I had intended to hammer some metal this weekend. I got to do a bit of hammering; but it was in the form of creating a double steel plate ring as part of a commission I have on - the bowls will have to wait.
The big focus of the weekend was: reorganising our studios; and getting my prints for the
Maleny Printmakers Exhibition near finished. Yesterday was furniture moving and sorting; and today was printmaking.
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| ©2013 Barryu Smith - Heavily etched aluminium plate |
Our friend Susan B said it was possible to print 5 or 6 prints in sequence - inking all the plates up at the same time. I wanted to test that because one of the things that takes the most time in printing is constantly cleaning one's hand between inking and picking up paper to print with .
So with the Paynes Grey ink at the ready ....
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| ©2013 Barry Smith - Water based etching ink on the plate - works well |
I got into inking, rubbing back and buffing 5 plates.
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| ©2013 Barry Smith - Plates inked ready for taking surplus ink off and buffing ready for printing |
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| ©2013 Barry Smith - Plates ready for printing |
And started with an artist's proof of the 5 plates.
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| ©2013 Barry Smith - Proofs |
And then into production.
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| ©2013 Barry Smith - Production begins |
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| ©2013 Barry Smith - Bit too much pressure |
The system worked - I managed to do 50 prints (10 of each of the 5 plates) in 5 hours. Fiona had cut the paper; but the 5 hours included all other aspects of the print process. I thought it was a good outcome. I now have 10 prints prints almost ready for the exhibition. A good day at the press.
wow, this is great, barry! so productive. a good body of work here.
ReplyDeleteDefinitely a good day at the press!!
ReplyDeleteI love the diversity of what you make, do wish I lived closer to actually see what you do.( and how you do it!).
ReplyDeleteV, VA & P - thanks heaps for your supportive comments. Working with paper is not my strongest medium but it has been quite a lot of fun and has rekindled my interest in printmaking. And one of the positives of our recent burst of clean and reorganising is that the print area in the shed-studio is now such a useable space. P - maybe you need to play for a day when next you are up this way. All - go well. B
ReplyDeleteBeaut prints...hope I get to the show.
ReplyDeleteJM - look forward to seeing you there. B
ReplyDelete