Category Archives: My prints

Printing for my own enjoyment

Simplifying collagraphs

In September 2017 I attended a workshop where I created several collagraph and drypoint plates, supposedly designed to be printed together. The plates have been stored since then as I was never 100% happy with the results and didn’t really … Continue reading

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Back to back concertina: Treads

Early in 2021 I drew a montage of tyre treads as a basis for an etching plate. It was etched into a zinc plate, printed in several ways and 2 pieces were made into a stitched booklet for a friend. … Continue reading

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Collagraph ‘Journey’ – experimentation

During the 5 day residential collagraph course I attended in January I created several plates and today I’m showing one that was made as a trial for a larger piece of work. I started by cutting away 2 sections from … Continue reading

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Project: Hello Yellow

I recently joined a postcard swap challenge. The aim is to print 12 postcards responding to the theme ‘Hello Yellow’ and post 11 of them to a central address. The coordinator then keeps one for the group archives and divides … Continue reading

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Project: Reflections from the Pier

In November my husband and I had a few days away in a rented holiday cottage. A beautiful venue, only 8 onsite cottages, lovely helpful management couple and 40 acres for us to roam. The best thing was the view … Continue reading

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Brain Clutter: New experimentation

It was late 2021 when I started this project and posted my first Brain Clutter series collagraph (see here) and I’ve been keen to return to the theme ever since. Last week, at a 5 day residential collagraph workshop I … Continue reading

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Print commission: Piece 3

For the final piece for this commission I went back to one of my very old linocut pieces based on a drawing of a shoe I did in 2014. The previous two prints I created both relied on damp paper … Continue reading

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Print commission: Piece 2

Last week I attended a 4 1/2 day collagraph workshop and created 3 new plates. I decided to try one of them on the handmade Hemp paper I’ve been sent to experiment printing with. The first piece I printed for … Continue reading

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Print commission: Piece 1

I was recently engaged to explore printing on handmade Hemp paper by someone who intends to market this paper for sale. I was given a general idea of what was required based on some work I had done previously. Piece … Continue reading

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Print group concertina swap

Every December our print group cut up either failed or excess prints produced during the year and swap with each other to create small concertina books. Our group is full of very experienced printmakers, most of whom specialize in specific … Continue reading

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Collagraph: Scribbles – Part 2

Several weeks ago I created a new collagraph plate which I decided to use as a swap project print. I blogged about the trials here. This week I’ve completed a series of 13 – 12 to swap and 1 for … Continue reading

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Quick monotypes

I had a quick dip into the world of monotypes recently after watching a few short videos. Essentially I spent a bit of time with ink, scrapers and credit cards to see what marks I could make. These two were … Continue reading

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Revisiting a collagraph

Back in 2017 I attended a very good and frantically busy workshop exploring a range of printing methods. During the course we each constructed a collagraph plate, Shellacked, then inked and printed them. This was mine: On the left is … Continue reading

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Collagraph: Scribbles

Exploring new techniques to create plates I got my mini drill out and, using a fine tip, applied it to the surface of a piece of mountboard. The aim was to produce a range of organic imprecise lines as opposed … Continue reading

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Project: etched swans

I made my first etched plates in 2016 and my first hard ground etching was some swans I had drawn. This was pretty boring, simple line work, and my tutor at the time thought adding some water and sky would … Continue reading

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Project: Splat

A couple of weeks ago I was searching through my somewhat disorganised sketchbooks for something to translate into a photopolymer intaglio print (a solar plate print). This is my least favourite print style (after screenprinting) for a number of reasons. … Continue reading

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Project Minimal: Complete

Both internal and external pages have been printed and bound using reverse piano hinge. Each internal page has a semi-translucent title page preceding it, as an introduction to the following abstracted imagery. Although previous posts have shown the origin of … Continue reading

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Collagraphs with handmade paper

I’ve long been told that it’s difficult to print intaglio on unsized handmade paper, so it was time to give it a go. I always print on quality cotton rag paper, usually 250gsm BFK Rives, so my failures can be … Continue reading

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Project Minimal: Eighth page

There is much bushland around where I live and I walk the trails regularly. Teenagers on bicycles & mountain bikes and older lads on motorbikes are systematically destroying areas of the bush; chopping down trees, pulling out shrubs and native … Continue reading

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Collagraph: cutting and arranging

Several years ago I printed a series called ‘Other Worlds’ and I’ve now repurposed one of the original collagraph plates. My favourite print from the plate looked like this: I started by cutting the plate into pieces and sealing the … Continue reading

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Project Minimal: Seventh page

Low tide at Bellambi Point dog beach. It’s a place I visit regularly and I’ve many, many photos of rock pools, surf, sea grasses, sand undulations, shells and discarded detritus. Source photo: From paper I cut three abstract shapes. This … Continue reading

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Project Minimal: Sixth page

Still taking pictures of the breakwater in Newcastle I was amazed to see rocks heavily pock-marked by wind erosion. Well, I assume that’s what’s caused these amazing indentations in the rocks. Source photo: Using Sharpie pen and paper I drew … Continue reading

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Project Minimal: Fifth page

This print originated from some drawings I did of the TV remote control where I was exploring abstracting a drawn design, full details of which are here. The item was drawn fairly accurately, then again without looking at the paper … Continue reading

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Project Minimal: Fourth page

More photos of the breakwater in Newcastle show not only huge rocks in place but also concrete blocks, which I can only imagine were installed by cranes using the handles clearly visible. Source photo: Finished print: 300gsm Hahnemuhle warm white … Continue reading

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Project Minimal: Third page

A recent overnight stay in Newcastle (NSW) gave me the opportunity to walk the length of Nobby’s Breakwater, although I see on Google maps it’s marked as Newcastle Breakwater. With my camera in hand I took many photos of the … Continue reading

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Project Minimal: Second page

During a few days away recently we stopped at Terrigal and walked along the recently completed sea-front boardwalk. I took numerous photos of the wind carved rocks, some of which can be seen in the image above. Source photos: Finished … Continue reading

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Project Minimal: First page

The inspiration for this project comes from my recent photos and drawings which have been abstracted, simplified and stylised. The end results bear no relation to the original source materials which have been used to inspire exploration of shape, colour … Continue reading

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Project Minimal: Experimentation

For the last couple of months I’ve been working on abstracting designs from drawings and photographs, trialing stencils and masking techniques, exploring textural prints and creating layers. All this for my current project entitled Minimal – having put my Brain … Continue reading

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Exploring Screen-printing

Last week I attended a 4 day screen-printing course with tutor Julie Ryder. Not only is she a very good practitioner, extremely well versed in the technicalities of the craft, but is also an excellent designer and tutor. Not all … Continue reading

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Print swap

At the end of the year our printmaking group always do a swap and make books using a print from each member. It’s a great way to share and have a record of everyone, as some don’t continue the following … Continue reading

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Brain Clutter: Plate 1

New project I’ve had a lot going on recently and have felt a little overloaded with thoughts, conflicts and noise – all internally. My new project, being created as an extension of my recent collagraphs, aims to document some of … Continue reading

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Collagraph: Man-made – progress

I first showed this print plate in October where I discovered the issue of using Shellac that had been made for a while and then shaken to remix. Tiny particles had hardened and subsequently transferred to the plate and printed … Continue reading

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Collagraph: Lines & Boxes

I’m enjoying exploring new collagraph materials and these 15cm square bases give enough space to quickly create small unified pieces. Stage 1 For this plate I started with varnished mountboard which I lightly sanded to get a roughened surface. Lines … Continue reading

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Collagraph: continuing Hexagons

I really enjoyed making this plate and the resulting prints I showed in an earlier blog, so I’ve continued with some colour experimentation. I’ve moved from the warmer sepia, red and orange/yellow hues into a much cooler set of colours; … Continue reading

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Collagraph: Hexagons

My new collagraph comes as a result of further experimentation leading from my ‘Man-made’ project in October. The strata has been constructed using a variety of media including, from left to right, Akua carborundum gel, several layers of torn handmade … Continue reading

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Collagraph: Man-made

Using minimal materials; essentially mountboard, a couple of pieces of lightweight paper and some adhesive foil, I built a low-relief multi-layered collagraph plate. I cut into a few areas, removing the mountboard surface, thereby encouraging the ink to ‘grab’ the … Continue reading

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Project: trees

Having been in a very restrictive lock-down situation, due to increasing numbers of covid 19 cases in our state, I’ve been close to home for over 10 weeks now without a definite end in sight; possibly some small relaxation of … Continue reading

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Making Boxes from my stash

Over the last couple of years I’ve enjoyed a lot of monoprinting using stencils, masks and pattern-creation with textured items. I’ve amassed quite a stash of prints. A few of us decided to cut up our prints and create small … Continue reading

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Project: Treads notebook

From time to time I use my prints as covers for notebooks. Today I used my hand-coloured print from my ongoing Treads project. Might as well use it rather than shoving it in a drawer for ever. It’s a simple … Continue reading

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Project: Treads

Car and truck tires seem to have been in my peripheral vision lately so I drew a few and collaged them together to form a rectangular design. Being such a fan of geometric and linear imagery I was pleased with … Continue reading

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Banksia Book – Constructed

Over recent months I’ve documented my progress in printing some Banksia themed solar plates I was given late last year. Some of them are quite worn, or possibly not etched deeply enough to start with, but they have been a … Continue reading

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Project: Information Highway

Take two products … Last year I invested in several new stencils. In theory I could have cut some of them myself but the strain on my hands and possible mistakes when doing this wasn’t worth it. So the question … Continue reading

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Workshop: Eco-printing with Wendy Joyce

Anyone who follows my site will know I’ve done a bit of eco-printing/dyeing over the years, but I’ve never tried it using a steaming method. Last week I was introduced to this new technique by eco-printer Wendy Joyce in her … Continue reading

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Banksia solar plates: further prints

I’ve now completed printing the remaining solar plates featuring Banksia designs that I was given. These are currently being dried ready to be formed into a book showcasing the best of the plates. Here are a few more of the … Continue reading

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Gel plate collagraph printing

I recently read an article describing the technique of pressing collagraph plates into an inked gelli plate surface, followed by pulling the print from the gelli plate – not the collagraph. In essence, a transfer print. My normal printing routine … Continue reading

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Banksia solar plates: new prints

Since my last post regarding the etched solar plates I was recently given I’ve been experimenting with different papers and colourways to see what effects I can get. The plates are several years old and some of the etching isn’t … Continue reading

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Banksia Book – Part 1

I recently wrote about some etched solar plates I’ve been given, which I’ve started printing. My aim is to create a book showcasing the prints to give to the friend who kindly donated the plates. My criteria are as follows: … Continue reading

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Abstract Banksia solar plates

Late last year a friend gave me 2 etched solar plates depicting collages of Banksias taken from her own photos. I printed these for her (see post here) and she used them as book covers for a gift. Since then … Continue reading

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Project: Noise

This project came about when playing very loud music whilst working alone in my studio. Sometimes finding it difficult to remain motivated through the long periods of lockdown and lack of external stimulation I used some of my favourite bands … Continue reading

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2020 12 29 Image of the week

This monoprint, by my friend Judy Howe, is part of the Hazelhurst Gallery & Arts Centre 20 year anniversary exhibition. I’ve always enjoyed her work; her reduced yet vibrant colour palettes create life in each of her original monoprints. Judy … Continue reading

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