Day 17: Jo Lankester Printmaking Residency @ Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts

Day 17: Printmaking residency at Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts, Townsville

I arrived at the studio early to have another look at the prints before collecting Tate Adams to view the new work.

I had a lot of prints for him to look at and felt confident with the new plates.

Tate had redesigned the book layout and was excited to show me, it is now a bound book consisting of three pages, two of which fold out.

I had the prints all laid out on a large table and Tate swooped on the prints with an eager eye. He chose two very quickly saying they were much better than the two I showed him a few days ago and more in line with the 4 prints purchased by Perc Tucker Regional Gallery from my last group exhibition XXX+Why at Pinnacles Gallery, Riverway Arts Centre, Townsville.

As soon as Tate Adams left I commenced the first colour in the edition. The lines are so deeply etched that when all three plates are printed consecutively the ink bleeds. So I'll be printing one colour at a time.

Happy printmaking!

Warmly,
Jo Lankester

P.S Set aside one hour a day to keep in touch with your peers. Read about other artists. Look for competitions and other opportunities. Participate in an online forum.

P.P.S Discover how to turn your printmaking hobby into a profitable business www.howtogetstartedinprintmaking.com 

P.P.P.S You must be the change you wish to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi

Day 16: Jo Lankester Printmaking Residency @ Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts

Day 16: Printmaking Residency @ Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts

Today was a huge day in the studio proofing new plates.

I proofed all the plates in black first to see exactly what was etched in each plate. I printed different combinations of plates using Yellow Ochre, Burnt Siena and Black.

I was very happy with the line definition and image diversity. As mentioned in previous posts, the plates were created on location at the old Echlin Street Quarry, Townsville. Each plate has a variation of mark, some with a greater intensity of line than others, allowing for diversity when printing using multiple plates.

Tate Adams will be visiting the studio in the moring to view the new plates.

To be continued......

Warmly,
Jo Lankester.

Day 15: Jo Lankester Printmaking Residency @ Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts

Day 15: Printmaking Residency at Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts.

As mentioned in my previous post, I decided to create a new series of plates for consideration for the book. I spent last night applying Liquid Hard Ground on 6 Aluminium plates ready for to take on location at the old Echlin Street Quarry, Townsville.

I am lucky the the wet season has started early this year as the natural springs were flowing. They weren't flowing as fast as previous site visits but they were flowing enough for the plates to glide down the old road.

I'm glad that there was less water flow than I anticipated as different marks were created  to previous plates.

I also skid the plates across a dry rocky surface for different marks.

I etched the plates for 10 minutes and discovered the acid was substantially weaker due to all the activity over the past two weeks so I added an extra 250 gms of salt, waited for it to dissolve before putting the plates back in the acid for another 15 minutes.

The lines are a deep rough bite. Just what I was after.

Happy printmaking.

Warmly,
Jo Lankester

Day 14: Jo Lankester Printmaking Residency @ Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts

Welcome to my blog,

Day 14: Printmaking Residency at Umbrella Studio saw a twist in my approach to creating the prints for the book Fissure to be published by Tate Adams, Lyre Bird Press, I decided to create a whole new series of prints made site at Echlin Street Quarry. With 4 days remaining of the residency I have plenty of time to prep, create, etch and proof the plates.

After talking to Tate Adams on the weekend, it was decided that the two images where too similar and did not contain the same feel to previous prints created on location at the Echlin Street Quarry. Tate requested another print displaying more mark variation.

Today was spent sourcing the aluminium, having it cut to size, degreasing and applying the liquid hard ground to six aluminum plates. I will set off to the abandoned Echlin Street Quarry first thing in the morning.

Happy printing.

Warmly,
Jo Lankester

Intaglio: Acrylic-Resist Etching, Collagraphy, Engraving, Drypoint, Mezzotint

Day 13: Jo Lankester Printmaking Copper Sulphate workshop @ Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts

Welcome to my blog on printmaking.

Day 13 of my printmaking residency at Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts was the last day of the Copper Sulphate Aquatint Etching workshop using Aluminium and Zinc.

The objectives of the coarse was to create two editions using Sugarlift, Aluminium and Zinc in Copper Sulphate Etch to create an Aquatint without using rosin, spay paint, sandpaper etc, only using the plate and the acid.

Today everyone was incredibly productive, producing unique state and small limited editions.

I prepared the paper the night before and created a template for up to 5 prints to be printed in one go. By doing this the artists were able to produce there editions easily in the time we had.

We had a little trouble with the blankest moving as the plates passed through the press so everyone worked together to ensure the blankets were flat from start to finish

Gabriel Smith pushed her zinc plate further in the acid to get a rich velvet black aquatint. Previously the zinc was open biting rather than creating a tooth to hold ink. Gaby carefully etched the plate by watching the plate in the acid and removing it before the black build up on the surface of the plate lifted. I think the times were no more than 30 seconds each and she patiently did this over a period of time watching the textured surface of the zinc gradually build to ensure it held ink.

There was a joke going..
"What do you call a group of printmakers standing around a press? An impressionable crowd. "

Nadia Hilton produced some very interesting experimental prints including using and inking process called, A la poupee A method of applying two or more than one colour to a plate

At the end of the workshop we drew a name each for a print exchange, It as great to see such a willing exchange amongst artists, most people swapped with more then one person in the group.

Indian Ink Sugarlift recipe:

• Place Indian ink in a saucepan on the stove and bring to the boil
• Pour 1/2 a cup of white sugar in at a time dissolving as you go until you have a thickish syrup.
• You can add addition Indian ink to the mix as required before applying to your plate if you require a thinner solution.

To your success as a printmaker.

Warmly,
Jo Lankester

Australian Printmaking in the 1990s: Artist Printmakers : 1990-1995

Day 12 Printmaking Residency: Jo Lankester Printmaking Copper Sulphate workshop @ Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts

Hi, thanks for reading my blog on printmaking.

Today is the start of the second weekend of the Copper Sulphate Etching workshop at Umbrella Studio, Contemporary Arts and we leaped straight into proofing the sugarlift Aquatint etchings on aluminium and zinc.

The Zinc plates had more of an open bite effect, previously I have been able to obtain a strong black aquatint etch but this time round we have struggled to get the desired effect. On the other hand the Aluminum has worked beautifully with rich velvety blacks with only 3 minutes in the Copper Sulphate Acid.

Tomorrow the artists will be creating a limited edition of the the plates they have created in the workshop.

Happy printing,

Warmly,
Jo Lankester
Magical Secrets about Line Etching & Engraving: The Step-by-Step Art of Incised Lines, with an Appendix on Printing by Kathan Brown

Day 11: Jo Lankester Printmaking Residency @ Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts

Hello, and thank you for taking the time to read my blog on printmaking.

Day 11, of my printmaking residency at Umbrella Studio, Contemporary Arts was fantastic.

I printed a couple of proofs of the second and final three plate colour etching and have a strong BAT, (Bon a tier French for Good To Print.) to show Tate Adams, Lyre Bird Press.

I mixed my own black, 2/3 Charbonnel RSR & 1/3 Charbonnel 55985 and took this photo as a reference for when this batch runs out.

After taking this photo, I took another proof with the plates facing the other direction, including the Lyre Bird  on the reverse but facing the right way up. I did this because of the weight of the picture. The black in the top left corner of  the print in the foreground needed to be in the bottom right. And the large Burnt Siena shapes in the top print needed to be on the bottom of the page rather than at the top and center.

Once I pulled the prints, I felt there was a balance and harmony in the prints. They felt complete.

Happy printmaking.

Warmly,
Jo Lankester
Colour Etching (Printmaking Handbooks)

Day 10: Jo Lankester Printmaking Residency @ Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts

Hi, thank you for taking the time to read my blog on printmaking.

Day 10 of my printmaking residency at Umbrella Studio, Contemporary Arts was manly focussed on completing the drawings for the second, three colour plate etching in my artist book Fissure to be published by Tate Adams, Lyre Bird Press.

The third plate, pictured in progress, is concerning me. I feel I have over drawn a section similar to the first Burnt Siena plate. I have decided to etch the plate and take a proof to see the result but I am definitely open to redrawing the two Burnt Siena plates if required.

I underestimated the time it would take to draw each plate, in all a good 6-8 hrs of scratching with an etching needle.

In retrospect the combination of sugarlift and drawing with an etching needle would speed the process up and create great marks.

Happy Printing,

Warmly,
Jo Lankester

Day 9: Jo Lankester Printmaking Residency @ Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts

Day 9 of  my printmaking residency at Umbrella Studio, Contemporary Arts was a challenging one. I prepared some paper the night before, ready to take a proof of the first page, the Lyrebird and the reverse side, the first three plate colour Aluminum etching.

My blankets are only just long enough to accommodate the etching plates, 950 x 400 mm. Umbrella Studios have a couple of thin blankest long enough to print with so I was relived to have another blanket to use.
















The Lyre bird plate is small, 100 x 200 mm and sits in the middle of the first page. I was concerned when printing the three plate image on the other side that I the embossing of the Lyrebird plate would be visible. To my relief it flattened out beautifully.

The first proof I took of the three colour plate etching did not print well. There was not enough pressure, and I over wiped the plates. It took just under two hours to ink up and wipe back the three plates so I was very disappointed when I pulled the print off the final plate.

My second attempt printed beautifully. I left a lot more plate tone on all three plates especially the Yellow Ocher.

Now that I have proofed the first plate I know that the etching times were good, around 15 minutes for each plate in the Copper Sulphate Etch and I can now proceed with the second, three colour plate etching.

Happy Printmaking,

Warmly,
Jo Lankester
Non-toxic Printmaking (Printmaking Handbooks)

Day 8: Jo Lankester Printmaking Residency @ Umbrella Studio Contemporary Arts

Welcome to my blog,

Day 8 of my printmaking residency at Umbrella Studio, Contemporary Arts, Townsville was very satisfying. I completed drawing the three plates to the first colour etching and etched them in Copper Sulphate.

The acid was etching fast as I mixed a 10 - 1 solution,

• 4 kgs Copper Sulphate 
• 1 kg of Table salt
• 100 gms of Sodium Bisulphate 
• 40 lts of water

The acid is a lovely deep blue once mixed and your able to see your plates easily when etching.

Here are two of the plates drying once out of the acid and water rinsing bath.

My partner rang me early this morning to tell me he bought a beautiful set of Silky Oak plan draws for my studio out of the paper. I went to pay for them this afternoon and couldn't believe my eyes. They are in fantastic condition and slide open and close very smoothly. :-)

Happy Printing.

Warmly,
Jo Lankester