Dunstanburgh Revisited

I spent the day in the studio yesterday revisiting a plate I've printed a few times and had some success selling. You can see one of the versions I have sold previously here. The colours are in fact much fresher and brighter than appears here. Nevertheless, I have never been 100% happy with the sea.

The base plate was originally made from thin corragated card. A choice I made because I wanted to cut and lift off the top layer in the sky area and utilise the corragated nature of the card for texture in the sky. The idea did not come off successfully at the time and so I cut the plate along the horizon line and around the tower leaving the sky white and that proved very effective.

So, for this latest prints I did two things. I made another plate for the sky so the two plates sit together like two pieces of a jigsaw and using flexible filler I created a textured surface which I intended to blind emboss. On the bottom plate I added some texture paste to the sea area and ran a dry brush through it to create a pattern of curling waves.

I spent a long time inking up using linseed oil in the oil based ink so it was easy to work into the pits and troughs on the plate with a stiff bristle brush. I wipe most of the ink away using poly cotton sheeting. Tarlatan/scrim is too coarse and gets stuck in the plate surface. I tend to use a main base colour that is wiped back and then run contrasting colours over the surface with a brush or rag pad, wiping back an polishing with tissue as I go to get the right blend of colours.

The end result is sitting between boards drying in the studio right now. When I'm next in the studio I will photograph it and post with the previous so you can see the before and after. You may not be able to pick up on the blind embossing though which is always difficult to do photographically.

Until next time