Fantastic workshop with Karen Carter, experimenting with monoprinting using several mediums. Its a free spntaneous method or printing - have fun, experiment and play and get someh unique result
Direct Method
This is the most intant way to acheive a print;
- Roll a thin layer of ink onto a pritning plate (perspex or rigid plastic) and place pringin paper on top. The ink acts as a drawing board that responds to pressure from tools above eg., back or a hand, hard / soft pencil, crayons, combs etc. Your image will be in reverse when you peel back the printing paper.
- The thinner your printing paper, the more ink it will pick up and be more receptive to markmaking. You'll get a lot of 'background noise' using thin paper, whereas a thicker paper will result in a cleaner print. You can also collage onto printing paper before layng it on the slab of ink using thin papers and spray adhesive / glue stocks.
- Alternatively, roll the ink onto a non absorbant paper eg., freezer or wax paper and place on top of the printing paper to draw through. This method is great for printing on collage paperor painted backgrouds on heavier paper and also doesnt reverse the image.
Indirect Methods
This uses the printing plate as a carrier for your image, which can then be trasnferred to dampened or think dry paper with hand burnishing or using an etching press. The emphasis is on markmaking. The 2 main methods are;
- Subtractive
- - Begin by rolling out a thin layer of ink onto your printing plate, then, working dark to light, use a variety of 'tools' such as rags, scrim, cotton buds, bristles to remove the ink and create your image. Print onto heavy damp smooth paper or dry thin paper.
- Additive
- Working directly onto your printing plate, use rollers, paintbrushes, flicking and spattering, stencils and stamps and inked objevts (leaves, lace, featehrs etc) to create your image. Print onto heavy damp smooth paper, or dry thin paper such as Washi / Hosho / Shoji (Japanese thin but strong papers).
Working in Layers
Build up a print in successive layers by inking the plate in seperate colours or areas for each layer - add extendeer to the ink to create trasparent effects allowing layers to show through each other. Use masks and stancils in addition to all the mark-making tecniques.
- In order to register the print for each layer, create a simple registration device - place the plate on a piece of plain paper and least 2cm bigger all round and draw round it so you know where to place it after each inking. Hinge your dry thin printing paper to one edge of the base paper with masking tape so you can flap it backwards and forwards with each layer.
Printing with Acrylics
It is possible to monoprint in layers with acrylic paint mixed with slow drying medium or printing medium. You need to work sqiftly - even the addiiton of mediums doesnt slow the drying time much.
- Use a piece of polythene as your inking substrate (the acrylic releases more easily from it) rather then glass or prespex, and work the paper as the bottoom layer. Work from light to dark, creating trasnparent layers of paint that show up all your mark-making.
- The technique works best with expressive painted brushworks rather then using a brayer / roller.
- When dry, you can work over the top with pastels, pencils and further layers of paint to create a mixed media print.
