Last weekend I spent time at Tiliqua Tiliqua Gallery (and art space) printmaking under the tutelage of Katika Schultz along with 7 other keen participants. The information I received in advance was fairly vague, which intrigued me as it gave little in the way of what we would be working on/with, and the title was described as ‘Two Day Printmaking Skills and Expansion Workshop’.

On arrival we were given origami paper to fold, cut, tear or manipulate in any way we wished. These were then lightly inked and printed through the etching press, alone, together and ghost printed.

Above left is the first inking with a ghost print as the origami shape was run through a second time. On the right the ink was more liberally applied and the shape combined with another piece.

The following image is of another origami piece that was opened out before inking, then put through the press 3 times. A piece of acetate was rolled with yellow ink, corrugated cardboard was lightly pressed into the surface and was applied over the background once the original layers were dry.

In this case the yellow has overwhelmed the subtlety of the lower layers. The solution to this is to either increase the density of the origami prints or soften the yellow. Much of the detail has been lost. It’s all a learning curve.

Using a variety of textural items I cut vessel shapes. Masking tape was adhered in layers over plain paper and cut to shape to create a base for my vessels to sit upon. The pieces were inked, laid on the press bed with dampened paper on top and run through.

The vessels were made from flocked wallpaper, water-washable wallpaper and a piece of cardboard packaging.

The composition was altered to include a vessel made from plastic mesh.

Using eucalyptus oil we explored image transfer from laser printed photographs to paper. I quickly found that some laser copies I’d printed some time ago weren’t successful. My assumption is that the inks had bonded too securely with the printer paper and couldn’t be transferred, particularly the darks and especially the black.

Above you can see where the tree shapes are totally blank and the brilliant orange of a raging bush fire has almost disappeared. The lesson is to use fresh laser copies.

And there you have it! Two laser printed images successfully transferred together onto BFK Rives printmaking paper.

I inked a piece of tarlatan with yellow and applied two eucalyptus transfer prints over it.

Very interesting. The jug started off as a fairly dark laser print but once the tarlatan was behind it and the pieces went through the press the ink from the laser copy separated around the textural surface of the tarlatan as it pushed into the surface. A close up of a section is below.

It was a fascinating workshop. A few of the techniques I’d dabbled with before but in a different manner. That’s why, no matter how good or experienced a printmaker you are, it’s always worthwhile attending events with other professionals as there is always something more and new to learn.

I’m not sure what I’ll do with these new ideas but I know they will be used in my work going forward at some stage.

Katika was a superb tutor, knowledgeable, approachable, generous with her time and clearly a great communicator. It was fun, informative and an excellent learning experience.