June 2018

Meet the Maker: Maria Doyle

I’m a printmaker based in Edinburgh. I took up linocut as a hobby two years ago but it has grown arms and legs and is now my mini business.

Describe your printmaking process.

I mostly create architectural prints of the places I have lived in or visited. In a way it’s my diary! I work from photos which I then flip on my laptop,
sketch this reversed design onto battleship grey lino and then begin to carve. I like to fill in the block with black marker as I go, as this helps
me get a better idea of the image as it forms, and also helps to show up any missed spots which should have been carved away.

I don’t own a press so I pull all my prints by hand. A metal spoon and elbow grease get the job done!

How and where did you learn to print?

My first (brief) exposure to printmaking was when I was about 13 and at secondary school. Our art teacher introduced us to patterns from Liberty and taught
us how to make simplified versions using a polystyrene block. We drew on the block with ballpoint pens which compressed the polystyrene and then inked
these up using poster paint. Sadly, I dropped art as a subject soon after and didn’t make any more prints until about two years ago. This time I had
progressed to proper lino and the sharp chisels we were never allowed at school! Since then I’ve just been teaching myself, building upon the basics
that Miss Young taught us.

Why printmaking?

I really enjoy the graphic quality of linocuts and the bold images you can create. The process itself is also very meditative. I started linocut during
my final year of university and I found that sitting carving for an hour before bed was the perfect way to switch off and forget about my dissertation
stress.

Where do you work?

I work from my bedroom! I’ve put up a makeshift drying line up across one of my walls and another across my living room. Quite often my flat is just a
cloud of paper and half-dry prints…I have a very tolerant flatmate!

Describe a typical day in your studio.

I don’t really have a typical day. I usually just print as and when I have the time. Usually this is in the evenings after I finish work or at the weekend.

How long have you been printmaking?

Two years.

What inspires you?

I’m inspired by the city around me. I didn’t fully appreciate how beautiful Edinburgh is until I spent a year living abroad. When I came back, I was struck
by the cobbles, the old buildings and winding streets, and knew I wanted to recreate these on paper.

What is your favourite printmaking product?

It’s a toss-up between my Pfeil chisels and Caligo Safewash ink. I’m a big fan of the Prussian Blue ink which has appeared in a lot of my recent prints.

What have you made that you are most proud of?

I’m proudest of my print of Well Street in my hometown of Moffat. This was my second multi-layered reduction print….but the first that was the correct
way round! It’s a mistake we’ll all make at least once.

Where can we see your work? Where do you sell?

I post most of my work on Instagram (@maz.prints) and sell some on Etsy.

What will we be seeing from you next?

I’m hoping to do some more pattern-based work on fabric. I made a hand printed skirt last year using Caligo Safewash ink and it came out really well so I’m hoping to design some new blocks and try my hand at making some cushion
covers and bags.

Do you have any advice for other printmakers and creatives?

I have found social media to be a very helpful source of both inspiration and support. The printmaking community on Instagram is particularly friendly
and everyone I’ve ‘met’ is very happy to provide advice on techniques and materials.

See more of Maria’s work on Instagram and Etsy!

Screen Printing a Graphite Drawing

When we think of screen printed artwork we tend to see bold areas of bright colour and graphic lines but there are lots of different styles that can be
achieved. By using graphite directly onto the mesh of a screen we can create loose, printed sketches that can be used for layering or as prints in
their own right.

This technique requires limited equipment. We’re using a screen attached to a board using hinge clamps to make printing and registration easier. We’re
using a 90T screen with an exposed aperture but a taped aperture would be just as good.

You can trace drawings through the translucent mesh. Place your drawing underneath the screen.

Use a graphite stick to draw directly onto the mesh. Use lots of graphite and goo back and forth over your lines.

You can also use a soft pencil like a 6B or 8B. Make sure the point is not too sharp or it could damage the mesh.

Use your nail to scatter flecks of graphite onto the mesh.

The drawing can be printed through with Acrylic Screen Printing Medium. Scoop an ink well along the top of your screen. Place a piece of paper underneath
your screen.

Use a squeegee to pull the ink down the screen and force the graphite through to the paper.

Your graphite drawing can be printed through several times using the acrylic medium and will become paler each time. When you’re finished, wash your screen
with cold water.

To print your own graphite drawing you will need:

90T Screen
Hinge clamps and board or table
Squeegee
Parcel Tape
System 3 Acrylic Printing Medium
Spatula or spoon
Paper to print on
Graphite stick
Soft pencil

Meet the Maker: Frans Wesselman

Describe your printmaking process.

I do several things: I make etchings, where I concentrate on people’s expressions and the quality of the etched line and texture;

I also make wood cuts, which are rather larger and where I exploit the areas of flat colour and the strong wood cut line; and in the past I have made combinations
of the two.

How and where did you learn to print?

I attended art college in the Netherlands where I had an inspirational print making tutor, but have evolved my own way of doing things since.

Why printmaking?

Where I grew up I was aware of the etchings of Rembrandt and the nineteenth century Dutch impressionist group The Hague School, and I loved them. I also
experimented with wood cut at college, but only a couple of years ago came back to it.

Where do you work?

At home, after my last move I decided that I would arrange the house just to my liking, so it is rather like a workshop with a bedroom attached (and a
bath room and a kitchen and a garden…)

Describe a typical day in your studio.

Up early, shower, check out the garden, coffee. Start work on whatever needs doing, from cutting a wood cut to working on new designs, scribbles in the
sketch book and water colour studies. A quick look at the emails. I usually work for an hour or so before breakfast, then carry on again. I am best
in the morning, so the creative stuff tends to get done then, the routine, like printing or sending off parcels later in the afternoon. If the weather
is good I will have lunch sitting on the step in the garden, looking out for bees and dragon flies. In the evening, after cooking something, I am usually
too tired to do complicated work, but, if I have some possibly bright idea, I will make a note to be worked on at a later date. Of course contact with
galleries, ordering materials, delivering work all takes up quite a bit of time too.

How long have you been printmaking?

Since my first days at college, in 1970.

What inspires you?

People. Almost anything can inspire me, things I see or am involved in, things I read or hear. The bible, poetry, Shakespeare, sometimes things just turn
up in my head. But it will almost always be something to do with people, I love landscape to look at and walk in, but fail to make anything exciting
out of it if I try to draw it.

What is your favourite printmaking product?

My etching presses. The big one is a kind of proto type Polymetaal which I bought when I first came to England, the little one a friend of mine, a brilliant
engineer, built for me.

What have you made that you are most proud of?

Hard to say. As soon as I have made something I start seeing the flaws in it. Some times I come somewhere where there is a piece of my work that I made
a long time ago and then it sometimes seems not too bad.

Where can we see your work? Where do you sell?

There is always my web site, www.fwstainedglass.com (I make stained glass too). As I am a
member of the Royal Society of Painter-Printmakers, there is always something at the Bankside Gallery in London, at For Arts Sake in Ealing, Montpellier
gallery in Stratford, Twenty Twenty in Much Wenlock, Court Yard Gallery in Minehead, Primavera in Cambridge, McGillDuncan in Castle Douglas. My next
show will be Worcester Open Studios over the August Bank Holiday Weekend where I will be showing at 37 Vincent Road, Worcester, WR5 1AZ.

What will we be seeing from you next?

I am just working on a new wood cut. I saw a girl in the Netherlands on a skate board, cool as a breeze, being pulled along by her dog. So far it seems
to want fewer colours than I originally had envisaged. I am also experimenting with the stained glass, trying to make it without lead.

Do you have any advice for other printmakers and creatives?

Look for a proper job would be the sensible advice. But having said that, if you are prepared to take the rough with the smooth, it can be wonderful to
work to your own agenda, doing the thing you love doing best.

See more of Frans Wesselman’s work on his website.

How Much Detail on Exposed Screens?

When designing artwork for exposed screens it can be very difficult to figure out what level of detail you can include. Different mesh counts will be able to handle different levels of detail.
The mesh number relates to how many threads there are per cm of mesh: 32T has 32 threads per cm, 120T has 120 threads per cm etc. Ideally, 43T mesh
is used for printing onto fabric and 90T is used for printing onto paper. We’ve put together a quick test to see what detail can be achieved on our
two most common meshes: 43T and 90T.

We are often asked which font sizes are appropriate for each mesh but this is tricky to answer as different fonts come out at varied sizes and some have
thicker and thinner parts to the lettering. For this test we’ve used Calibri (a plain sans serif font) Time New Roman (a serif font) and Apple Chancery
(a calligraphy style font with thinner strokes) in sizes 8 to 22.

The same sheet of samples was exposed onto a 43T and 90T screen. Scroll down to see the results of our prints with these screens.

For prints on fabric we have used Speedball Fabric Screen Printing Ink in black. For prints on paper we have used Speedball Acrylic Screen Printing Ink
in black. These are both standard inks – opaque inks and metallic inks will be harder to force through the ink and block the mesh faster and are therefore
more suited to higher mesh count and less fine detail.

Some of the areas have been halftoned through our rip software which turns grey areas into dots to give the illusion of tone.

43T Mesh onto Fabric

We’re losing the detail on the font up until about size 14. The lettering on the right has been drawn with a 6px brush into Photoshop.

90T Mesh onto Fabric

90T mesh is not ideal for printing onto fabric as it puts down a lighter deposit of ink than a 43T. The prints can therefore appear paler and less bold.
We’ve got more detail here on the smaller font sizes but it’s not printing very well on the weave of the cotton – this print has also smudged!

43T Mesh on Paper

We’re still losing the detail up until font size 14. It’s putting down quite a heavy deposit of ink so it’s starting to blob a little in places with tiny
detail.

90T Mesh on Paper

We’ve managed to get most of the detail in the size 8 font here, although this small size may start to dry fast so quick printing is a must!

43T Mesh on Fabric

This type of ont is a real problem on more open meshes as it has very thin areas that don’t expose well at all.

90T Mesh on Fabric

We’ve got more detail but the font still isn’t great up until size 14. The 90T mesh also isn’t printing this evenly on the weave of the cloth.

43T Mesh on Paper

On paper it’s easier to see the areas where the font is too fine for a 43T mesh.

90T Mesh on Paper

It’s much clearer on a 90T mesh but we’re still missing the finest areas.

43T Mesh on Fabric

This font hasn’t exposed properly until about size 16.

90T Mesh on Fabric

The tiny serif lines are starting to show more but struggling to print on the fabric.

43T Mesh on Paper

We’ve lost some of the serif detail which isn’t clear until size 14.

90T Mesh on Paper

We’re getting good results from size 14 with legible results from size 12. These fine lines will dry ink quite quickly.

43T Mesh on Fabric

Lines close together create vulnerable areas of emulsion and on more open meshes these areas will start to meld together. More may disappear as it’s printed
and washed.