ENAMEL EXPERIMENTS

The end is in sight as far as my MA work is concerned and with 2 weeks left to avail myself of the Universities facilities I have been experimenting.

I have discovered these wonderful kitchen utensils a pack of 3 for a £1 in Poundland, made of steel they are just asking to be enamelled. These lovely stumpy ladles and large spoons are transformed with the addition of a spot welded moth rendering their initial purpose void (spot the MA student)

 This brings me to the 'Fish Slice Challenge', it is the end of term after all and with the spoon and ladle comes this fish slice which I don't like as much. So I handed them around the fabrication department with the challenge to do something with it before I leave. I am not going to repeat some of the ideas, but I do hope to show you one or two results. I did not like my first attempt, but I had just got the hang of the plasma cutter and I am now cutting holes into everything.

 My second attempt pleases me more. So here is the challenge, go get a cheap fish slice and alter it's function, add, subtract and embellish, leave a comment on my blog with a link so we can see, a bit of creative fun to share with each other.

A BIG STATEMENT

Just before Easter I enjoyed 4 days at West Dean College http://www.westdean.org.uk/ where I attended a course about making large scale enamels for public commissions. As part of this experience I spent a day on the Isle of White at A.J. Wells where the signs for the Underground are made. http://www.ajwells.co.uk/

I came away with this panel measuring 50cm x 70cm. Sadly we only had time to do one firing, so I had to work quickly and have a plan 'B' up my sleeve to create a completed piece on my return home.

 And here it is! Unable to fire the panel again as I have no access to such a large kiln I decided to sand blast some further detail into the surface and add further pages to the composition with smaller enamels.

 Each sheet is made from e3 ceramic steel which I have been able to obtain from a really helpful company called Polyvision in Belgium. I have then attached the pieces with small magnets to create this untidy desk feel to the composition.

 As life so often imitates art, my finished enamel does not look a million miles away from the present state of my studio as I endeavour to pull work together for my MA show in 3 weeks time.

INVITATION

After 3 years of hard work and experimentation I am coming to the end of the Multi Disciplinary Printmaking MA course at the University of the West of England. Dates have been set, spaces allocated and the work is almost completed.

If you find yourself in between street parties and in the Bristol area between 9 -14 June pop along to the Bower Ashton Campus and enjoy the work of the class of 2012.

GUM ARABIC TRANSFER- THE NEXT LEVEL

I have mentioned gum arabic transfer in previous posts, it is a technique I use a great deal to start off sketch book pages and allows me to place a photographic element into my compositions.
For some time I have been aware that it is possible to use gum arabic transfer as a colour separation print. So with this image as a starting point I had a play.

First take your colour original and using photoshop produce a set of colour separations, yellow, magenta, cyan and black. My long suffering computer whizz of a friend Jane did this for me, for which I really thank her. These 4 copies must be in a contrasting black and white and printed using a toner copier...not ink jet. Have them photocopied. Cut your images so that you have a registration corner where they will all match, mine is bottom left which will turn into bottom right when I print.

Set up your colours, I am using oil based etching ink from Intaglio Printmakers in Magenta, Process Yellow, Cyan Blue and Black. Add a small amount of linseed oil to the ink to slacken it off.

Lay your yellow copy on a piece of baking parchment and cover the back then the front liberally with gum arabic. I get mine from Hawthorn Inks.

Place copy image side up on a magazine as it will stick to newspaper and you can reuse the parchment to gum another copy. Roll the ink in thin layers all over the copy.

Take inked copy to the sink, I always place it on a piece of perspex at this point and spray with a plant spray bottle until most of the ink has shed off the white areas. The water will dissolve the gum arabic taking the ink with it and the greasey toner marks will hang on to the ink.

I ink all my copies before I print, leaving them to drain on blotting paper

You are now ready to print. Place the yellow copy down first, I use Snowdon Cartridge paper, 300gms, anything thinner makes the receiving surface buckle with the wetness.

Place a sheet of blotting paper on top and rub with a wooden spoon. Repeat this process with the red, blue and lastly the black copies matching your registration corners.

The ink releases onto the paper. I quite like the inaccuracy of the registration.

If I had wanted the look of the original image I would have just printed it out. I intend to try a print using a different set of reds, yellows and blues. Have some fun with it, experimenting is very rewarding.

This post would not have been possible without the technical support of my friend Jane and the photographic skills of my son Toby. Thankyou to you both.

JOLLY JUBILEE

I have been inspired to post the Jubilee mug that I made for Studio Fusion after seeing Ruth Ball's posting about the silver spoons she is making. http://www.ruthball.weebly.com/ . Click on , Visual Diary. There is no comparison as Ruth is a talented silver smith and it will be fascinating to see the stages in making and enameling this silver treasure. Her post about the course we were both on at West Dean is also worth reading.


Studio Fusion - Commemorative Mugs, April 5-August 12, http://www.studiofusion.co.uk/

VITREOUS ENAMEL - GOING LARGE

I have just come back from a blissful 4 day course at the College of West Dean near Chichester.
Enamel for large -scale public art with Elizabeth Turrell explored enamelling onto a steel substrate and culminated in a day on the Isle of White visiting AJ Wells & Sons to work on a larger sample.
These samples were made in the first 2 days of the course and are about 4in x 4ins.

Flexing our artistic muscles and warming up for our visit to the factory.

AJ Wells is the company that makes the Underground station signs...yes they are enamelled. The tour of the factory was fascinating and a real eye opener to see enamel on an industrial scale. They work with artists to create public art projects too...I can only dream.

Here is my panel after screen printing the colour onto the surface and the mask is being removed.

This kiln is a touch larger than mine at home, but the same temperature. Here my panel is going in for a 15min firing.

Waiting for it to cool down. I had the opportunity to do one firing on my panel, so I have a cunning plan to finish it and when I have I will share the piece with you all.

It is very exciting to make larger work and has given me a taste for it, the possibilities are amazing. Thankyou Elizabeth, West Dean and particularly AJ Wells for letting artists loose in their busy factory.

LITTLE AND LARGE

Scale is an interesting issue, especially as it is very difficult to make out the sizes of things when they are posted like this.

These drawings are preparation pieces and are 80cm x 50cm.

This is a detail, the sheets of paper are A4.

Where as this enamel book is 5cm x 3cm.

I thought that it might be easy to make a tiny object, but there is not enough room to make it make complete sense. The collection of beetles at the Oxford Natural History Museum have more tiny specimens than the glamorously large beetles that appear in my big drawings. I know what I would prefer flying around!