Category Archives: My prints

Printing for my own enjoyment

Zinc etching, from design to print

How to develop a basic drawing into a complex zinc etching. Continue reading

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Zinc plate etching

Project: Kunsthaus (Art house), Rogner Bad Blumau, Austria In 2018 I holidayed in Japan and, whilst there, visited a wonderful structure remodeled by the architect Friedensreich Hundertwasser. I believe it was originally a sewage works, but it has been transformed … Continue reading

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Relief printing with Ezy Carve

Project: Flights of Fancy This print swap is one I joined for the first time last year when the theme was ‘Hello Yellow’. Click here to see my entry if you missed it. The aim is to print a set … Continue reading

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Print Group Swap

Each year in December the members of our print group produce a pile of cut up prints to swap. These are usually prints that either didn’t quite work, are colour experiments or are surplus to requirements. We make our selections … Continue reading

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Project: After the Bushfires – Part 2

This project has developed to incorporate 3 distinct print methods to produce the imagery: solar plate etching, drypoint and linocut. Each was applied to Japanese Iwaki paper and, once dry, this paper was adhered to a sheet of 250gsm BFK … Continue reading

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Project: After the Bushfires – Part 1

It was during a workshop with Brenda Tye in September 2017 that I first explored drypoint printing. We were given a piece of drypoint plastic and an etching needle and told to scratch our design into the plastic before inking … Continue reading

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Project: Going, Going, Almost Gone

This zinc etching had numerous problems as it developed. I started with a couple of photographs taken at Lakes Entrance in Victoria last year. I cropped one to fit my print matrix. The boats were drawn along with a few … Continue reading

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Collaged Monoprint

In a recent workshop with (the amazing) Glen Skein we were each given a package of materials to collage. The guidelines were: The assembled collage was placed face down on a sheet of inked Mylar and run through the press … Continue reading

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Project: Construction – Part 2

Following on from my previous solar plate prints I decided to create a relief linocut with the aim of masking and selectively inking specific areas to achieve colour and tonal variation. Using Photoshop I created a mock-up of what I … Continue reading

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Project: Construction – Part 1

Late last year I visited MONA, the Museum of Old and New Art, in Tasmania. It was a fascinating experience and I was particularly enchanted with an installation entitled 20:50 by Richard Wilson. His website describes it as follows: The … Continue reading

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Project: Reuse, Recycle, Repurpose

I’ve seen quite a bit in the media about fast fashion; sales volumes generated by the fashion & manufacturing sectors, poor quality products designed with a very short life-span to encourage more purchasing, huge quantities of clothing going into land … Continue reading

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Exploring viscosity printing

A while ago I created a very successful deeply etched solar plate image which was exhibited in April. Last month two friends and I were keen to explore viscosity printing again and as I don’t have much in the way … Continue reading

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Project: Bags of Choice

Drypoint trials I’d like to create a concertina book with a whole array of handbags on display. Drypoint isn’t something I’ve done a lot of but using an etching needle to scratch into thin perspex seems like a good way … Continue reading

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Etching into lino

Experimentation with paint stripper Note: Protective clothing, including gloves and face mask, should be worn when using toxic substances. Spurred on by a printmaking workshop I attended last week, where my results were approximate at best, I’ve spent the last … Continue reading

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Collagraphs: Shards project

I’m a fan of jigsaws. I like the idea of pieces slotting together to create a whole, of components that complete a picture. I’ve several ideas for printing individual pieces which can be swapped, rearranged and grouped, forming a variety … Continue reading

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Marks in Nature: Complete

Each of the book pages – see previous posts for these – had a reinforcing paper piece added, overlapping the spine edge, to increase the strength when they came to be stitched together. After some testing I decided that as … Continue reading

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Marks in Nature: 6

Pages: Multi layer print and collage. Chine collé and drawing. Gelli plate peel print using dried plant material. Now to put the book together.

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Marks in Nature: 5

Pages: Masked acrylic paint prints using clingfilm to create texture. Multi layer chine collé and paint. Gelli plate peel print using dried plant material. Masking and chine collé.

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Marks in Nature: 4

Pages: Chine collé and other collaged pieces of handmade paper were included here. The stencil was used as a mask to achieve this negative image transfer. Overlaid chine collé pieces. Plant dyed tissue was slightly crumpled and adhered to the … Continue reading

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Marks in Nature: 3

Pages: The carved lino was initially rolled with Stormy Grey oil-based ink. Prior to printing I decided I wasn’t going to like the colour against the (mainly) banana fibre paper so, to remove the ink and start again, I sprayed … Continue reading

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Marks in Nature: 2

Creating chine collé Using the stencil I made and showed in my last post, along with a selection of other stencils/masks, I created a stash of chine collé sheets on semi-translucent deli paper. These were done using different printing methods … Continue reading

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Marks in Nature: 1

Having cropped my chosen image (see previous blog post) I cut a piece of lino in reverse. To provide more options I also designed and cut a stencil along similar lines. The stencil is shown on black paper so it’s … Continue reading

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Project: Stratification

Earlier this year I posted some experimental collagraph plates (here and here) in anticipation of creating a larger finished work. In 2021 I worked on a print called ‘Hidden Vessels’, shown left, which never made it to this site as … Continue reading

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Hello Yellow postcard swap

In February I joined a printmaking postcard swap with the theme ‘Hello Yellow’ and posted the step-by-step process to create my entry. I mailed 11 of my edition, keeping one for myself, and was told that 46 people participated: from … Continue reading

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Collagraph ‘Looking Up’ framed

I recently dropped several of my prints at the framers and they’re gradually coming back to me beautifully finished. What a difference a frame makes! Claire Brach, Looking Up, oil-based inks on 250gsm BFK Rives, 2022

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More collagraph experimentation

In January I made a plate which didn’t print terribly well, very dark and lacking detail. In February I reprinted it in a different colour range and was much happier with the result. The aim was to see how a … Continue reading

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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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