Print on coloured Lokta natural paper
We are continually pushing the boundaries of digital printmaking here at the Digital Media Centre using our Epson SC Pro 7600 large format printer. The range of print courses include printing onto different papers, collage materials and fabrics, or applying digital wet transfers to other surfaces using Ink Aid or Golden Digital Grounds. In collaboration with the traditional print studio, we have courses that combine the best of traditional and digital print techniques. The emphasis is on experimenting with your own digital images using Adobe’s Photoshop and our Wacom Graphic Tablets. Participants on these courses usually need to have a working knowledge of, at least, using the layers palette in Photoshop.
About the Tutor:
Janet Curley Cannon is a visual artist who uses digital processes and techniques as a starting point in much of her mixed media work. Her animation’s have been screened in numerous international festivals and her print work is profiled in several recent publications on contemporary printmaking. She gained her MA in Printmaking from Camberwell College, University of the Arts, London in 2005.
Web: www.jcurleycannon.com
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Preparing A Drypoint Plate
In our current season of courses in collaboration with Ochre Print Studio, Guildford (www.ochreprintstudio.co.uk) we are combining traditional and digital print processes to create what is sometimes referred to as a hybrid or tradigital print.
Participants explore the possibilities of what the etched, drawn, or painted line can add to the photographic digital image; what oil or water based printing inks add through vivid colours; how the digital print surface changes with embossed textures; and just how beneficial Photoshop layers can be for image and plate development.
The images below are from the recent workshop where participants developed a digital print and a template for a drypoint plate on the Epson SC7600 on day one. On day two in the print studio, the template is used for creating the drypoint plate then prepared as normal for printing over the digital image.
The work below was produced during some of our previous Experimental Digital Print weekends, and provides interesting examples of what can be achieved with various techniques. You can check our forthcoming digital and combined digital-traditional print weekends on the Workshops page.
The print in the gallery above (click images to view) by David Brown is on woven silk that was stretched flat and coated with a digital ground that was left to dry on its carrier sheet, then feed carefully through the Epson 7600 large format inkjet printer. Angelika Steiger’s print onto fabric proved to be a real test of using masks and correct measuring of margins to print just the centre image in this old lace cloth.
Inkjet wet transfer process
The printer can take a carrier sheet of up to 61 cm in width, which is a great way to do a number of smaller images all pre-coated with digital ground, with one pass through the printer. Using the inkjet wet transfer process on various papers will give an unexpected hand print aspect to an image and allow artists to use papers that will further enhance their image.
We create transfer sheets by coating Mylar with a pre-coat that holds the digital print when dry and releases it when in contact with an absorbent surface such as dampened paper. The digital image is flipped in Photoshop before sending it to the printer then gentle hand pressure is used to transfer the printed image to the paper.
The wet transfer can also be used to transfer images on to etchings or other printed images for combining traditional and digital print techniques within one image.
Brilliant website. Its hard to find anything usually as good as these courses in digital print which are up to the minute, exciting and experimental. Great tutor too