make an attempt. I’m not sure it counts as art but at least I had a go. I have been working on an image of a three-headed fish to link with the Dungeness project and the fact that a fisherman there told me he would eat what he caught unless it had ‘three heads’. It sort of fits in with some of the contrasts in the area; a nice place to relax with a days fishing, but with the nuclear power station casting its shadow in the background.
The theme is linked with Reuse, so this is embossed on a piece of tomato puree tube.



We have also been experimenting with linocuts and monoprinting with watercolour inks.

Pencil Case

I made myself a pencil case this week out of a piece of fabric on which I used up my left over acrylic paint after the monoprinting session. It is a remnant of really heavy duty furnishing fabric almost like a canvas so it is very suitable. It is lined with the left over monoprints on which I practised my digitised designs. The point behind this is that I think it is a sort of displacement activity, because I am getting nervous about starting my Access to Art and Design Course in September, only a few weeks away. This is for two days a week at The University for Creative Arts at Farnham.

If I have a rubber and all my pencils sharpened perhaps it will be OK, rather like I used to feel when getting ready for exams at school.

The other pic is of a small pouch made with some of the brushed cotton which was low immersion dyed and lined with a piece of ordinary cotton dyed in the same way. The lining is lovely shades of acidy green and yellow. I like it and I think the large mother of pearl button works. So why did I make this – well just to keep my mind off other things!

Mono print

I am persevering with the pieces of fabric which I monoprinted in various ways.
This one was done with acrylic paint and fabric medium on a piece of procion dyed cotton. I have also been using the Wacom tablet to draw out more images for digitizing. This was one of the techniques encouraged in Thr3fold Journal; although they have much more sophisticated technology than I do.
I have only a small hoop which makes it all a bit tedious, once you are passed the thrill of seeing the drawn image stitch out for the first time.
This piece looked rather drab until I went for a walk and saw purple thistles amongst the grass, which I think was just the colour scheme I needed to lift things. There will be more stitching before its finished.

I will probably make a bag and will have to decide whether to go for a green or purple silk lining and some kind of dangly in one of those colours.
I enjoyed the get together at The Festival Hall; it is a pity a few more people could not have come along. I also went for a taster day for my Access Course in Art and Design which will start in September, a bit daunting but also fun. No doubt you will be hearing more about that in months to come. I expect the stitching will take a back seat for a while.

We are going to Dublin at the end of the week to see one of my sons and partly as my birthday treat. I have never been to Ireland before so it will be a bit of an adventure.