After our mono printing workshop, I spent some additional time in the printing room to make some more prints. However, when I began doing the mono prints, I realised I wanted to do something different. So I chose to try and do some positive prints and resistant prints using one the rolling press.
The reason why I chose to make prints using the rolling press was because I wanted to learn how to use the press and get some extra prints made that are a bit different to mono prints that I can use for next week when we work back into them.
To start off, I went outside and picked up some leaves from around the campus as I thought they were a good thing I could use, as an organic object, to put through the press because they are so thin. Here are some of the leaves I used:
After this, my tutor Amy gave me an in-depth tutorial of how to use the press, health & safety and the process of ways I can use the press to create a print.
Equipment
- Leaves
- Paper to print onto
- Ink
- Rollers
- Acetate sheets
- Newsprint
- Roller press
How the press works
Regardless of its size, the press is actually somewhat fragile because if it is used incorrectly it can be broken or damaged as it is easy to alter the pressure on the press.
To start off, the plate on the press has to be clear of all other materials as it is a hazard to have them on the press when it is being used. Then, the 2 fabric sheets and piece of paper have to be pulled back, so that the piece that is going to be pressed can be put under the sheets. The following image shows the press and the fabric sheets that have to be pulled back:
The sheets are then placed on top of the piece, and then the roller is spun around to press the inked leaf or sheet, onto the piece. It is rolled through once each direction, then the sheets are pulled back to reveal the print.
Health and Safety
DO:
- use the sheets to protect the plate and roller from getting dirty or covered in any substance that is being used for printing
- wear an apron or messy clothes
DONT:
- put your hands (or any part of your body) onto the plate when it is moving as it is capable of trapping and crushing fingers, hands etc.
- put any object onto the plate as they can also be crush and damaged if they go under the press
- alter the pressure of the roller as the college technicians or tutors should do that.
Here are images of the prints I did and explanations of how I did them.
- Rolled out 2 colours of inks. The only colours I used were brown and black as I thought they were both organic and natural colours.
- Then using that ink, with a roller I got an even amount of ink all over it, then rolled it onto the surface of the leaf, on the side that had the most protruding veins. That way when it is pressed, the marks in the leaf are more likely to be transferred onto the piece.
- For this piece, I want to have 2 different coloured leaves crossing over at the stem. So I printed the brown leaf first, then the black one. The above image shows the inked black leaf on the page, before it was pressed.
- Here is the first print I did, which I really liked. As I used the same leaf for each colour, I didn’t want to wash it as it was already delicate and it wouldn’t take much to make it fall apart. Therefore, when adding the black ink there was still some brown ink on it. As the leaf went through the press, not only black but brown ink was transferred onto the piece which I really liked.
- I chose the plain white background with a few patches of colour for this piece because I thought the patches of colour, worked with the brown ink.
- I then re-inked the leaf with black ink and re-printed it, to create the image above. I like this piece because it looks like a silhouette of the leaf.
- I only chose the background for this piece because it was the only small piece of paper I could use as a background, unless I were to tear up another piece of paper. I also liked the torn edges of the piece.
- Next I moved onto using a larger leaf. Which I preferred the shape of compared to the last leaf. For this piece, instead of putting ink on the leaf, I left the ink on the acetate sheet, and then placed the sheet (ink down) onto the leaf. Then it was put through the press. The idea for this piece was to create a silhouette of the leaf, by letting the ink outline the leaf instead of fill it.
- I chose this background because I liked the cross pattern.
- This is how it came out, doing exactly as I hoped, leaving a silhouette of the leaf on the paper. If I were to try this again, I would roll out the ink neater, to create a better background. This kind of print is called a resistant print.
- Because we put the ink on top of the leaf for the last print, I was then able to use the leaf to make another normal print. This print also has a faded background because there was some kind ink the previous print left on the newsprint in the roller press. Therefore when this one was printed, the ink transferred to the background of this one. Even though it was accidental, I actually liked the outcome.
- After doing that print, I didn’t top up the brown ink on the leaf, instead I lightly applied black ink on to the leaf using the roller, which successfully only added ink to the veins of the leaf. Therefore after being pressed, the veins had definition along with the leaf body being fully coloured.
- I chose the plain white background because I wanted to keep this one simple, with no background as a distraction.
- These were the pieces after they came out of the press.
- Next I got an idea to use one of the smaller leafs, to make a resistant print, around a larger leaf. The following images show the progression of this piece:
- I was really happy with the outcome of this piece. I changed the colour of ink I applied each time to keep a mixture of browns and blacks in the piece. The leaf did begin to fall apart the more it was pressed as it became so delicate. I also really liked how the leaves overlap filling the background completely. I had no issues or mistakes with this piece.
- I chose to also have a plain background for this piece because I wanted the leaf in the centre to be blank.
- This piece of paper was just the piece I used to stop the ink from touching the fabric sheets, however after being used over and over, this sheet started to get a pretty good affect on it. After I was finished, I chose to keep this piece of paper, as it could still be used as a print even though it wasn’t on purpose.
- This time, I chose to do another resistant print. Using 2 leafs and a feather all in one go. I really liked this print because it came out looking like a negative image that was created in a darkroom.
- Before putting the ink on top of the leaves and feather, I blotted the acetate sheet so that less ink would come off on top of them. I think it gives the piece a more spooky effect, than having a full black background would.
- I did this piece again with the 3 objects, yet this time I did a normal print, not resistant. I also used tracing paper as an alternative background, hoping it would look good when held up to the light, which it did. The chequered background behind this piece is the drying rack, it is not a pattern on the tracing paper.
- I used the same 3 objects again, and also created a piece that looked like a negative in some ways, but also looked like a normal print. I did this print by placing an acetate sheet on top of the objects, but the 2 feathers also had ink in them which meant that hey also printed when they went through the press.
- I like the print above of the feather, as it just looks like a photograph. I inked up the feather, then put it through the press.
- The prints are the ones on each side, the centre feather is the actual feather used to print.
- I really liked the feather on the right, because not all the detail was picked up in the press as I didn’t ink up the feather enough. However, I like this affect because it is like its a photograph of an overexposed image.
- I used plain backgrounds for these prints because I see feathers being quite simple and pure, so a busy background was not necessary as it would take attention away from it.
- This piece was a resistant print, but I didn’t like it really as I think there was too much black ink. Also the feathers detail wasn’t shown because of the amount of ink.
- This piece also went wrong, because lumps of ink came off and were transferred from the acetate sheet onto the piece, which will make it harder to work back into.
- The next piece I did, my tutor stepped in to show me another technique of adding strips of paper to stop ink touching certain parts of the piece.
- The above image is before it went through the press, with additional strips of paper added to it.
- The first print was a resistant print, then as the curled plant was covered in ink, I then re printed it numerous times on plain piece of paper, seeing as though it was already inked up.
I really enjoyed doing these additional pieces because I learned how to use the print, and new techniques of printing. I also think I will use these printing techniques because they are so simple and easy once gotten the hang of them.
Lotti Ducksbury 
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