New Coppershop Image

New Copper Shop Image

Old Copper Shop image

The first Copper Shop that I had made was just too wide to print on the roof tiles.

New Copper Shop print

The detail was lost when the image was reduced, and the trees are no longer there.

When I taught the class at the Power House back in October, I took some photos of the Copper Shop so that I could make a new print for the tiles. The new print will have the same words under neath. After I had made the black print for the tiles, I decided to make a multicolored print. A few years ago I had bought some Jacquard Screen Printing Ink - it was in metallic copper - I decided to use that for the roof and some of the detail. I printed on a craft colored paper that has darker flecks in it. I added dome detail to the background. I like the way the copper ink printed on the craft paper. 

The Copper Shop is dear to me. That is where there is a display of my work. I hope to take a few of the Copper Shop prints there next week. Right now, I am waiting for an order of mat board - I plan to mat this new print in black. I used two screens for this print. One has just the black image and the second was used to print copper and a darker shade of copper as a reduction print. The screens were both made with Speedball Drawing Fluid and Screen Filler. It was difficult to photograph this print, as the light reflected from the right hand side because of the metallic ink. I will go back to the campus and print the roof tiles with the new image - whenever.

Results of rubbing class

close up

prints on fabric

the screen with crayola

The book she used

Here are some of the prints that my student made on Friday. She printed them on both paper and various colors of fabric. They were printed with black ink that had a little red that was blended into it with the squeegee. Click on the images for larger photos.
She picked a book, from my collection that I had never really used.
By moving the transparent screen she was able to select the area of the book for the rubbing. I think she did a remarkable design job.

Ready for Screen Filler

Three screens ready for filler

I rooted around and found some old screens that had images on then that I didn't want to use again and cleaned them up. Then I laid out the shapes on cross section paper - this will insure that they are square. I traced each shape onto the top side of the screen with a pencil. I found it easier to flip the screens over and paint the drawing fluid onto the under side. I used a ruling pen and a straight edge to put all of the lines onto the screens. Then I filled in the squares and rectangles with a brush and drawing fluid. I need to have openings in the screen for the rubbings. I added a 1/4" seam allowance around all - this will make it easier to cut out the fabric pieces. One of the screens has rectangles instead of squares so that they can be used as borders. Now I need to spread screen filler over the back side of the screens and let them dry before I wash out the drawing fluid.

With any type of printmaking, preparation and designing have to be thought about before the fun of making the prints. You have to have an idea of what the goal is and how to get there.

Book rubbings

"Book Purse" front

"Book Purse" -  

The photos on the left are from my web site on page 44 of the Power Point of Textile prints that I used to make. The piece called "Book Purse" was in a National Fiber Arts show. I don't have it any more.
Back in the 1980s, I went to the Hamburg Historical Society's Museum with some screens and crayola crayons; I made  book rubbings from their collection of antique, embossed book covers. The three in this piece are The Works of George Elliot on the front (complete with her portrait) and Dickens (another portrait) and Pope. I liked the look of these and also made designs of borders that would complete the purse.

STENCILS MADE WITH RUBBINGS

            Any textured surface can be used to create  stencils that capture the texture of the original surface. I often use antique, embossed book covers, dried flowers and leaves, ribbon and laces, coins and wood.

            The screen is placed over the surface to be used. It is important to have a comfortable grip on the screen with one hand. Then with the other hand use a crayola crayon to make the rubbing directly on the screen. Don’t let the screen move, or you will have a double image.

            The crayola will act as a blockout to the water base ink. The image will be the color of the paper and the area around it will be the color of the ink.

            It is necessary to have a border of blockout around the rubbing. An open area on the screen can be made first and the rubbing can be done in it. To reverse the print - to print the image rather than the background - screen filler can be spread over all. When it is dry the crayola can be removed with paint thinner.

            When I use antique books, I cover them tightly with saran wrap to keep the crayon from getting on them. Dried flowers and leaves should not be too dry and brittle as they would crumble when rubbed.

            After printing, clean the ink off with cold water. The crayon rubbing will stay on the screen. When cleaning the rubbing from the screen use hot water and a strong cleaner to remove the crayola. Or you can clean the crayola from the screen with paint thinner.

I will have more about rubbings soon as I will be teaching the technique to someone who took my last class at the Power House. She is very interested to learn about rubbings

Last weekend

Erica's print

 A great Arts and Crafts design was printed by another student. First she printed lavender, then
green , black and an iridescent darker blue/green.
This was done on Stonehenge fawn paper - it is 100% rag and has a nice deckle edge.
All of the printed area was lavender in the first state. With screen drawing fluid,she painted everything except what would stay lavender for the second printing and printed green, then painted all of the black areas with drawing fluid, spread filler over all - removed the drawing fluid and printed black. Within the black areas she added iridescent blue/green lines that complete the print.

There is so much repetitive work - painting on the screen with drawing fluid, drying, spreading the filler,
drying, removing the drawing fluid, drying and then
printing - the printing is really fun!
No two prints are exactly the same - they are all originals

Weekend class at the Power House

First two colors printed

The final print - four colors

There were only four students in this class. Kathy, on the right came from the Cleveland, Ohio area and stayed at the Inn.Click on the photos to see them larger.
We worked on reduction screen printing, which is also called the suicide method - because you can never go back. It is a difficult concept, but the only way to make a print with just one screen, using the drawing fluid and screen filler method. I had tried to explain the process on previous blogs. Everything that is to be any color in the print has to be included in the first stencil printed with the screen. Then by layering colors over the first color, wherever the stencil is open, the print can be completed. Good registration is so important and she did a great job. In the photo on the left only two colors have been printed, on the right two more colors have been printed on the darker gray and a soft dark red in just two spots, over the blue - a Santa hat and a Solo cup.

My Class on Oct. 27 & 28 at the Power House

Here is a link for my class, I am looking forward to being on the campus for two days and teaching screen printing. I will have some ideas along for prints at the Power House, but hopefully my students will come with an idea of what they want to do.
We will be making a small edition of prints (12) in this class.We will be using a reduction technique in which the printed area gets smaller for each color that is printed. The unprinted paper can be one of the colors. The print paper will be 9” x 12” and the image should be no larger than 7” x 10”. You could use a copier to size an image. I will have some suitable designs at the class; but it is better to print something you have a feeling for. You can work from your own sketch, photograph or a composite of pasted up images. The finished print will be the same size as whatever you are working from. From now on I will refer to this as the working drawing. If you use a photograph, get a good photocopy of it enlarged to the size of your finished print and keep the original handy to refer to. You can use a copier to enlarge or reduce whatever images you want to use. Plan to have at least a one inch margin around your print. I have  a photo of a reduction print below.
It was printed with light blue, dark purple, black and iridescent blue.  You could plan to print about 4 colors ( + or -). I’m looking forward to our class. http://roycroftprintmaker.blogspot.com/2012/08/the-first-step.html. This link to my screen printing blog will give you some idea of how this works. “Another try at a reduction print” – start with “The fourth and Final Color” and the blog will take you through the process.

E's Trees - sketch through 4th color

Here is a link to a site that shows a different reduction method. She paints on the screen filler directly on the screen instead of using drawing fluid and filler as I do.   http://ilovesmesomeart.livejournal.com/610.html
We could try doing that too.