Discovering Diffused Relief Printing
A Little Master Class!


Oooh.  I am really liking this.  Bearing in mind that these are not finished prints but just experiments at this current time, just to show the possibilities.

I went on a trip last week to work in Dunfermline Print Studio, which is a lovely, cosy place, to meet up with printmakers Aine Scannell and her friend Tatiana. It was Aine who introduced me to this wonderful easy process.

I love the simplicity and potential for my work this offers.....here is the process in a nutshell.

• Make a plate out of mount card/matt board the size of your print as you would for a collagraph print.  I PVA'd and varnished my plate with Lascaux Hard Ground, you could use shellac.  Leave overnight to cure.

• Cut out some shapes in mount card /matt board (These will appear on your print as more dense/opaque than the background.)  You can varnish these if you want to use them repeatedly as they can get ink on them.

• Lay these shapes on your press bed.  I have marked where the edges of my plate will be with blue tape so I have reference and can place the shapes where I want them to appear in my print.

 

• Using ink that has been modified with transparent ink/extender, ink up your plate.  This plate has been used a few times,the white mark is from an earlier embossment.  Then lay your inked up plate ink side facing upwards on top of the card shapes like so.

• The paper is then placed on top.  I used the lovely cheap Chinese paper on a roll from China Town in Manchester which is quite good for test prints of this kind.

• And then roll through the press

 

Another print with different shapes added under it

And without moving plate having taken off the first print pop another sheet of paper on the plate and roll through again.

 
I use quite a lot of lace and wallpaper in my work so I tried using a piece of lace which I first PVA'd and varnished to give it some welly under the mount card.  This is the initial print.  I can see now why it is called diffused relief, as this lace looks very diffused!!!

and this is the ghost print

I am looking forward to playing with this process using masks to make further layers

And a diffused relief print that Aine made on the same day, the polar bear shapes having been cut out and used in the same way as described above.

Yey, A New Year and I have somehow managed to blast through the impenetrable wall that was blocking my creativity. With the aid of some new little ipod speakers and some charcoal and pastel I had a lovely week drawing and the I can't tell you the relief.

Sometimes it is just a matter of going back to base.  DRAWING.  And it is about the authenticity of the mark.  It is about being aware when you are in that wonderful zone of connectedness and then slipping out of it when the mark becomes contrived and stopping.  I will post better images, (apologies for the peculiar colour cast on these from the fluorescent lights) on my website when the light is good....and thank you  Amanda