Today we had a visit from printmaker James Anderson to test out the big press doing some Carborundum Prints.
The process in essence is to apply a mix of acrylic binder and fine Carborundum powder to the surface of a metal or plasTic plate, let it dry and then ink and print it as an intaglio collatype print. The Carborundum powder creates a range of textures which have great capacity for holding ink. The thickness of the mixture, percentage of Carborundum to binder and the effects of brush or scraper to create marks and strokes in the mix all contribute to a very rich inking surface. Printing this onto a dampened etching paper with a medium-high pressure results in a striking range of ink tones. Pre-mixing the ink with a very large proportion of oil-based extender allows under-colour to show through and creates some stunning colour mixes. The images here are the inking and printing stages, and show the beautiful saturated colours and the textures achieved with this process.
In July we plan to get James to return and do a demonstration of this fascinating process from the beginning: preparing the Carborundum mix, making the plates, inking and printing. We are sure that this demonstration will be of great interest to Printworks Members.
Further details
James Anderson
instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamesanderson1951/
website: https://www.jamesandersonart.com/
email: jba@katrinaerskine.co.uk
mobile: +44 7786 266 815
