A very satisfying day spent at the British Museum on a printmaking workshop linked to the
'Revolution in Paper' Exhibition of Mexican prints.
We first spent half an hour looking around the exhibition which is a mixture of lithographs, linoprints and woodcuts. I was taken with the way Leopoldo Mendez portrayed hands so graphically (above)
Back in the studio below the Great Court, we transferred our sketches ( I drew round my hand!) onto Gerflor vinyl floor tiles and then used linocutting tools to carve and gouge.
After lunch we started printing- the tutors from the
Curwen Print Study Centre had brought along a couple of presses which gave excellent results.
My favourite was this double hand print- a bit tricky to do as it involved cutting a stencil to prevent the background printing and my registration wasn't quite right. Did the job tho' - this is what I was aiming for in the print at the top of this post but the ink was too dense. Even got a 'ghost' print running the plate through a second time.
A very satisfying day spent at the British Museum on a printmaking workshop linked to the 'Revolution in Paper' Exhibition of Mexican prints.
We first spent half an hour looking around the exhibition which is a mixture of lithographs, linoprints and woodcuts. I was taken with the way Leopoldo Mendez portrayed hands so graphically (above)
Back in the studio below the Great Court, we transferred our sketches ( I drew round my hand!) onto Gerflor vinyl floor tiles and then used linocutting tools to carve and gouge.
After lunch we started printing- the tutors from the Curwen Print Study Centre had brought along a couple of presses which gave excellent results.
My favourite was this double hand print- a bit tricky to do as it involved cutting a stencil to prevent the background printing and my registration wasn't quite right. Did the job tho' - this is what I was aiming for in the print at the top of this post but the ink was too dense. Even got a 'ghost' print running the plate through a second time.
I like the double hand print. What kind of press are you using? Rollers are a pain for pushing plates out of alignment. We used to make corners built up out of masking tape to contain the plates when etching, which should work for a linocut block. But beyond 3 plates, the paper was too stretched to register another plate. We had a Victorian letterpress in the studio which was better for registration, tho too heavy for me to use.
ReplyDeleteWonderful prints! Like Susan I think the double hand is particularly successful.
ReplyDeleteI wonder whether I should be living in London .......
Like the double hand-print too.
ReplyDeleteI understand the lure of lino-printing having got addicted to it myself. We use the copper left over when cutting etching plates to size for registration (considerably longer-lasting than masking tape but not the sort of thing you have lying around at home) - how about trying something hard at the edges - for example linp-tile strips stuck down with double-sided tape. I'm writing an article for CQ magazine about lino-printing (after 24 sessions of a part-time printmaking course (not all of it lino) I'm finally beginning to learn a few tricks of the trade! I'm amazed at how good yours look (surely you can't be a beginner?)
wonderful - what a good idea for a print
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