Chapter 8: String Prints

3.8.1 Gathering sources for printing blocks

 

 

I love this assignment! Maps have fascinated me since childhood, when I dreamed the afternoons away over my first atlas. My collection of maps comes in handy in this chapter, and I love to use them as a design source.  On this collage you see OS maps from my walking tours in the UK, pages from a book about the history of map making, from  a book with exciting aerial photographs (“One Earth”), and tourist leaflets.

 

	Three sketchbook pages with drawings from the sources above. Even in a simple drawing I found they could be interpreted in many different ways. Using coloured pencil was just playfulness, I love colouring in. When making the printing blocks I used the viewfinder again to select areas.

 

Making string printing blocks

I followed the instructions, but perhaps I did not have the right sort of double sided sticky tape. After I had sprayed varnish on the blocks, the strings started to get loose. I had to press them back very firmly and let the blocks lie under a heavy catalogue overnight. Also the tape tended to come off the cardboard during printing. For my last block I tried a different method: I applied glue with a nozzle on my drawn lines and pressed the string directly on the cardboard. The strings stayed in place, and the block handled well during printing.

For one block I used rubber band instead of string. It was a little difficult to stick into place and to get it to stay there, but I wanted to try the clear line.

Here are the blocks with prints in my sketchbook (the photographs were taken after the activities, so the blocks are already well coated with paint).

 

	The size of these first four blocks is 6x6 cm.
	The rubber band block. One advantage of the rubber band is that it does not flatten down from the pressure of the printing process.
	These two blocks are size 10x10 cm. The last block was made to continue no 5 as requested in activity 3.8.3.
	Glueing on the string on the last block.

 

3.8.2 Rubbings and prints

I used copy paper and wrapping paper for this activity. Some of the sheets came from my stack of coloured papers, one had been used as table cover for spraying bronze varnish on the printing blocks. I washed the rubbings with layers of ink and watercolour, rubbed areas with transparent oil pastel, printed with ink, and with varnish on one of the sheets, which gave interesting negative shapes on the back side. The varnish worked like bleach.

 

		Rubbings DIASHOW ANZEIGEN ALLE HERUNTERLADEN

 

Prints: Same range of papers as above, plus wallpaper, crinkled paper, collaged paper from the last module, and old maps. I used acrylics for printing and for most of the colour washes. 

 

		Prints DIASHOW ANZEIGEN ALLE HERUNTERLADEN

 

3.8.3

The string block is also good for printing into thickly applied acrylic paint.

		Extended patterns DIASHOW ANZEIGEN ALLE HERUNTERLADEN

 

 

I am still playing with this long piece, around 120x15 cm. Leftover copies from chapter 6, glued on light watercolour paper and painted with gesso, printed, lines sewn and traced with felt tip pen. I wonder where this will lead to.