Today I went into the printmaking lab and starting experimenting with mono and ghost prints. I played around with some abstract lines and shapes as well as circles from my previous work, but I soon realised I liked the leaf print Steewan showed us in a demonstrated and I wanted to go in that direction.
I grabbed a few branches with leaves from outside and wanted to see how they would print. The imagery that was created was quite beautiful, you can see all the intricate workings and outlines of the leaves and branches. I used the calico fabric for these prints as I like the outcome and sense of organics. There was a happy mistake when I put the leaf under the roller whilst making a print, the green of the chlorophyll from the plant squished out and dyed the calico fabric. I even kept the protective mesh paper used whilst making this print. I really liked how this turned out and I would like to continue printing with leaves and the calico fabric.
I also experimented with the coloured ink with two panels on the fabric. I didn’t quite like the coloured ink as much compared to the black ink, I don’t like using too much colour with this as it can get a bit muddy. I did enjoy working with two panels and would maybe continue playing with it.
Lastly, I did worked with etching on the plastic panel, creating a simple moth design, and printed this onto the fabric. I really enjoyed this method as I can recreate this image as many times as I want, maybe even adding new imagery each time I print. So, I will definitely continue creating different designs with etching.
I really favoured the fabric compared to the paper which gives me the idea to continue using other fabrics to sew together my pieces to create some type of patchwork or even from embroider. Since my imagery contains plants and an insect I might continue the nature theme within my work.