Screen Printing with Oak and Walnut paste

Translating my sketches and ideas onto Kodatrace to screen print with natural dye paste has been interesting. It has been a long time since I have done any screen printing and so the first samples and scarves have been a learning curve. It's things like considering size. The dimensions of the scarf are going to have an important affect on the effect of the print and the repeat and I need to go back to Photoshop to plan the layout. The lines representing furrows gave perspective and I had invested in 3 Posca pens from the uni shop so had options to vary thickness etc.

But the thick lines were very heavy and too
dominant. Also need refinement and better
use when combined with the tree and animal shapes. I liked the tracks with the strong tractor tracks and lighter footprints, they were more adaptable. On the third scarf ie the one to the left, I tried masking the images so that I could use them in bands with the track marks, this related more with the tribal work I had seen at the British Museum and more successful I think!

The paste was used by boiling 10 gm oak chips in 1/2 litre of water too extract the dye then sprinkling Indalca on top and stirring vigorously to thicken. This sometimes needs to be whisked and sieved. I also used 20gm walnut husks to make the brown dye paste.
I decided to darken the oak paste by adding a little indigo and this resulted in a black print.

I used the scarves from the previous unit which had been dyed with red onion and walnut. I also had one scarf with a yellow from the leaves of the Tree of Heaven in my garden. This scarf shows how important size and planning is - the images overlap awkwardly, they don't fit the space and you can also see the difference when I added indigo to the oak paste. It will be interesting to see if steaming affects colour density.

The Ploughed Field 2

I wanted to discover more secrets from the field and parked in the gateway. There was a group of off road motorbikes in the forest behind and their noise disturbed the usual quietness of the field. I walked along the headland a little way and looked more closely at the stubble left from last years crop. The stalks are grouped in 'families' but where the tracks of machinery have trodden the stalks down the 'families' are no longer heading in the same direction. The colours are more interesting than first imagined and stitch/wax resist come to mind. I need to sketch them to fully understand the organisation of this community of stalks!

 There leaves trapped by the stalks which would be slowly breaking down and without the intervention of the plough would fertilise the soil. But they also contrasted the straight linear shapes of the stubble. The colour combination was also interesting - pale yellow white and even purples with the russet tones of beech leaves.

I also found ears of corn which I will look at in the next blog










But there were the tracks and furrowed lines of the field which I still have lots more to explore in pencil paint and print. Such a wealth of ideas from this ploughed field!

After my tutorial the world of semiotics and indexical signs beckons. Looks like I have lots of work ahead - so exciting!!!

SDC World of Colour

The London College of Fashion behind Oxford Circus is so not inspiring as a building but the speakers at this event all had something which was inspiring It started with an 'old' faithful Bill Stephenson and his delivery of Colour Perception. But I was fascinated by the research into Colour Psychology by Angela Wright -

she  explained exactly what colour is and how it works, discussing traditional ideas about its influence on behaviour and mood before going on to describe the discoveries she has made over the last twenty years. she showed how you how apply the theory of colour to yourself and your wardrobe, whatever your gender, race or colouring, and expanded on applications in your home, your workplace and in commercial design. Personality types and their relationship with specific colours and tones. She spoke about the quizzes and practical examples to work out a 'personal palette' and identify which colours are most supportive for you.

Anyone considering the context of a practice would find her work helpful and made me reflect on the colours I extract from natural dyes and where they fit into the colour palette. The 4 groups have colour types which I can achieve but it will be interesting to consider the combinations and background colour.

The next speaker was Raffa Mula from Pantonelive talking about the measurement of colour. It was more useful for designers who were having their designs printed but still an interesting aspect  of colour.

But I also had the opportunity to network and was discussing my research into plant colour and the chemistry of molecular change. As a result I have contacts at Leeds University and a SDC member of staff Debbie Bamford.

But I think this aspect of my work will be in the background for a while

The British Museum and another inspiration

The British Museum always seems to deliver! So many times I have visited the Museum because it was near the reason for the visit. Last time I was enchanted by the Barkcloth from Tonga which influenced my mark making and the way I interpreted my drawings. The Masters unit had taken me into a different direction but this visit fitted so well with the direction I have been going it was just amazing how yet again I feel that there must be some connectivity out there!

BARKCLOTH DISPLAY 

 This week it was the SDC World of Colour event and with a morning to spare a visit to BM seemed a good idea! One of the exhibitions was a large piece of woven silk from Assam :

The textile is associated with the cult of the Hindu god Krishna. It is today made up of 12 strips of woven silk, each one being figured with depictions of the incarnations of Vishnu and with captioned scenes from the life of Krishna.

Once again I was attracted to the imagery and interpretation of the environment and spent sometime sketching the details which always helps me to understand the repeat and the orientation of one image to another. I was also reflecting on the drawings etc I have been making from the ploughed field

DETAIL OF ONE OF THE STRIPS

The use of woven text was also interesting and an idea I have considered including in my practice as my skills include calligraphy.

But it is the raison d'etre that really made me reflect on my work. The Vrindavini Vastra is the story of Krishna's travels and has a narrative.
The Ploughed field is also developing into a narrative and with the personal additions of rusted parts used by my grandfather it is an exciting prospect


                           THE VRINDAVINI VASTRA