I proceeded to the next variations using a different set of masks: A Clematis flower cut out after a drawing I made in 2012 for the drawing course, with a Clematis leaf drawing from one of my potted plants. I designed a registration system using a grid of guiding lines on a sheet of white paper the size of my printing paper, covered by a pvc plate, on which I placed the inked plate and the stencils.

For the ink, I switched to Akua Liquid Pigment, which is also watersoluble. I wanted to try these out because I had read that they have a practically unlimited open time and do not dry on the plate. This turned out to be true and made the entire printmaking process so much more relaxed, because it took off me the constant worry of being fast enough to print the plate before the ink was too dry. I used a variety of different paper types: Very smooth and bright white digital printing paper, rougher medium-weight Fabriano Accademia drawing paper,  Japanese rice and Sumi-E paper, brown Kraft paper (very smooth), and green, gray and red pastel paper (rough, medium weight).

At the beginning, I used the press for all prints, but later on, I also transferred the ink by simply rubbing the back of the paper with my hand, finger or a wooden spoon. This was because my plastic stencils tended to slide on the pvc inking plate when the pressure was too hight. Using the hand, I was better able to adapt the pressure, in particular with the thin Japanese papers.

I constantly had to adapt the pressure of the press to the different number of layers I used for printing: The first print was regularly done using an underplate for registration, the inking plate, the stencils, and the paper. Then I removed layers when making ghost prints or printing from the inked side of the stencils. The setup remained a bit chaotic throughout the series, but I think this is part of the learning process – gaining experience with working procedures and developing a routine that works well.

Initially, I chose three basic colours for this project: Diarylide yellow (a very warm yellow tone), red oxide, and Phtalo blue. I began the series with simply overprinting lighter layers with darker colours, but tended not to like the results. For example, layers of yellow and blue resulted in muddy green that looked like nothing. Maybe it was the orange yellow tone I chose, or maybe the layers were not transparent enough. I added black to improve contrast and also produced interesting monochrome prints. Then I discovered that a pre-mixed dark brown worked well with the red oxide, and this led to the idea of using additional pre-mixed colours to improve the overall colour impression of my prints.  So I used pre-mixed orange (yellow and red oxide), dark brown (red oxide and black), and green (phtalo blue and yellow) for further experiments.

I also tried out Titanium white but found it not opaque enough. It wasn’t able to cover existing layers of darker colours and only added a milky sheen, and it was too weak to print as first colour on coloured paper. I could have added more pigment but I decided to abandon white for this series.

Unexpectedly, I created texture effects with the plastic stencils on the pvc plate – when pulling the stencils off the plate, the remaining ink was full of strange marks, and I used these patterns in ghost prints to create textured shapes. I then tried to incorporate the contrast of plain versus textured shapes into further prints. I also made use of the linear elements that developed at the contours around the stencils and incorporate them as additional layer into the composition.

Overall, the project got a bit out of control and I got carried away by the process. I produced over 90 prints and think only very few of them are really finished. I would have liked to add more layers for most. I kept reflecting how I could bring out the shapes better, add interesting colours through layers, improve the overall colour effect by adding additional layers. But at a certain point I simply had to stop because I felt I could spend a month or more working full-time on these prints until I might have completed them all.

During the process, I felt overwhelmed by the sheer mass of prints I was producing, not wanting to waste any ink on the plate. Each plate produced the first print, a ghost print, the full plate print plus prints from the inked side of the stencils. Adding layers to existing prints wasn’t always working so I made new prints on white paper to retain the beautiful and interesting shapes and textures, rather than re-inking the plate, so the pile of prints grew and grew… Then I discovered how I could place the stencils on the existing print to print only on selected areas that would support the composition.

I was no longer able to see all my prints at the same time, which made it difficult to select the next ones for overprinting in a particular colour. Looking through all the prints, I realized that I was able to organize them into colour series with similar overall effect, for example monochrome, selected two colours, selected three colours, or prints on coloured paper. This helped with organizing the work process. For example, I decided that I wanted to print with pre-mixed orange and then went through my piles of prints to look which ones might benefit from a layer of orange. These I pinned onto my book shelf and from there selected one after the other for adding spots of orange.

I also developed a routine for cleaning up the stencils between printing sessions and for different colours. Akua inks are a bit different from other water-based inks in that they have to be dissolved with soapy water first, then can be washed off. Using water first will create a mess. I researched the web for product handling info and watched Youtube videos to find this out, and then learnt how to properly handle the cleanup. What works best for me is first wipe off any pigment using kitchen towels or a rag, before washing out the rest using soapy water.

All in all, this series was a huge and extremely valuable learning experience for me. I wrote several pages with observations in my notebook. I learnt so much and I feel there was still more to discover. But the pressure of getting on with the course made me feel uncomfortable spending so much time on a single project.  I also thought it might be more beneficial to proceed with the next suggested variations to see whether the techniques might work to later complete some of the unfinished prints.

Some more points I took home

Every ink brand seems to be different! It took my a while until I was able to produce successful print layers with the Akua inks. I began with pure liquid ink but the layers were not saturated enough. I experimented with tack thickener and then combined the liquid ink with transparent intaglio base medium which seemed to work well for my process.

Every paper is different! Most strikingly, the colours come across very differently, depending on the paper. For example, red oxide was a warm, dark red on rough paper, but became a milky dark rose tone on the smooth bright-white paper. Consequently, the mixing of colours on different tyes of paper produce strikingly different overall colour effects.

White is important! I realized that leaving some white paper unprinted helps to make the existing colours look much brighter. This may not always be wanted, but it does make a huge difference and should be taken into account when composing a print.

Selected prints from the series

Monochrome, with and without white paper left

Prints on coloured paper

Multi-colour, multi-layered prints on white paper