Sunday 8 March 2009

Saturday Playtime

Yesterday some friends and I got together for a playtime and had a great time. We used to meet once a month with a teacher but as she is no longer able to join us we decided to meet up on our own. We all have various skills and experience and I am very excited at the prospect of sharing a day's play and ideas.
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It may not seem very adventurous, but I decided to do some printing. I have been reading about printing with fruit and thought I would have a go, especially as I had a suitable wrinkly apple in the fridge. (Check out this blog for printing ideas - amended 11 March)
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These samples above are mostly from the apple which I cut across the middle to get the vaguely star shape you can see. The two very pale images were a huge surprise and came from my attempts to print with a half lemon. The lemon would not accept the acrylic paint at all! I could only get a very pale print. Even more surprising was the subsequent apple print for which I used the same piece of sponge to apply the paint that I had used for the lemon. The paint turned all lumpy and has given me a great texture. I can only think that the acid in the lemon has reacted with the paint.
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Somewhere else on the 'net I saw a recommendation for printing with jigsaw pieces so I tried that too. I sealed a piece of cardboard with PVA and then stuck some jigsaw pieces on and sealed the whole thing again with PVA. It hasn't stood up to the printing too well so I shall have to give it a few more coats of PVA.
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I really like the effects the jigsaw pieces give and there are also some really interesting negative shapes which I only noticed when my friend suggested I make some random sponge marks in the areas between the jigsaw shapes. I'm looking forward to having a play with this page in Photoshop.
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The next two photos are of string stamps I made the day before the workshop. The strings are stuck onto plastic sheeting which came from the x-ray department at the hospital (they had been thrown out). I wasn't sure the PVA would stick and it needed to be left till it was completely dry.
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This wavy kind of stamp is quite nice but I think I need to handle it quite lightly. I think I will make some more along these lines.
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I really like this squiggly stamp below. It has a lot of design potential and is made with string on the same plastic as the wavy one. The only disadvantage of the plastic is that it makes for a flat stamp and it is easy to catch the edge of the plastic on the paper.
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As well as the prints above I made separate prints into a small notebook that I will keep just for print samples and I also printed onto fabric with some fabric paints. That fabric is very much a work in progress which I will probably post here when I've done a bit more - that's if I can remember what I did by then!
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17 comments:

Angela said...

Lovely printing, the last one is my favourite lots of creative potential there.

Sharne Gregory said...

Looks like you had lots of fun, I love the wavy stamp. To make the stamps easier to handle you could always stick on half a cork.

Maggi said...

Some really interesting samples. And so nice that they are totally original and will make your work one of a kind.

Genie said...

Looks like you all had a fun day.
Have a fun week too

Heather said...

You have a wonderful range of designs from your printing experiments - a very worthwhile exercise and all your own work. Each one has great potential.

Heather said...

You have a wonderful range of designs from your printing experiments - a very worthwhile exercise and all your own work. Each one has great potential.

Unknown said...

What a lovely experiments, it looks like you had a great time!

Julie said...

Hi Heather. Thank you :o) I do enjoy printing and there is so much more to explore here. I especially like the fruit prints. I shall have to look out for the unloved fruit in the supermarket.

The WestCountryBuddha said...

How intriguing. I'd never have thought of using jigsaw pieces as a stamp but they really work. I also love the string stamps and think they'll give you fabulous textures. Not sure why the lemon should react with the acrylic paint - strangely enough it's not something I've come across before!!

LOVE STITCHING RED said...

Hi Julie - the thumbnail of your apple prints looked so inviting I just had to take a look. All your prints are gorgeous and I love the colours you have worked with. It makes me want to go get my paints out today ....

Have a great creative day
Carolyn :o)
LOVE STITCHING RED

sharon young said...

Great experiments, Julie, printing is one of my favourite play activities, because you never know what you'll get. I love the idea of your little notebook to remind you what you've done.
Many thanks for your comments on my post, I didn't like the hanging when I'd finished it but it's growing on me.

Jackie said...

Good for you, doing it for yourselves.

Mrs Mac said...

Really lovely stuff!
Must be so nice to have a girl friend you can meet up with and have some arty time together :)

Ro Bruhn said...

These all look wonderful Julie, the apple prints turned out great.

Mrs Moog said...

What great experiments! I love the wiggly string one. As for the issue with the plastic background, I've found using the back of an old wooden stamp or a little block of scrap wood works well to stick the string to.

xxx

nikki said...

i love the apperance that those puzzle pieces and sliced apples give off...its just so visually appealing and interesting to look at! thanks for the inspiration!

Julie said...

Thank you Nikki. And thanks too for taking the time to leave me a comment.