Tuesday 5 June 2012

Damp studio and a purple hare

I can use my studio at last and we've moved my press in there now. We had a huge condensation problem but it has not recurred since we raised everything up on blocks of wood to increase ventilation and put up extra guttering. I was in a dreadful panic when I found all the water on the floor but Stephen was very calm and practical. I just couldn't believe that it was actually the sudden warm weather which was the problem (after all, the studio stayed so dry even in all that non stop rain we had).


That's my little press on the side there. I've got it out ready to print some collagraph plates I've been working on today.



Before the flood I had a go at making some screen prints using drawing fluid and screen block. The instructions seemed fairly straightforward and I prepared 2 screens. But I was a bit disappointed with the results and I just found the process rather unpredictable. The design is painted straight on to the screen freehand and the rest is blocked out. Looking at them again today I think this purple hare didn't come out too badly. He's just lost some detail on the right hand side (including his whiskers) but I don't know why. He's about 15 inches tall. You can't really do anything small or with lots of little details. Maybe I'll give rhe process another go some time.