The 20:20 print exchange (via Hot Bed Press) was established in 2009, to exchange work from various printmakers in one studio.
Studios all over the UK (and the rest of the world) now recruit multiples of 10 printmakers to take part. Each printmaker produces an edition of 25 prints, 20x20cm in any print medium.
Each printmaker’s edition is distributed between the 10 ‘Home’ studio participants and 10 others studio printmakers. 4 prints go the studios and the last 1 goes on tour, with all the others prints; nationally and internationally during the year.
This years exhibitions will be held in Hong Kong, Russia, Canada and various places around the UK and Ireland.
I decided to work with Tetra Pak as it is such a great medium to create mini etched plates.
I had previously created some pieces depicting magpies and wanted to follow this up with a crow.
The crow seemed a simpler idea as the magpies involved a lot of cleaning in specific places and the crow could be all black…..it didn’t quite turn out that way. The other thing I wanted to do was combine a couple of techniques I’d seen; embossing and sewing.
I ended up creating a design that used a small jar as the embossed detail. So crow and fish mini Tetra Pak plates, Jar to be embossed (at the same time) and then once everything was dry a little sewn string to join them together. Simple…….
Sketching out ideas and sizes. I needed it to fit the 20x20cm paper, with a small border.
Cutting plates and etching the surface for texture and detail.
Tools; palette knives and paper fingers (for picking up paper)
Inking up plates.
Press ready to go with template (this needed to be an edition of 25 so each one had to be the same).
Plates and embossing ‘pulled’.
Growing edition!
Final pulled print.
Print completed (with sewing) and editoned (numbered, title and name).
Finished title ‘The Prize.’
And here's a little process video of pulling a print.
Blog you later...