30/10/2017 - PRINT WORKSHOP WEEK 4

In the week leading up to my Balance Exhibition I didn't find time to get in on Friday after the exposure unit was fixed, so came in on Monday hoping to have a productive day and get as far with the creation of my plate as possible. First we exposed the now dried emulsion with our transparent positives, exactly as we would have with primed screens. The exposed plates were then placed in a bath and sprinkled with chemical, then gently agitated to remove the unexposed areas where our positives had been. I thought the plate at this stage had quite a beauty of it's own, the copper reflective surface masked intricately by complimenting blue.

 Once dried again we then had to cover our plate in powdered Aquatint resin. I really enjoyed this part of the process, as the contraption used to powder the surface was quite wacky and amusing to operate. Next we used a flame torch to heat our plate and the resin covering it, taking care to distribute the heat as evenly as possible. As the plate reached the correct temperature to melt the resin, it began to change in colour and meld from particles into a thin sheet of smoothed resin, and it was this change we were looking out for. Overheating, or incorrectly working at any stage could destroy the plate, yet we would not know until they emerged from the acid bath later.

We had to wait a little while for our plates to cool, however once we could handle them the next step was to cover the back in tape to stop the acid wearing that side and create a small tag to stick up above the surface and allow clean and easy retrieval. Once this was done they were ready for the acid bath!

Matthew suggested it was best to leave the plates for 30 minutes for the most dramatic effect, and to allow the acid enough change to definitely get to work, but we could also consider leaving it less if a lighter effect was what we wanted. After the full half and hour I returned and was upset to see only some of my print had actually etched! The tutors suggested I try to gently degrease my plate and then resubmerge it for longer, and upon trying this some of the emulsion was dislodged and my design removed in places. There was still one unexposed plate from the demonstration last week, so Jess suggested I quickly re-prepare my design on this, and I did under her supervision. She said I had carried out the process correctly, which made me feel more confident, as I definitely felt I had executed the technique more successfully and understood the process better for having a second go.

We put the plate in the bath again and had just enough time before the end of the workshop to see how it had gone. I was really disappointed to see this second attempt etched even less than my first! I think Jess may have sensed some of my frustration at this stage as it was the end of our workshop and I was absolutely no further than I started, so she offered to try exposing my plate for me as she had seen me do the entire process correctly, so that I could come in and get to work on my prints as soon as possible.

I must admit I feel like this process, although it is very involved and interesting, also generated a great deal of waste. I alone went through two copper plates, a very rare and expensive resource, and was still no closer to an actual artistic outcome than I had been to begin with. Many of the chemicals we used were also irritant and harmful, and although I am sure the uni takes absolutely every measure to ensure clean and safe disposal, I have to wonder about the necessity of proliferating such toxic material while making art in the name of raising awareness for mankind's toxic pursuit of consumption.

27/10/2017 - MOOSEY ART - SHIPPING AND HANDLING

The next area Frazer at Moosey wanted to train me in was his particular way of safely packing and shipping artworks from head office. I thought this could be invaluable experience to me as a developing artist, as knowing how to properly present and transport my art to clients would be extremely valuable.

Frazer told me how he is frequently complimented on the security and proficiency of his shipping methods, with many customers specifically noting how much they trust him to get their work safely transported. This was a big part of having repeated customers and trusting clients. First he began to demonstrate how he transported paper originals. Across the road from head office at Capitol House was a material yard where he sourced large MDF boards, and suggested he would set me up a personal account with them, allowing me to go and source the boards without him being present and not pay directly. He suggested that for lower value prints roll tubes could be used to ship them easily, as was traditional elsewhere, however sandwiching flat higher value originals between two boards was the best way to guarantee safe shipping. Using lots of layers of tissue paper, with either boards of tubes, seemed to be the tried and tested way forward however.


He also had a meticulous protective method for securing the original between the boards, using layer of tissue gently masking taped down and small corners of grey board to tightly hug the paper without applying too much pressure. (see right)

Next he briefly taught me how to sign and finish a certificate of authenticity; an important part of any professional art sale to certify that the artwork is in fact genuine and by the artist. Moosey had it's own custom emboss stamp to appear in the corner of each. Working through this process really made me realise that professionalism is not some unattainable level, but is in fact a collection of gradually learnt techniques applied with knowledge and skill. Professionalism is gained with the consistent application of those techniques and skills.

With that this piece was ready to ship. The next step was to pay for shipping and tracking. Frazer used 'Interparcel', a website allowing postage and tracking to be organised entirely remotely, labels printed and then dropped off to a courier pickup point for a dispatch. This service streamlined his postage system, allowed him to manage and track multiple shipments at once, and also allowed him to compare different services for benefits and better deals. In 30 minutes we were able to pay for and label 4 items for shipment to different locations internationally. The versatility of the site really impressed me. Once this was complete everything was ready and all that remained was to drop them off at the depot with a nearby cornershop.

23/11/2017 - PRINT WORKSHOP WEEK 3

In week 3 of our workshop we were going to begin the second part of our process; creating an etched print to go inside of our glass jars. Having never done etching before, I felt excited to learn the process. I had already come in briefly in the week to prepare my transparent positive, a simple matter of turning my source image into the required format as we had done in screen printing before. In doing this I had hoped that I would have a head start and need to rush the process less in the workshops.

19/10/2017 - MOOSEY EXHIBITION IN LONDON

The next day came around and it was time to head to London to install the exhibition! Frazer left for the capital at 6am however I followed on the train later at 11. When I arrived half of the pieces had already been hung, however there was still lots to get on with. The gallery was a hireable space used predominently for exhibitions, which was located in the centre of Islington and was the traditional white walled gallery upstairs. However there was an unusual format seeming almost fitting for an apartment below level with a neatly hidden kitchenette and toilet yet featuring an interesting central space with chairs and twin hallway infinity mirrors.

18/10/2017 - MOOSEY ART EXHIBITION - FRAMING

Ahead of Moosey Art's new London exhibition, 'It Follows Me Everywhere' a solo show by Muretz, I went along to help out with the framing process and try to learn as much as I could from a genuine industry opportunity.

16/10/2017 - PRINT WORKSHOP - WEEK 2

I attended an extra booked session in the workshop to expose my screen last week, prepared my paper and premixed my colours too, which meant I was immediately ready to print at the start of this weeks workshop. I had also reserved one of the print beds to ensure I would definitely have a spot to work in. Because of this it only took me a small amount of time to get set up and I was ready to start printing.

9/10/2017 - Print Workshop - Week 1

Going into my first week of Print, I hadn't been able to prepare my image for etching in a way I felt satisfied with, so was thankful when I was placed in the screenprint section for the first two weeks. We began by coating our screens as we had been previously taught, and preparing our transparent positives. I managed to seperate my background image into a dark brown and light mint colour in good balance so that tone was still preserved even though there was only a single colour.

30/9/2017 - Print Workshop Prep

In preperation for my print workshop I studied the brief provided, and was intrigued by the idea of bringing a glass object a bit more interesting than a plain old jar.