Sunday 11 November 2018

Slowly Sloe

Winter is coming and so are the sloes. 

I recently added sloes to the foraging series of cards. I think it ended up with eight printings but I may have lost count. Three photo-stencils were used, combined with temporary blocking techniques using a wax based screen filler.
(Sorry about the poor photos).


First two colours, pale yellow rectangle over-printed with opaque  grey.
Screen filler was used to further block the grey stencil and over print greens

Photo-stencil with blocking
First blue with another photo-stencil

Darker blue over print using same technique

Add final black

Sunday 3 June 2018

Three Cornered Leek


<<< Three Cornered Leek smells and tastes of garlic and is great in salads or cooked.

I picked these on the walk to Higher Bussow Farm Studios and popped them in my coffee cup to take some photos.

Leaving them there for a night or two gave a wonderful fragrance to the studio - if you like garlic.

The final print of version 2 of the three cornered leek card. Six printing were used to produce the card. >>>

Thursday 31 May 2018

Three cornered Leek (version 2)

A new version of the three cornered leek card (now called version 1!) is in progress.

  The first colour down is a blend, with the darker tone at the top of the card this time.

You need to print about a dozen sheets before the ink is sufficiently 'blended' to start the production.
And once printing you cannot add more ink without going through the 'blending' process again.

Blends on the rack



The second colour this time is opaque white. It says 'super opaque' on the tim but still needed two printings to achieve a clean white against the dark blend tones.

The third colour (fourth printing (2 x white)) is the green for the foliage. The pigment ink is mixed with a base to make it slightly transparent. This means that the darker tones of the blend at the top of the card also darkens the tone of the foliage.

Two more colours to go....

And then the text, including a new recipe.

Monday 28 May 2018

Chickweed card finally arrives


After a false start, the chickweed card is finished. A signed limited edition of 25 cards complete with a recipe for chick chick pate by Robin Harford at Eatweeds.co.uk. A bargain at £5 each.

Monday 21 May 2018

Sometimes things go wrong

100% success - never happens. And every short cut - isn't.
But it wasn't a short cut that struck when the latest Art for Foraging card (chickweed) came to grief.


When printing the third colour I saw things weren't quite right. The registration was all over the place. I realised that the screen frame had not been properly locked in place on a previous colour. I tried various things but...
...just had to start again. Ho hum...

Wednesday 16 May 2018

Affordable Art

Lesser Celandine
£5!! Send a handmade screenprinted, limited edition, signed, work of art, with a recipe, all in one greeting card. The card also looks great framed.


The cards can now be purchased at Cheese on Coast on Fore Street, St Ives, and the Newlyn Art Gallery in.... Newlyn!

At £5 each these are the cheapest original works of art you will ever buy
.


Gorse flower cordial
Dandelions on the rack

Three cornered Leek in progress

Sunday 29 April 2018

Introduction sessions

Water-based Screenprinting Techniques

Demonstration Sessions 2018
@ Higher Bussow farm Studios, TR26 3BB


  • The demonstrations are intended for complete beginners to experienced screenprinters who want to explore techniques that are suitable for use with water-based inks.
  • Sessions are informal and limited to four attendees per session to give plenty of time for questions, discussions and hands-on opportunities whenever possible. Please book in advance – email No2tomsyard@yahoo.co.uk or call/txt Graham 07542692639
  • Session are independent from each other i.e. it is not necessary to attend Session 1 in order to attend later sessions.

  • The sessions can be considered as an induction for using the facilities in the studio at Higher Bussow Farm Studios. 
  • Each session costs £15.00 and includes light refreshments (which includes our home-roast coffee) and free parking.
Session 1Photographic stencils 
  • using hand-cut positives, rubylith and tapes
  • photographic and inkjet printed positives
  • hand-drawn positives – truegrain, invisible tape
  • natural materials e.g. leaves/seaweed/objects
  • coating screens, drying and exposures

Session 2Non Photographic Stencils 
  • Direct stencils made on-screen.
    • Positive drawing fluid
    • Negative reduction methods – screen blockers and wax crayons
  • Indirect stencils.
    • Paper & freezer paper
    • thin acetate film
  • natural materials

Session 3Monoprints 
  • Techniques using manual on-screen methods.
    • water-soluble crayons and pencils
    • Charcoal, graphite and chalk
    • watercolour paints
    • Blends, blockers

Session 4Computer Techniques for Producing Positives 

  • software choices
  • Using Photoshop CS2 and Photoshop Elements 7.0
  • Converting continuous tone to line, half-tones, CMYK