Koi swimming through the water...

I love screen printing.  You can acheive vibrant results in a short amount of time. (Especially when you compare it to the lithography printing process!). This print is on my Etsy site as well. For the basic screen printing process, there isn't any acid to deal with or etching to master.  The printing process is simultaneous with the creation process so it's instant gratification!

Our print teacher taught us the reduction process. You start by laying out your lightest color ink over your entire paper (except where you have already stopped out if you wanted to keep it white). As you transition to darker colors, you "stop out" what you don't want covered if that makes any sense.

So I did the light orange/yellow ink first.  Then whatever I wanted to remain that color I applied a resist to my screen so those areas I wanted to remain that color wouldn't be hit with ink.  Since you're printing an edition of at least 10, and a few extra for consistancy, you need to apply your ink to each piece of paper before stopping out your color. It's tricky to make sure your registration is consistant so all your layers of ink line up correctly.  It makes much more sense in my head, it generally does.

Miss Mary

Print making is a passion of mine.  I miss being in the studio, I miss Dave Williams, probably the best print teacher in existance. Part of the beauty of print making is that it's remained the same for centuries.  Products, inks and tools may evolve, but the basic concept and techniques remain true. 

Although Lithography isn't my favorite, I still appreciate the art form.  We are given a giant limestone, which are no longer even quarried so whatever is left in circulation is all you get.   These are like gold, if you drop, chip and/or break one, you will feel horrible.

I tend to use photographs for inspiration which are close to my heart. My dad is an amazing photographer and I use a great deal of his work for sources to draw from.  This one is of my mom as a little girl, I love this picture. I have it framed in my house too.



my mom

One of the techniques is drawing on the stone with a grease pencil, giving the print a crayon like quality. The result isn't as appealing for me, but the process is incredible.  So many unique steps.  Preparing the stone with 3 different carbide sand grits, stopping out the borders, drawing on your design, the acid etching where you use varying strengths of acid washes. 

The print process takes hours, preparing your stone again with various washes and gummy liquids, mixing your ink to the perfect consistancy, wetting the stone, rolling on the ink, then wetting the stone again, roll it from a different angle. I've had my hands bleed from the process.  When you run the stone through the printing press, you need to have it adjusted so it gives the stone the right amount of pressure, too much and it'll crack your stone in half, not enough and the entire time you just spent inking your stone is wasted because the ink won't transfer properly. 

To create an edition of 10 will take you hours. For a novice, you generally make 15 prints because the edition needs to be consistant, printed the exact same every time. The extra are the ones with the variations which are noticible enough to not fit into your edition.

Yes Eight...

Apparently octopus have 8 legs...errr...tentacles.  This is a screen print I created, I have a love for them, for the way they look at least.  I can manipulate everything, create movement and fluidity.  There is a joke among my family and Metalsmithing class in college I never made my octopus with 8 tentacles, sometimes aesthetically it just doesn't fit!  So I made an edition of 8 prints with 8 tentacles and titled it "Yes Eight" to be spiteful and make my point.

A long time friend Chad Bowles, also an incredibly talented piano player purchased on of my prints off my Etsy site.  This was also the inspiration for his album cover I created for his beautiful music.  The concept was to create the fluidity of the music, how it dances through your mind and air as you listen.

I have an absolute passion for intaglio thanks to Dave Williams at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff.  He is absolutely amazing & truly inspiring. 

This intaglio/aquatint is of a snake charmer in Africa.  My dad is a photographer and this print was created from one of his photos.  The gentleman depicted invited my dad for tea after...and as my dad said, "How can you turn down tea with a man who charms black cobras?"  Unfortunately, there were...errrr...consequences from drinking the untreated water.  He still said it was worth it.

Anyways, the man and snake are true to the original photograph.  I embellished the image with the foliage, sky, plane and border.  I always like to add more and have a hard time limiting myself.  Maybe this is why intaglio is so appealing, you can always add more lines, stop out sections so they don't etch too deep and become too dark. There are so many layers to a print you don't even realize are there.  It is a true art that deserves a deep appreciation.

You may view this print on my etsy site.

Going Postal...

Printmaking is my other passion in life, especially intaglio. It's an art that has remained the same for centuries. You start off with a flat zinc plate, and through a process of resist, nitric acid, drawing, waiting, proof printing, adjustments and creating the perfect final edition, you are rewarded with an intricate, beautiful & dimentional piece.

This work was inspired from a postage stamp of an actress whose name I can't recall. I have it as my avatar on my www.emylewis.etsy.com site.