A CLASS ACT

The Autumn term started yesterday at Hampen Factory.

The sun shone lighting up the reds and oranges that herald the start of the season.

Set in the Cotswold countryside Hampen Factory is a fantastic place to hold a creative course.

I have been blogging about Hampen since 2009 and have run printmaking and sketchbook courses from there for several years more. So I though it was about time I showed you what we get up to.

This term my morning group will be experimenting with the sophisticated collagraph process, silk aqua tint. Week 1 introduces the group to this method, with biscuits to keep the creative flow sustained.

Silk aqua tint is a collagraph plate making method using chiffon attached to a card substrate as the base plate. The plate for this example is on the right.

This collagraph plate produces an image that would be mistaken for a mezzotint or an etching using tradition aqua tint resin, the latter being a toxic plate making method. When printed you get what you see on the plate ( plate on the left)

By painting on to the chiffon and card plate acrylic mediums, wood glue and even emulsion a set of tonal ranges can be achieved.

Everyone spent a happy 2 hours experimenting on sample plates with different liquids and of course writing on the back of the plates what was used where...!

Next Wednesday when these samples are dry we will print them and see what we get.

 

The pitfalls with this process is putting enough glue on ( you need several thin layers allowing them to dry in-between) to achieve white. Acrylic paint (the yellow) makes a mark, but will not produce light tones, good for gentle shadows, a bit counter intuitive. Trying out different acrylic gels and mediums found on the shelves of art shops is worth a go.

 

Over the next few weeks you will see this technique develop, I think silk aqua tint is one of the most exciting of processes as it gives such unexpected results and the print has a very different quality to a traditional collagraph....if there is such a thing?

 

For more information about Hampen Factory, http://www.hampenfactory.co.uk/ or contact me for details about 2013/14 weekend workshops and the 10 week printmaking course, 2014.

QUARTZ ARTS FESTIVAL 2013

I have been invite to exhibit at the Quartz Arts Festival at Queens College, Taunton.

These are 2 new moth domes

made for the show.

These along with several spoons and ladles will be delivered on Friday. The exhibition will start  

25^th September – 5^th October 2013

 www.quartzfestival.org.uk for more details.

VITREOUS ENAMEL

Back from my week in the Isle of Skye it is now full steam ahead on the making front.

I have made a set of festive Lost Relatives for Crafted at Christmas for New Brewery Arts, Cirencester.

Some of these pieces have a touch of twinkle in the way of gold leaf fired into the surface.

This one is called , 'Off Duty', couldn't resist really.

I know it's early, but this one says it all.

INSPIRERENDE!

I am getting some really interesting post at the moment as I am having an eBay frenzy, although my most unusual package this week was a set of dental tools, thankyou Lesley.

But this morning this plopped through the letter box. Now being a women of a certain age who spends a great deal of time browsing Amazon in the early hours, I had to admit that this magazine had me stumped.

Until I flicked through the pages and found this. At the beginning of the year, it may have even been last year, I had an email asking if this publication could feature the spoons seen on my blog...and here it is, whoooooo I can hear you all say. Thankyou Dilla, what a boost to my confidence.

My biggest regret is that I can't read the Norwegian as there are a couple of knitting patterns I fancy trying.

COLLAGRAPHS

From my sketch book to

these collagraphs, the plates of which

I made during Art in Action.

All the plates are made using grey board, carborundum,

tile cement and wood glue.

USING AND LOOSING VINTAGE MATERIAL

I have been spending today experimenting with vitreous enamel on my favourite substrate, ceramic steel. I have been exploring some images in my sketch books over the last few weeks, I now have time to develop these images further in enamel.

The thing that attracted me to enamel in the first place was the materials flexibility, the ability to layer it, scratch it back and use different ways to apply it making work that looks not dissimilar to my sketch book practice.

These are photographs that I bought back from the States at Easter, I have been itching to use them.

The vintage postcard material is thanks to my friend Brian who has a wonderful resource that he shares with me. Thankyou Brian.

 

At no point was a vintage postcard, document or photograph harmed in the making of this work. I have been troubled of late by how much art work I am seeing that is not only inspired by vintage paper, but uses the originals in the making of the work. These precious archives of ordinary life are then lost forever...am I the only artist who feels this loss? I welcome your opinion.  

BACK TO WORK

I have spent a few days recharging my batteries at the WOMAD festival and I

am now back in the shed with the kiln on.

I have been experimenting with colour under transfers.

It must be the influence of a festival weekend.

I am working on some postcard messages in my lost relatives compositions. Look carefully and you will see the comment, 'was it not sad about the Titanic' written in the midst of chatty family news.

Both of these enamels are on steel using a combination of wet enamel, digital and screen printed transfers and stamps with sifted jewellers enamel.