Monoprinting - the penny drops (with a resounding clunk!)

11 October 2013

I get it!  

Finally I have grasped why there is all the fuss about mono printing. 

Up to know it has been a bit of a mystery  -principally because it seemed like a lot of fuss for just one imprint.  "Why not spend time making print blocks or stencils which can be reused?" was always my query.

But now, and thanks to those lovely ladies at Design Matters (Laura and Linda Kemshall) I get it!

And thanks also to Annabel who pointed me in their direction.

So, I had a peak at some of their free videos - you can find them here.  I suggest you pop across to have a look if you are not familiar with their work - or their videos.  Their instruction is so clear.

So first up, I didn't have a piece of acylic plate.  Hmm!  But I did have a tile sample.  Not ideal, but I thought I would give it a go.


So I inked this up with some fabric printing ink that I had - principally because I just knew that ordinary acrylic would dry too quickly.  I did add some dabs of yellow heavy body acrylic though - a bit of a gamble.

I used a small decorating roller to add the ink.

Then I used tissue paper (tricky - it is so delicate, but I wanted something to use in my new sketch book).

I followed Laura's technique of taking a blank sheet of paper and drawing on it with a ball point.

I just went for it.  This leaf design borrows from one I did for my C&G course when i did screen printing with wax as a resist.


I love the plate (tile!) when the tissue is removed.

And again when I tried to take a second print, just running my hand over the tissue.


I did it twice!


And now I have some rather lovely tissue papers for use in the new sketch book.



This technique has real possibility (if you follow my blog, you will know that I love working with tissue paper).


Watch this space.

8 comments

  1. Very interesting. We are going to be doing some monoprinting at Morley in the next couple of weeks, so I will have a look t those videos before we do so.

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    Replies
    1. Let us know when you have done your own printing and we can compare techniques.

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  2. haha, I've been watching the same video this week - will have a go when I am in my new studio space ! :)
    ...thinking of signing up for their other video's, cannot afford a 'real' course
    sigh
    x

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    Replies
    1. I must come and have a play session in your studio sometime! (Sounds so grand!) I could bring biscuits and cake! Perhaps we could do a bit of mono printing together!

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  3. Ooh, interesting! I keep meaning to do more printing - but like you said, it all seemed a bit of a faff. Need to give this a try now!

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    Replies
    1. Iz, go and have a look at the Kemshalls video. It is good and certainly shed some light on the possibilities that mono printing offers. The one bit I don't know is where to get a bit of Acrylic sheeting.

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    2. If it's of any help, I bought mine at Paperchase. They used to do large A1 sizes and after lining my cupboards with pretty (and expensive!) paper, I bought these sheets to cover and protect the paper. Of course, having said that, they may have stopped selling them, but it's worth checking as they're exactly the right thickness and are large.

      Delete

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