Monoprinting On Buckram

Printing plate

I really liked the composition I had been working on in fabric and the layering I had created on the printing plate so I decided to experiment further with buckram as a substrate.  I particularly like the texture it adds to the print and that it picks up the ink differently to paper, creating a more washed out quality.

A5 portrait, first press

I added too much ink to the plate on this pressing and lost much of the detail.  I ran it through the press a couple of times onto paper to remove the excess before lightly re-inking and returning to buckram.

A5, portrait, re-inked

Offcut

The results from the offcuts of buckram were surprising and, I think, successful because the selvedge had not been removed from the piece and so its texture was transferred to the print.  The pieces are too narrow to use for a book cover, but I think they could be added to a mixed media piece - perhaps incorporated with fabric and paper prints. 

Detail

Offcut

Detail

I think the colour mixing from the build up of layers here is really interesting - red and blue are still evident, but there are tones of purple built up and an almost marbled quality which I like.

Magazine paper, final press

Note: I was unable to continue further development work in monoprinting as a result of the university's closure due to coronavirus.  I am using the following books to research possibilities for making prints at home with the resources available to me: